Queens of Music, Masters of Style
What does a photographer who is also a Halloween enthusiast who also sings in a ‘90s cover band do with her new studio while under quarantine?
Step 1: Resist. Deny. Barter. Pout.
Step 2: Engage in heavy nostalgia, watching re-runs of Boy Meets World and listening to a playlist of Billboard top 100 hits from 1993.
Step 3: Notice a proliferation of cheap wigs, vintage and thrift store shopping gems, and bags of items waiting to be donated.
Step 4: Lightbulb.
One part self-preservation, equal parts boredom and a love of female musicians and the clothes they inspire, this photo project came with strict guidelines: Pay homage to one female musician each year from 1970-2019 who appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 that year using only items already found in my Austin apartment.
2010: Lady Gaga
“Bad Romance” Reaches #8
At year-end 2010, Lady Gaga had 4 singles on the Billboard 100, but “Paparazzi” remains my favorite. The video, more akin to a short film, features Alexander Skarsgård and …
OK. Now that you’re back from checking out Skarsgård: Accomplishing (to a meager extent) this look involved pantyhose as a belt, black eyeliner as lipstick, and a lot of Photoshop trickery to turn my green St. Patrick’s Day wig closer to blonde. I’m clearly missing the Mickey Mouse animation on the yellow jumpsuit, but you get it.
It’s not easy to talk about Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta’s style in any accessible way - it’s simultaneously not haute couture and also not for the masses. A woman who looks equally disarming in a meat dress as a black velvet gown, her look is unimitatable, partly because it’s always shifting.
2011: Nicki Minaj
“Super Bass” Reaches #3
I love juxtaposition. So I love the “Super Bass” video. It’s one thing to put Katy Wonderbread Perry in a bright, fluffy, bubble-gum colored wonderland. It’s another thing to put Nicki Minaj in one.
In late 2017, Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty made history by surpassing Aretha Franklin for having the most total appearances by a woman on the Billboard 100 chart - 76 appearances. That’s not for women of color. That’s for any woman, in any genre, in the chart’s 58-year history. Why does nobody talk about this?
I love her. I love her music. I love this video. I even like when she speaks in a fake cockney accent. But her impact on fashion is essentially to keep the ball of outlandish outfits rolling. For a description of Nicki Minaj’s style aesthetic, see the description above. Or just google “Cardi B style.” Art imitates art imitates art.
2012: Carly Rae Jepsen
“Call Me Maybe: Reaches #1
This song is the musical version of Regina George asking “Why are you so obsessed with me?” Because, seriously, why were we?
According to ABC News and Readers’ Digest, it’s because it’s actually kind of bad. The lyrics are so simple that anyone can repeat ad nauseum. The musical incongruity of rhyming “crazy” with “maybe” catches the ear. It’s also conceptually incongruous to command “call me” and caveat it with “maybe.” (It also brings up issues of consent and female demuremeness, but I won’t be a buzzkill) It’s highly compressed and, at a speed of 120 bps, literally keeps the listener in an aural comfort zone.
Annnnyway. I loved the song. I also loved the album cover - socks with heels, over panythose? Yeah, sure. I did that for about a month. Ignoring how dumb that was mirrored the experience of liking the song.
2013: Lana Del Rey
“Summertime Sadness” Reaches #6
When I first posted this photo, a friend responded with a picture of a rose smoking a cigarette. Yeah, that’s Lana Del Rey.
Her style - musically and otherwise- is straight-up old Hollywood, with dresses that would make a Modcloth buyer weep and vintage hairstyles inspired by the ‘40s or ‘70s, depending on the day. She also trends toward ‘80s hip-hop accessories, all of which combine to lend credibility to her claim that she’s a “gangsta Nancy Sinatra.”
Musically, her brand is as consistent as it is caricature. Grew up too fast? Check, if one presumes she was one of the “babies table dancing at the local dive.” A “taste for men who older?” Check. Drug and alcohol influences? Maybe a little. After announcing in her debut album her dedication to a man who loves her “with every beat of his cocaine heart,” she never really strayed. And I am still not tired of it.
