Is glamglare a Women in Music Blog?

Last week, our Song Pick of the Day round-up exclusively featured female singer/songwriters. Since Elke and I do not coordinate our song selection, and the Wednesday cutoff is quite arbitrary, this is mostly coincidental. However, if you look at our #glamglarepick playlist, we do feature 50% and more women on our site.

And that is not a coincidence. When I started talking about music many years ago, I explicitly looked for female acts. Coming into the teens of the new century, something seemed to change. While there was never a lack of women performing music, the vast majority of them worked within the boundaries of the male-dominated music industry: they were the face of the operation, but much or all of the creative credits went to a male team.

Around 2010, more acts emerged where women took the creative helm. I discovered Warpaint, Grimes, Emika, Zola Jesus, and Gazelle Twin through various online channels and blogged about them on various social media sites. When Elke and I started glamglare in 2015, we continued with a strong bias toward female artists. This was challenging at first but became much easier over time as more women started songwriting and producing.

Make no mistake, we are still far from gender equality in the music industry. Female songwriters and producers are still very much in the minority. For almost every song headlined by a woman, you’ll have at least one man taking creative credit, and all-female collaborations are so rare that we point them out every time.

An important idea at glamglare is to reverse the prevalent bias and look out for female artists first. So why do we not go all out and feature only women on the site?

First, we believe that dogma does not help the cause. Good music is good music, and music made by women does not only compare to music made by other women. A diverse playlist with more than 50% female artists is a stronger statement,

Second, being inclusive is important. Making hard decisions based on gender is anachronistic and may be unfair. glamglare is all about the music: if we like a song, we put it on the site, in our playlists, and into this newsletter.

With this approach, we hope to give you a unique selection of music that shines a light on artists who are often overlooked by the music industry. With that, please read on for this week’s seven Song Picks of the Day.

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Song Pick of the Day

Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day. Thank you for following us and sharing the excitement.

It is fun when a musician comes our way, and we realize that we have known her for a long time. We saw Alexis de la Rocha live at SXSW 2016, fronting her band Lex for an utterly gorgeous and memorable show. “Running Back” is an upbeat, 90s-tinged new single under her own name about clinging on to a relationship against better knowledge.

Cream With A K is the moniker of Lee Tatlock, a multi-faceted artist who has her roots in both London and Tokyo. After her debut album in 2020, she is back with an updated, sample-based production style and lots of energy. “No Recovery” is about “dating a ‘dead beat,’” a person who takes and rarely gives. The song reflects on the combined experience of Lee’s female friends, and undoubtedly, we could also contribute a few stories from that department.

We are big fans of UK singer/songwriter Connie Constance. While we wait for new music from her, we happily take the collaboration “Get in The Ride” with NYC musician Quantic, who managed to put an elaborate production beneath Connie’s vocals without drowning it.

The LA-via-London singer/songwriter Enny Owl came up with a pandemic project to spark her creativity. She asked her fans for their first names and mental state and turned them into songs. “Alina” tells the story of a young woman who librates herself from religious oppression. The soaring song comes with beautiful visuals, too.

Singer/songwriter Ed Riman makes music under the name Hilang Child. We met him earlier this year in person when he drummed for Helen Ganya. His latest song, “Picture Hanging,” is an elaborate production about “the meaning and memories held within the unassuming physical objects around you.”

In “Golden Eyes,” Quebec singer/songwriter Margaux Sauvé, aka Ghostly Kisses, reflects on confessing love to a very good friend over an elegant and intimate production. She reveals: “The lyrics were inspired by a revelation from a fan we met on tour, about how hard and vertiginous it can be to express our true feelings to someone that we really love.”

Ernest Rareberrg is an artist from Brooklyn. His new song “Chromatic Fantasy, and Feud” is a fusion of power pop and indie rock, and you quite never know where the song goes next.

Nine Photos for a Glimpse into 25 Shared Years

This week, Oliver and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, or “Silberhochzeit,” as we call it in German. Naturally, we wanted to feature some photos, but… where to possibly start? Selecting only nine is not nearly one photo per year, so the following is only a snapshot of what I quickly picked from my computer desktop and some friends & family folders. All special moments, though, and happy memories!

1 - Times Square, November 2009.
2 - Lilymoore Farm, October 2022.
3 - Bar in Williamsburg, January 2010.
4 - On board the QM2, meet & greet with Midge Ure, December 2018.
5 - Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves, November 2019.
6 - Paris Bar with Elke’s sister, December 2006.
7 - With friends in Greenport, August 2012.
8 - On board the Queen Victoria, March 2011.
9 - In Seattle, September 2013.