Last weekend saw the triple J wrap up the 2018 edition of the Hottest 100. The first since its inception to not take place on January 26th, this year’s was a milestone edition of the countdown. It was also a big one for the representation of female artists, with figures surging up from previous years.
Camp Cope bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich has addressed gender diversity following the triple J’s Hottest 100 on the weekend.
Of the 100 songs that made this year’s list, 49 featured at least one female artist, with 23 coming from female solo performers, two from bands featuring an all-female lineup, and 22 featuring at least one woman either as a band member or as a collaborator.
These figures are in stark contrast to last year’s countdown, 66% of which was made up of all-male artists, 14% solo female artists, and 8% with at least one female member.
Speaking with triple J’s Gemma Pike, Camp Cope bassist Kelly-Dawn Hellmrich says that while this year’s figures are “definitely getting closer [to balanced]…. there’s still way more work to do.”
“I think the fact we’re still talking about it shows there’s still more work to do because this is such a topic of conversation when we talk about diversity in music.”
Referring to the the ‘Confidence Gap’ between men and women in creative industries, Hellmrich elaborated:
“I think people argue there’s not enough women in music and it’s really ignorant. They’ll look at those statistics and say, ‘there you go, there’s not as many women making music as men’ and I think that is super-ignorant because what there is, is an industry that grinds away at the confidence of women and that can really deter them from making music or feeling like they can succeed.”
She continued:
“It’s definitely a societal problem, not just music. It trickles down into music, it’s everywhere. We see it right now in Hollywood, in sports, in every workplace you can imagine. What we need to do, I think, is that when women speak and they tell you that they’re not being listened to or respected, we need to listen. I think that’s going to be the contributing factor.”
Camp Cope came in at number 58 in this year’s Hottest 100 with their tune, The Opener, an impassioned criticism of sexism that permeates the music industry.
“I know for a fact, as a women who plays music, the #1 question we’re asked over and over again is what it’s like to be a woman in music,” Hellmrich said. “And when we say [what it’s like], it seems people just are very hyper-critical and say that we’re whining or that we play the gender card, or something like that. We’re constantly asked what we can do and when we speak up about it, women are silenced in that way. Listen when women tell you there’s a problem.”
Read more via triple J.
