Am I sexist?

[switch842]

Story time....

Hubby and I have very different musical tastes. He mostly listens to the local Top 40 Pop type station (The Mix) and similar stations. I listen to the rock/alternative station (Q101). As you can imagine, when we are in the car, there is a lot of station flipping going on. He noticed a trend a while back that pretty much whenever there was a female singer on, I would change the station, so one day he asked what I had against female singers. I thought about it for a moment cos I didn't think I had anything against female singers. After a little consideration, I came to the point that it wasn't that the singers were necessarily female, just that females are most likely to make the sort of bubble gum electro-pop that I basically despise. Hubby accepted this and we moved on.

Fast forward a few weeks and here come Glee. Specifically, here come The Warblers with their cover of Teenage Dream. Now, Katy Perry is basically in my Top 5 of "Oh, dear God, please go away and stop existing" musical artists. However, I CANNOT GET ENOUGH of Darren and The Warblers and their cover of this song.

For some reason, I am greatly disturbed by this. Am I sexist? Do I just dislike all female singers? A friend asked me who my favorite female singer was, and I pretty much couldn't answer.

I am so confused by this for most likely no reason at all and I should just stop thinking and enjoy whatever music I enjoy. But this is disturbing me....

Comments

[theemdash]

Personally, I find the Glee version of the song more interesting. It's not just Darren vs. Katy for me. It's the way the voices are the instruments, the way they blend together, the way they sound as a group.

So, I don't think liking that version better has anything to say about you as a sexist listener; I think it is just a better version of the song.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

I think it is just a better version of the song.

That's kind of what I was hoping. LOL Cos I do like the a capella stuff, that's really interesting to me and sort of eliminates the electro-pop crap part of the song that I don't really like. So, yeah.... heh

[theemdash]

CONGRATULATIONS, YOU HAVE TASTE!!!! :D


This coming from the person who's favorite band is My Chemical Romance.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

WOOHOO!! ;-)

Dude, MCR rocks. Don't even. LOL :-D

[theemdash]

LOL. I've been listening to Danger Days on repeat since it came out. I'm like, "Christmas music wut"

[switch842.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've been mainlining 30 Seconds to Mars for the last month or so. Cannot get enough of them.

[theemdash]

I'm not such a fan of them, but hearing that you are enjoying them makes me happy.

[ctrokj.livejournal.com]

it could be that you just don't like the vocal range that the female singers get to. I know that whenever Justin TImberlake comes on or even a song that SOUNDS like it's going to be him I turn the radio off in a heart beat. then there is the whole "Dear god why are they trying to break the glass in my window" voices that could be it as well.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about that. Cos I enjoy when the girls sing on Glee, for instance. And they can definitely get up there in the high range.

[ctrokj.livejournal.com]

so there is your answer. it's the style of music you don't like and the females just bring it more then the males. :D not sexist at all.

[daniel-shadow.livejournal.com]

Definitely not sexist hun. I think you just like what you like. Like you I do too adore Daren Criss' version of the song.

I think you should not think about this further and enjoy listening to what you like.

Let's put this another way, you do like women in the creative arts like Beth Riesgraf so I would not think about this anymore.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

LOL

Thanks, hon. ((HUGS))

Oh, hey! Would be up for doing a quick beta for me? It's a Wincest story that you betad the first part for way back when.... :-)

[daniel-shadow.livejournal.com]

Sure babe!! LOL. When do you need the comments back by? Email me. I can definitely send them back to you today. I will also try and get on the chat here ast work later during lunch time.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

Oh, whenever. There's no rush on this at all. If it takes a few days, that's fine. I need to do one final edit/review before I send it over. Should be later today, though. :-)

[discodiva76.livejournal.com]

The only two female singers that I have any time for, and albums from, are Sarah McLachlan and KD Lang...both Canadian and awesome...

The rest can go whistle for all I care....


Oh and many years ago I had a very soft spot for Annie Lennox when she was in the Eurythmics...


Deeds xx

[switch842.livejournal.com]

LOL

I will agree with you on Annie Lennox. She is quite amazing. I did like Sarah for awhile there, but a neighbor in my college dorm basically ruined her for me by playing one song (SONG) of hers on repeat for HOURS at a time at full blast. OMG STOP!!