2014: Iggy Azalea
“Fancy” Reaches #1
No doubt, I’m a fan of the Clueless-inspired video for Iggy Azalea’s biggest hit. But this shoot was inspired by the high-waisted, leg-exposing, crop-top clad, ponytail-grabbing, Adidas-rocking, lyrical rollercoaster that is “Work.”
Think I’m joking? This song made me a fan of this woman, hustler, and very likely textbook narcissist. I’ve rewatched it dozens of times and cut up my favorite workout pants to make these ridiculous shorts. She’s the reason I started wearing - and now own 26 - crop tops. (I counted.)
She also belongs to an unfortunate group of female rappers who share writing credits with at least half a dozen men. Which is a shame, because I regularly walk around the house spitting the tongue-twisting phrase “Ran through the bullshit like a Matador/Just made me madder and adamant to go at em/And even the score” like someone is paying ME.
2015: Tove Lo
“Habits (Stay High)” Reaches #16
The smash /sleeper / long-running hit “Habits” by my favorite out-of-control Swede actually reached #3 in 2014, but I had to reserve that year for my favorite out-of-control Aussie, so here we are.
The song was released in March 2013, re-released 9 months later, and didn’t hit the charts until a full year after its initial release. But when it did, it held the highest Billboard chart position of any Swedish musician since Ace of Base reached #1 in 1994 (True story - Robyn never got higher than #7)
Swedish music history aside, Tove Lo has redefined the phrase “I woke up like this.” Her style icons include Courtney Love and Janis Joplin. Her aesthetic can best be described as a woman doing the walk of shame to a gay pride parade, and I’m here for every bit of it.
2016: Beyonce
“Formation” Reaches #10
The blogger in me wants to make jokes. The 12 years of legitimate journalism experience demands honesty: I didn’t bother to listen to “Hold Up” or any of the other songs from the Lemonade album until I took this picture. I based it completely on video stills and the Titus Andromedon parodied version from Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (go look it up).
The Associated Press named Lemonade the best album of the decade, and it felt the most relevant way to honor Queen Bey. This project forced me to listen to the album (research) after years of resisting on the basis of contrarianism. I wish I hadn’t waited, because it’s every bit as good as the masses claimed.
On a related note, I’ll get around to watching Tiger King roughly 3 years from now.
2017: Samantha Gongol
“Down” (Marian Hill) Reaches #21
What’s particularly funny about the pains I took to darken my hair for this photo is that Samantha Gongol goes blonde shortly after the “Down” video and pretty much stays that way.
Gongol makes up half of the Marian Hill music duo, along with Jeremy Lloyd (and occasionally jazz instrumentalist Steve Davit, a crowd favorite), and has never been atop the Billboard charts the way most on this list have. But they are second on my list of favorite current musical acts, directly behind the incomparable Lake Street Dive, so I jumped at the chance to include them when I noticed they made it onto the top 100 at all. Their Wikipedia page is depressingly short.
Gongol usually rocks a slicked-back ponytail, the color black, dark makeup, cropped tops, the color black, leather, tall boots, and, more often than not, the color black.
2018: Halsey
“Bad At Love” Reaches #5
I have spent roughly the last 5 years telling myself that Halsey’s music was too immature for me, (she says Panic! At The Disco changed her life) only to eventually give in, admitting that half the things I spend my life doing are too immature for me.
Quick aside - it’s really not. Her new album Manic includes songs about anxiety, drug addiction, suicide, consent, and one in particular about a miscarriage that will absolutely break you.
I actually like Halsey’s style, though it couldn’t be less like my own. I chose the video for “Bad At Love” as the inspiration for this shoot. I’m missing the tattoos (it took 4 days to get rid of the Sharpie from my Joan Jett tattoo, so doing it again was a hard pass) and I don’t have nearly enough gold chains. But the colors work, and I finally found a use for this hideously awesome jacket from my me’mere.
2019: Billie Eilish
“Bad Guy” Reaches #1
Duh.