WANTED: Female Musical Role Models for my Daughter
The first time my daughter connected with any form of contemporary music was age 5 and the song was Womanizer by Britney Spears. The song came on in the car. She asked me to play it over and over pretty much from Cambridge to the M25. Back then, Holly didn’t know what a womanizer was, neither did she didn’t know anything about Britney. She just liked the beat and the fizzy repetition. It was more difficult trying to explain her subsequent use of that word to my mother in law.
Cut forward to last summer, Holly is eight and we attend her first live gig; Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour in Indianapolis. I think its agreed on the Mum circuit that Taylor is an OK role model for a young daughter. Yeah, she’s sexy, she sings about players and haters, but it feels sort of safe. Holly though, she is still adamant she wants to see Britney.
But it made me think. Who we idolise in our formative years is pretty important and I’d hypothesise can say a lot about our own ambition, attitude and aspiration.
I gave mine some consideration and my 5 girls are: Dolly, Sandie, Debbie, Madonna and Justine.
- Dolly (Parton)
Dolly was important to me because she was important to my Mum. I remember gazing at the shiny LP sleeves thinking she was some kind of beautiful fairy princess. Dolly’s eyes were kind. Her songs were oh so sweet. I was about 6 years old and love did really seem a little bit like a butterfly.
- Sandie (Shaw)
This relationship also started from my Mum’s LP collection, but this was different. Sandie would sing with no shoes on and she could almost growl as she sang but then chirrup like a lovely little bird. I’m not sure if it was coolness I saw in her when I was little but it was something that never left me. My favourite ever band is The Smiths and by excellent coincidence they were inspired BY HER. Heaven knows I’m miserable now was inspired by one of her songs. In 1984 she covered The Smiths song, Hand in Glove on Top of the Pops and The Smiths went shoeless in tribute. OK, she sang about puppets for Eurovision, but that just makes me love her more in a way.
- Debbie (Harry)
Debbie will always be my ultimate music and general girl crush. Was there ever more sass to be seen in a female? When performing she would stand there with a stance and wry smile that says, yep, I am TOTALLY happy with everything I am. Life might not always be kind but right now, in this moment, I’ve got this.
- Madonna
Madonna first came onto the scene when I was a young teenager just starting to learn what boys were all about. As a 13 year old, I sort of thought, well, this girl is sexy, that must be what boys want right? Then I stumbled onto the notion that no, actually, all the boys I knew were crushing on Kylie, sweet innocent, fluffy Kylie and NOT the Michael Hutchence incarnation either. Maybe Madonna was just what I wanted to be. And that, my friends is some kind of epiphany that I sort of wish I understood as well back then.
- Justine (Frischmann)
This represents my last idol before graduating and thus becoming a fully-fledged adult. Justine was, of course, the lead singer of Elastica. She was the girlfriend of Damon Albarn for a time but it seemed all the major Brit Pop cool boys wanted her. Justine had awesome hair, she could play guitar and sneer and smile and pout. Can you imagine hanging out with Justine? Like Debbie, Justine had that thing. I wanted it. I still want it. All girls should want it.
And that’s it. Probably my dream girl’s night out. What’s yours? I just hope Holly moves forward from Taylor purposefully and with all the sass of my girls. And most of all to just be that comfortable with whoever she is, whatever that is.
*Taylor Swift’s Reputation tour is currently on Netflix