[littleheaven70.livejournal.com]

I also prefer male artists. It's not a conscious thing, I've just discovered that the majority of what I listen to is by guys - I think to an extent it's due to what you grew up with. When I first got into music, in my teens (the mid 80's) there were very very few female artists and bands that were really big. I'm not sure if my ear got attuned to male voices or whether I just prefer the energy of a guy singing. Some of my favourite songs are by women, but my iTunes library is at least 70% male. You're right in that, generally, men sing a different style of music than women, though of course there is crossover.

There have been some favourite females. I was hugely into Madonna, and Sarah McLachlan. And we won't talk about that period in the 90's where I was obsessed with The Spice Girls. *cough*

With regards to different versions of songs, I've loved some remakes of songs I previously disliked. Alient Ant Farm's version of Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal is a standout. And just to prove it works the other way to your Katy Perry example, there's an artist called Jenny Owen Youngs who did a fantastic indie-folk version of Nelly's Hot In Herre which I just adore.

In summary, I don't think you are sexist. You're not saying "I won't give this artist a chance because they're female." You just prefer the kind of music that isn't necessarily predominantly made by women.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. I grew up mostly in the 80s, too, and mostly with the hair metal music my brothers listened to. So, yeah. I totally get what you're saying.

[epicycles.livejournal.com]

Eh, if it's a genuine preference for a certain kind of music I don't think you can call it sexist -- maybe the industry is sexist for only promoting artists who fit into their arbitrary girl-pop guy-rocker boxes so you are less able to find female singers performing the music you enjoy.

What kind of music do you like? Maybe try entering one of your favorite songs/bands into Pandora and listening to what comes up, to see if you like female singers who have a similar style.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

maybe the industry is sexist for only promoting artists who fit into their arbitrary girl-pop guy-rocker boxes

I like this. I'm gonna go with this theory. LOL :-D

[or-mabinogi.livejournal.com]

Most of the female artists I like probably remain unknown to those who only listen to Top 40 type music. I like Lady Gaga to some extent but prefer Kylie Minogue. I'll stop and listen to Ladytron and Miss Kittin too, and while Peaches can be fun sometimes I can't say that I've listened to Pink all that much. The Knife has an amazing sound, but it's only half female as her brother sings half the time.

But I have no real favorites and I don't really think about whether I have a proper quota of any particular gender listed under my Like category. I can say with certainty that Katy Perry does not fall anywhere on any list of mine. She just doesn't interest me.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

I don't think necessarily that I think I need to have/like listening to female artists, necessarily. It's just the sudden LOVE of this song that I despised when done by someone else just completely threw me off my rocker for some reason. As I said, I'm sure I was just over thinking it and it's really not that complicated. :-)

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

I like a few female singers, but I have to admit, I was asking myself the SAME question of myself a short while ago.

Simply put, female singers these days that are featured on the radio aren't very interesting, they sing only about lost love or partying (like many boy-pop bands, too, make no mistake) and well...their songs are shitty.

I do like some women singers, but not nearly as many as the guys. They tend to shriek their songs (the girls). They tend not to have much melody. They tend to sing the same refrains over and over and over.

HOWEVER, I do LOVE women singers/musicians from earlier eras, when they actually SANG music, with melodies, with "stories", and they don't hurt my ears.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

HOWEVER, I do LOVE women singers/musicians from earlier eras, when they actually SANG music, with melodies, with "stories", and they don't hurt my ears.

YES. I've been thinking on it further and I do enjoy the female singers from earlier (50s/60s and even before. Etta James is AMAZING), so I do think my original assessment of my musical tastes to my husband was correct and female singers today are just shit.

[eviljr.livejournal.com]

huh, that's interesting cause I'm kinda in the same boat. I think it has more to do with the style of music. I listen to more rock/alternative like you. That genre just has more male then female artist I guess. Have you ever listened to Halestorm? They're like the only lead female rock group I listen to.

[switch842.livejournal.com]

I have not heard of Halestorm. I may need to check them out.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

I'm kina biased on this, as I have no real female singer I enjoy - for the same reasons you can't find one, lol! Well...I can't really say that. I like Pink, lol!! But I understand your dilemma and no, sweetie you are not sexist. Just particular!

*hugs you tight*

[switch842.livejournal.com]

:-)