Women rocked at the Grammys: How female musicians took over male-dominated rock and alternative field

Jaime Rodriguez
·4 min read
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This year the newly merged rock and alternative music field at the Grammys produced an exciting result: five out of the six categories in the field were won by women. While women have certainly won in rock categories before, it has never been to this degree. Last year certainly came close, with Brandi Carlile’s “Broken Horses” taking Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance while Wet Leg took the two alternative categories. This year, however, women were even more dominant. Indie supergroup Boygenius won Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Song (“Not Strong Enough”) as well as Best Alternative Music Album (“The Record“), while female-fronted band Paramore won Best Rock Album (“This Is Why”) and Best Alternative Music Performance (“This Is Why”). The only prize that went to an entirely male act was Best Metal Performance to Metallica (“72 Seasons”).

This year’s wins do seem like the result of years of working to better represent women in rock music at the awards show, with female artists like St. Vincent, Fiona Apple and Brittany Howard all scoring wins recently, though not to the extent of this year’s near-clean sweep. I think part of it is due to alternative music taking over the rock sphere. Alternative music has been historically kinder to female artists; the first album that ever won Best Alternative Music Album was even by a woman (Sinéad O’Connor’s “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got”). Considering alternative music is more popular these days than mainstream rock, and taking into account that these genres often intertwine, it makes sense that a lot of the female musicians who have won in the rock field are also winners in the alternative field, like most of the artists mentioned above.

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But far beyond that, women have been carrying rock music for quite a while now, and it’s about time the Grammys gave them their flowers. The awards actually used to acknowledge women a bit more in the rock field in the late ’90s, with wins for Sheryl Crow and Alanis Morrissette, especially since at the time there was a gendered award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, but they quickly became very male-oriented in the new millennium. That’s insane considering acts like Paramore and Avril Lavigne were some of the biggest names in rock in the 2000s, yet Paramore only received their first Best Rock Album nomination this year, and Lavigne is Grammy-less.

The reality these days, though, is that the few rock and alternative albums that tend to receive a lot of Spotify streams and critical acclaim tend to be made by female artists. In 2020, according to Album of the Year’s year-end aggregate, the two most acclaimed albums were both by rock women: Phoebe Bridgers’s “Punisher” and Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters.” In 2022 four of the top 10 most acclaimed albums were by female alternative or rock artists or female-led bands. In 2023 the top three most acclaimed albums were also by alternative female musicians: Boygenius’s “The Record,” Caroline Polachek’s “Desire, I Want To Turn Into You” (which was egregiously snubbed by the Recording Academy), and Lana Del Rey’s “Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd.”

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But why are women ruling these genres right now? Part of it probably has to do with just how much fresher the music is. Don’t get me wrong, I love some classic Foo Fighters and Metallica as much as the next guy, but it feels like male rock music has been stalling these past few years, at least in the mainstream. People want something more unique, like Brittany Howard’s experimental rock-soul fusion or Boygenius’s more confessional brand of indie folk rock. The Grammys have certainly taken note of this, and as an organization made up of musicians, it seems like they more than anyone have made sure creativity and originality are honored. Rock voters also seem to be skewing younger, considering the inclusion of artists like Olivia Rodrigo this year.

Women dominating these categories may come with some backlash from traditional rock bros. However, as long as music keeps rocking, women will and should be at the forefront just as much as men have always been, especially in this great era for female rock and alternative musicians. I’m sure we’ll be rocking to “Not Strong Enough” and “This Is Why” for years to come.

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