Unless you’ve been living under a rock, women have taken over pop music. And, unlike previous eras, there’s no longer one single archetype for a female pop star. Some are theatrical, others are stripped down. Some are earnest, others are sarcastic and winning. And for the most part they are malleable, embracing all genres from rap to country to EDM .
With Women’s History Month in full swing, we thought we’d highlight five game-changing female pop debuts that have changed the music scene. From Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour to Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess all of these albums were released within the last five years.
Release date: March 29, 2019
Billie Eilish redefined pop music upon the release of her daring introductory 2019 LP
The album was recorded DIY-style with her older brother Finneas, but you wouldn’t know it; heavily influenced by the SoundCloud era of the mid 2010s, Eilish’s sound takes listeners to places unknown. Over darkly lucid soundscapes and vocal transfiguring, the singer-songwriter embodied fantasies that mercurial teenage girls would be scolded from saying aloud.
The album was both a critical and commercial smash, it debuted at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart with 313,000 album-equivalent units consumed. And next year Billie would dominate the Grammys: winning Best New Artist, Song and Record of the Year (“Bad Guy”) and Album of the Year, becoming the first artist to hit all four in a single ceremony.
Release date: October 4, 2019
Props to Summer Walker for being willing to tell the truth.
The R&B vocalist sings what all women want to express when they’re at their wits end with toxic relationships. On her 2019 classic debut Over It, Walker modernizes 1990s and early 2000s R&B samples while sharing lessons learned from heartbreak.
Between solo grooves, she taps collaborators whose music she was raised on, like Usher and Jhené Aiko, who share Walker’s deep feelings about romance. The way that Summer was able to merge hip-hop and R&B sounds, while utilizing various rap flows makes it one of the most influential R&B albums of the last five years.
Release date: May 21, 2021
“Drivers License” was a smash right out of the gate. Released in January 2021, the song—a ballad about a relationship coming to an end—marked Olivia Rodrigo’s debut. In a sense, it was also a reintroduction to Rodrigo, who had been a Disney Channel child star.
But more than that, the song was a pump fake for her debut album, SOUR, which was more spunky and energetic than the melancholy single. And somehow Olivia quickly became the voice of gen z by tapping into ’90s punk nostalgia—making an album that both parents and kids could enjoy together.
SOUR was a smash right away, debuting at No. 1 with nearly 300,000 equivalent units sold, and it broke the global Spotify record for the biggest opening week for an album by a female artist.
Release Date: September 22, 2023
Chappell Roan is a lesson in perseverance.
She first released her breakout single, “Pink Pony Club,” in 2020. At the time, her label, Atlantic, was against the song being a single, and it tanked. By August of that year, she was dropped, but she managed to secure ownership of the song’s masters. That turned out to be a fortunate move.
Three years later, the song was re-released and went on to dominate pop music. It was featured as the lead single for Roan’s official debut album,The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, one of the most joyful and theatrical pop releases in recent memory. Written and produced with Dan Nigro (who’s worked with Olivia Rodrigo), the album features vivid storytelling that’s both charming and evocative, paired with some of the catchiest hooks you’ll ever hear.
But the real strength lies in Roan’s voice—powerful yet versatile. Released late in 2023, the album wasn’t an instant blockbuster. But, again, perseverance proved key: by summer, it was clear Roan had become a star. She found herself performing at Lollapalooza, playing in front of a record crowd for a daytime act.
Release Date: August 30, 2024
You want a boundary-pushing hip-hop listen? Look no further than Doechii. The Tampa-born rapper and singer went from the swamp to a Grammy win on her 2024 mixtape, Alligator Bites Never Heal, and brought traditional hip-hop storytelling into her atypical world.
On the project, Doechii commands your attention through eccentric rhyme schemes, animated delivery and fearlessness, placing her in the pantheon of nonconformist MCs. The album wasn’t a huge seller but its creative impact could be felt right away—with her performances on Tiny Desk and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert going viral.
Alligator Bites Never Heal ended up winning the Best Rap album award at the Grammys. (Where she gave one of the best speeches of the night.)
Technically a mixtape, a debut album Doechii is in works. But the impact of this project can’t be denied.
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