International Women’s Day: inspirational female artists in their own words

8 March 2025, 13:33

For International Women's Day on 8th March, let's take a look at the words of wisdom from some of the greatest female artists in music.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. "It's not important to me that people understand me."

   Kate Bush to the Toronto Star, 1993

   

2. "At the end of the day, I don't have to answer to you, or my ex, or ... I shouldn't say God ... or a man in a suit from the record company. I have to answer to myself."

   Amy Winehouse to The Guardian, February 2004

   

3. "This career has not been a big float on a boat of success. It’s been up and down, up and down. I guess you have to learn to live with that, that you’re determined and if this is what you do and who you are, maybe that is what makes you an icon.”

   Debbie Harry to SPIN, 2021

   

4. "Offstage is the real world. Onstage is when there’s no rules, and I spit all over everything."

   Hayley Williams to The Cut, 2023

   

5. "I thought our story and the stories of people like us was kinda getting whitewashed and trampled over with people talking about Britpop on and on and on. There was a massive rock scene, there was a massive drum and bass scene. My band was very successful at the same time as Britpop.”

   Skin of Skunk Anansie to Radio X, 2020

   

6. "I lacked confidence and suffered from shyness, but performing is something you learn. This is who I am, so performing is an act of defiance."

   Shirley Manson to The Guardian, 2022

   

7. “In this female genre, we’ve sold more than anyone. We’ve sold more than the metal boys. But it bugs me. I like there to be some testosterone in rock and it’s like, I’m the one in the dress who has to provide it!

   Courtney Love to Q Magazine, 1995

   

8. "We can play rock'n'roll, but we ignore it, shove it in a corner. We don't see ourselves in the same context as rock'n'roll groups. We're out on a limb. It is dangerous, but it excites us, makes it worthwhile."

   Siouxsie Sioux to Paul Morley of the NME, 1978

   

9. "Men are f**king terrified that whatever they say, I’ll have a problem with — but that’s because they’re not listening. I’m not intimidating at all. It’s just that I’m not submissive.”

   Rebecca Taylor, aka Self Esteem to The Standard, 2023

   

10. "That’s what you want to do all along – to move from playing to actually writing something, to go from being one part of the band to feeling that something you’ve done is out there in the world."

    Gillian Gilbert to The Quietus, 2020

    

11. "Later in Pulp’s career I was thinking of groups that had written hit songs that never got forgotten, and I thought, ‘Oh, I wish we’d written one of those.’ Then I thought, ‘Oh, we have'."

    Candida Doyle of Pulp to Uncut, 2023

    

12. "There’s a part of me that loves glamour, and there’s another part that could go camping for seven months and wear the same thing every day and be dirty and disgusting and feel happy doing that."

    Alanis Morissette, to SPIN, 2022

    

13. "I think that the work of an artist is to really keep the imaginative capacity alive that we have as children. As a child, we can create anything out of nothing, and do, on a daily basis. And I find that in order to remain an active and creative artist, I have to keep tapping into that same place."

    PJ Harvey to NPR, 2023

    

14. "It turned into an issue that caught me by surprise... because of [Ash's] massive female fan base. A lot of them thought I was Tim's girlfriend. It quickly became quite obvious that people weren't actually interested in the musicianship; all they cared about was the image which was disappointing."

    Charlotte Hatherley of Ash to the ICMP, 2019

    

15. "I think there probably was a time when it was possible to survive fame, but I think now you have to be a very unusual kind of person to deal with it."

    Justine Frischmann to The Guardian 2002

    

16. "Oasis weren’t industry plants, and neither are we."

    Abigail Morris of The Last Dinner Party to Variety, 2024