Gender Criticism and Popular Music Studies: Envisioning Women Artists and Why France Begs to Differ

Abstract

This article considers contemporary analysis of women in popular music and in French chanson, focusing in particular on the celebration of female agency and identity as an Anglo-American phenomenon less typical in France. It hypothesizes that while some critical approaches function well as templates across cultures, others do not transfer as automatically, due to women's roles in shaping French popular music historically, the subversive and elastic nature of the chanson genre lyrically and formally, and the relevance of national pride to French criticism and commercialization anthropologically. Anglo-American studies are foregrounded in order to emphasize stark contrasts and possible future directions for research regarding France. The primary objectives are to note theoretical stances in the field of popular music and gender and to consider why commentary on women in French music today has its own unique criteria and biases.