Cam Calls Out Country Music’s Gender Problem in Sharp Tweets
When the Country Artist of the Year is unveiled at the iHeart Radio Music Awards on March 11th, one thing is for sure: a man is going to win. That’s because there isn’t a single woman in contention, a fact that Cam noted Tuesday on Twitter, using the slight as an example around which to discuss some of the bogus reasoning she’s been fed to justify the genre’s huge gender disparity.
“The majority of country listeners are female (actually true) but apparently we prefer listening [to] male singers so we can ‘dream about them being [our] boyfriend’ (actually said to me),” she tweeted. “Sure hope #iHeartAwards picks the hottest one, cause that’s all my lady-brain can understand!” In a separate tweet, she continued: “only a dumb person buys music solely based on their sex drive,” she wrote. “That’s not the majority of listeners and isn’t driving sales. I’m saying female consumers are being underestimated/incorrectly blamed for the lack of female artists.”
The majority of country listeners are female (actually true) but apparently we prefer listening male singers so we can “dream about them being [our] boyfriend” (actually said to me). Sure hope #iHeartAwards picks the hottest one, cause that’s all my lady-brain can understand! https://t.co/gWx09SlQJI
— Cam (@camcountry) February 20, 2018
Cam’s comments come at a time when there is only one solo female country artist in the first 30 slots of the February 17th Billboard Country Airplay chart, and awards shows like iHeart and the Grammys are heavily weighted towards male performers and nominees – not to mention festivals, some of which barely contain a female presence and rarely ever in a headlining role. Cam’s terrific new single, “Diane,” peaked at 44 on Country Airplay, while songs about women but not sung by them, like Keith Urban’s “Female,” linger near the top.
Women in country music have been told that women don’t want to listen to other women for years – Keith Hill, who famously likened women to tomatoes in the salad of male artists, claimed that “women like male artists.” Kelleigh Bannen tweeted about the phenomenon back in January, writing that she “was told ‘the numbers still say women don’t want to listen to other women’ in a meeting on Wed. People have been saying this to me for 8 years. I practically have my doctorate in people saying this to me.” Research has proven otherwise, which Cam addressed in conversation on her Twitter feed.
Yes, i used that word bc only a dumb person buys music solely based on their sex drive. That’s not the majority of listeners and isn’t driving sales. I’m saying female consumers are being underestimated / incorrectly blamed for the lack of female artists.
— Cam (@camcountry) February 20, 2018
“It’s educating the gatekeepers about the false biases they have,” she wrote as a way to help resolve the issue. “Not all women listen to music the same way (duh there are billions of us). So they should find new predictors (not just gender) for what women will buy/stream and hire more women to help with these insights.
The iHeart Radio Music Awards aren’t alone in only presenting men with the top trophy: at November’s CMAs, there were zero women nominated for Entertainer of the Year (Garth Brooks took the title). A woman hasn’t won Entertainer of the Year at the CMAs since Taylor Swift in 2011. Thomas Rhett was named iHeart’s Country Artist of the Year in 2017 and is nominated again this year alongside Blake Shelton, Sam Hunt, Luke Bryan and Jason Aldean.
Id say it’s educating the gatekeepers about the false biases they have. Not all women listen to music the same way (duh there are billions of us). So they should find new predictors (not just gender) for what women will buy/stream and hire more women to help with these insights.
— Cam (@camcountry) February 20, 2018