Obscuring the Feminine: BANKS, MØ, Dreezy, Halsey, Grimes
The rise of gender-neutral stage names for women
Mononyms are not a new phenomenon, especially in music. They’re first names (Madonna, Cher, Beyoncé, Aaliyah), middle names (Rihanna, Drake), last names (Feist, Morrissey, Hozier), nicknames (Sting, Bono, Fergie), or even something completely made up (Lorde, Xzibit). I get it. Parts of an artists’ name may be unpronounceable, like in the case of Björk. An artist may want to distance their personal life from their work, and a pseudonym helps create that gap. There’s a wealth of reasons for someone to take on a stage name and why not just make it one punchy, easy-t0-remember word?
What is a new phenomenon is female artists releasing music under mononyms that have no obvious gender.
BANKS, Låpsley, Grimes, NAO, Halsey, MØ, and surely more I don’t even know about; they all obscure the fact that they’re women. Taking it further, rapper Dreezy recalls nicknames of her male counterparts—Yeezy, Weezy, Jeezy—and if all you knew was her name, you might assume she’s a man.
Unfortunately, while interesting, I’m not exactly surprised these artists are not loudly advertising they’re women. Just a few days ago, someone at the Wall Street…
