Girls Write Nashville in the studio in 2019
Only 2 percent of producers in popular music are women, according to a study published in 2019 by the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. The same research found that less than 10 percent of the 899 individuals nominated for a Grammy between 2013 and 2019 were women. A 2019 study by musicologist Dr. Jada E. Watson concluded that between 2010 and 2019, fewer than one in eight songs played on country radio — only 12.4 percent — was by a female artist. Despite conversations about equality being more public than ever, and despite women winning in many major categories at this year’s Grammy Awards, sexism and gender bias continue to exist in every branch of the music industry.
Those discouraging numbers are just one reason Jen Starsinic and Georgia English founded Girls Write Nashville, a nonprofit songwriting mentorship program that is free to middle- and high-school-age girls who attend a Title 1 school in Davidson County. Since its inaugural season in 2017, the organization has helped dozens of local girls sharpen their songwriting and production skills, with their efforts culminating in the release of a compilation CD and record release show. The fourth installment, as with everything these days, came with new challenges — but getting over those hurdles yielded surprising results.
“Definitely the recording process was harder this year,” Starsinic tells the Scene. “Normally we could go into a studio and all the girls would be there and our all-female studio band we hired would be there, and it’s a really fun, in-person time. We had to record remotely, which really put a lot more onus on the girls. We used a platform called BandLab, and the good thing about it is that it forced us to give a deeper crash course on home recording, which is awesome. Their songs sound so much more unique and so much more like them.”
The songs are as diverse as the young women who created them. And don’t for one minute think that because teens are behind the mic, the music is in any way lacking. Stevie Wonder and Lorde were both just 15 when they wrote their respective hits “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” and “Royals.” Billie Eilish says she was 13 when she recorded “Ocean Eyes,” the song credited for launching her career. This ain’t Kidz Bop, OK? Still, that ageist stigma can get in the girls’ heads.
“Sometimes the kids will be like, ‘Oh, thank you, I’m glad you like my song, I mean it’s not really like a real song,’ ” says Starsinic. “And I’m just like, ‘Hold up, rewind, you are a real songwriter, this is a real song.’ ”
Girls Write Nashville in the studio in 2019
She’s not wrong. Opening track “Toxic Love” by eighth-grader Gentry is a sample-filled, syrupy and sensitive hip-hop track that would sound at home on Noname’s 2016 album Telefone. Lee’s “Pandemic” is a headbang-worthy storm of doom metal with the kind of guttural screams so many of us wanted to unleash at the height of lockdown. The song “Bad Dreams” by Alora is especially potent. She addresses America’s racism as she raps, “And sad tastes like a curse word now / Mad ’cause the cops can hurt them now / They get standing ovations for killing us / And once the show is over they’ll be billing us.”
There is legitimately great music to be heard here. But whether or not these songs will result in a music career isn’t the point, says Starsinic. To simply create is a refreshing goal in a music-industry-driven city designed to pluck music superstars out of the karaoke bar.
“It’s a lot to push on the kids,” says Starsinic. “The anxiety level in our schools is so high, and educational data is pointing more and more that we need to make opportunities for students that aren’t so achievement-oriented.”
To celebrate the release of Sing Through the Quarantine, Girls Write Nashville is hosting a drive-in listening party on Sunday, March 28. WXNA will broadcast the album in full during Teen Power Radio Hour at 2:30 p.m., and everyone is invited to drive down to the United Way of Greater Nashville’s parking lot at 250 Venture Circle and listen together. It’s free, and there will be goodie bags full of snacks and stickers from sponsors including Krispy Kreme, Tiff’s Treats and Kernels Gourmet Popcorn.
“Most of these kids aren’t going to become professional musicians, but hopefully they keep making art and always have that in their lives,” says Starsinic. “They can carry that in whatever they do, whether it’s music or whatever industry. They know they deserve to be respected and heard.”
