Close your eyes and picture an electronic artist. You pictured a man, right? Probably a white man. Probably a man in his thirties, forties or even older. Very probably a man dressed in a t-shirt and cargo pants, a bit like a landscape gardener. Youth and good looks tend not to matter overly in the electronic world. It’s just one of the aspects that make it such a positive space to create. Electronic music has arguably never been bigger than it is right now, with artists like Fred again, Four Tet, Skrillex and Jamie xx headlining festivals and selling out shows across the globe. Historically, though, it’s been a male-dominated genre.
However, green shoots of change have started appearing. Brat Green shoots, actually. It might feel like the “Brat” phenomenon birthed by Charli xcx’s career-defining album has been discussed to death by now. But what nobody seems to be talking about is its most promising legacy: the space it’s carved out for female electronic artists, one that’s been long deserved and needed. Charli’s lyric “I wanna dance to me” from viral hit “Club Classics” is bold, assured, loudly confident in taking up that space. She’s unwilling to sit back and act modest about her achievements and it’s so refreshing. That same energy radiates through every video of Charli commanding the decks at her PARTYGIRL club nights from New York to London to Ibiza this summer, surrounded by surging, euphoric crowds.
Brat Summer might be over, but we have an autumn to look forward to that’s positively blooming with new electronic albums by incredibly talented women. What’s even more worthy of celebration is that, while pop is currently dominated by white women barely in their mid-twenties (Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Chappell Roan), most of these emerging electronic talents are women of colour, or women in their 30s and over, even both. For them, and many other female artists coming up on their heels, it might be that the electronic world gives the opportunity to be judged on merit rather than the more superficial attributes the music industry normally uses to gatekeep success.
Here are four artists you need to listen to and see live this autumn:
Nia Archives
British artist and producer Nia Archives was nominated for the Mercury Prize alongside Charli xcx for her debut album “Silence is Loud”, released in April. Just the appearance of two female electronic artists on the list feels like evidence of the industry finally taking women seriously here. It’s just the latest in a line of awards and nominations Nia Archives has amassed over the past few years. Fusing several genres, she describes her music as “modern day punk in a dance space”. Inspired by jungle and drum ‘n’ bass, singles “Cards on the Table” and “Unfinished Business” are swirling, frenetic songs with inescapable pop hooks. Nia is also, like Charli, unafraid to bring the personal and confessional to a genre that has often been characterised as the opposite. Nia Archives tours Europe in November this year.
Kelly Lee Owens
The buzz has been slowly building around Welsh electronic artist and DJ Kelly Lee Owens this year and it’s long deserved. Owens now has the „Brat“ seal of approval, having played a set at the Ibiza PARTYGIRL in July. With three critically acclaimed albums to her name already, there’s now much anticipation surrounding the release of “Dreamstate” – on 18th October. It’s also the first album release by DH2, the electronic-leaning imprint of Dirty Hit, that’s being spearheaded by The 1975 drummer and creative mastermind George Daniel. Kelly Lee Owens debuted lead single “Love You Got” at the DH2 launch party at cult London club Phonox in July to a rapturous crowd, including Daniel and Charli xcx. “Love You Got” and other lead singles “Sunshine” and “Higher” all showcase Lee Owens’ distinctive, euphoric house sound, influenced by 90s electronic artists including Bjork and the Chemical Brothers. Her star is rising rapidly but her feet are firmly on the ground, her voice ever authentic: “I come from a working-class background. Everything I’ve created, I’ve created myself…I’m very DIY”. Kelly Lee Owens tours Europe in October and November.
TSHA
London-based TSHA has spent the past few years building her reputation as the next electronic superstar. She won rave reviews for her debut album “Capricorn Sun” in 2022, which was BBC R1 Dance’s Album of the Year. Fusing UK garage, rave and melodic house, TSHA’s producer skills are as much in evidence as her talent as a writer and artist. She recalls her early days playing in clubs and being “the only female DJ who had my own equipment. People would laugh at me while I was setting up.” Having won Producer of the Year at the Music Tech awards in 2022, nobody is laughing at her now. Powerhouse singles “Can’t Dance” and “Girls”, a collaboration with rising pop act Rose Gray, give a flavour of why her second album “Sad Girl”, released on September 27th, is so anticipated.
The Blessed Madonna
It seems odd to think of The Blessed Madonna (real name Marea Stamper) as a new electronic act, since she’s been releasing music for over a decade now, including incredible remixes for pop’s biggest artists including Dua Lipa, Ariana Grande and Robyn. For years before that, she was honing her skills as a top-flight DJ and has been called “one of the world’s most exciting turntablists”. Even those who think they’ve never heard of her will know her from Fred again’s track “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)”, the quintessential hymn to Covid life, losses and the spiritual experience created through dance music that was a highlight of his summer headline shows at Reading & Leeds festival. Marea is such an integral part of the electronic scene that there could be no one more appropriate to put that into words. Finally, at the age of 46, she’s releasing her debut studio album “Godspeed” on 11th October. In an ideal world, her age should be irrelevant, but how many other debut albums by women on the edge of their 50s, and queer women at that, can you name? At the moment, The Blessed Madonna is truly bringing her unforgettable words from “Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)” into reality: “If I can live through this, what comes next will be marvellous.” Tracks released so far, including the glittering, hi-energy Kylie Minogue collaboration “Edge of Saturday Night”, indicate that “Godspeed” will be inescapable on any dancefloor this autumn.