Rachael Pazdan is a long time member of the Audiofemme community, business partner, and producer behind a few of the events that you may have loved from us.

Currently, she’s working on fascinating 2 short surveys that will help bring better products and experiences to the greater scene of musicians in New York City.

Mind taking 5 minutes to participate?

This first anonymous survey explores what prevents people from experiencing more live music, what would make NYC's music scene more accessible, and how our city could better connect New Yorkers to music and culture.

Submit Your Response

This second survey is intended to hear directly from New York City’s working musicians about what it takes to build and sustain a career here. All responses will remain anonymous and will be used to help identify where support is needed most and what meaningful solutions could look like.

Submit Your Response

Thanks a bunch you guys. Tell Rachael Happy Birthday <3

Sometimes, when you’re not ready to admit something to yourself, it comes out in other ways; bawling in the middle of a rom-com, listening to the same Phoebe Bridgers song on repeat, or reposting cryptic quotes on Substack about relationships ending or the meaning of life.

For artist and songwriter, Jilian Medford - a.k.a IAN SWEET, this phenomenon came in the form of writing an entire album that ended up prophesying the end of her relationship and a move back to her hometown of Los Angeles. While she may not have known it at the time, writing Shiverstruck served as a key to self-awareness and the freedom that comes therewith, ultimately leading her to one of the happiest places she’s ever been.

But that didn’t come without the growing pains of loneliness, isolation, and self-criticism that often precede a big breakthrough; and that’s where Shiverstruck lives.

“I feel like I’m in such a good place talking about the record and doing all the press,” says Medford, “but if I was talking about where I was at when I was making the record, it was so different…I really attribute making this record to helping me realize what I needed.”

Medford explains that her Shiverstruck era was one of the loneliest in her life. She was two years into living in New York City, where she moved for a relationship. But as many romances built on sweeping gestures do, this one started to show its cracks when her always-working partner left her feeling deeply isolated.

“I was just not a priority whatsoever…being with someone who can’t give you something… you really have to look inward for those comforts and being loved,” Medford says.

“I moved to a new place for that relationship and then was alone a lot in this big city and feeling pretty lost. And just like very small. And having to connect the dots and connect with myself again.”

You can hear the dots starting to connect on the record’s first track, “987.” Stripped down to nothing but guitar and vocals, Medford guides us through a masterclass in introspection:

“You’re sleepwalking / you’re so tired / made a mess of it all / you’re the girl in the wreckage / always knew the ending / You let the whole damn world in through your bedroom window / not so long ago / and wonder why you’re not so strong anymore”

In this song, Medford takes responsibility for some of the damage she has caused and choices she’s made, but refuses to self-abandon. She explains she’s talking to herself and the message is clear: “You’re the one causing the chaos here, you’re causing the spiral, you’re not fully taking accountability.

Once you start taking accountability, your whole world will open up,” Medford muses. “Through writing those songs, my heart has opened up and softened towards myself…I’m my own worst enemy and I really want to stop being that. Because I’m truly all I have at the end of the day.”

The rest of the album unfolds in a series of similar ruminations, but not all are set to the same sad tune. “Criminal Kissing” gives us a fun, sexy daydream about rekindling with a former lover - a funny thing to write while still in the midst of a very real relationship.

This is where the breadcrumbs to the breakup start, and the trail gets longer and longer as the album continues. If “Silver Screen” tells Medford that she’s ready to move home before she admits it to herself - Lately I’ve been missing the california rain / watching the windshield wipers wash the pain away - then “Jilian” solidifies that inkling:

Baby I’ve got those big city blues / the kind that lingers like bad news / and hangs over your head like the moon / Jilian, go on and tell him that you’re sick of it / sad singer such an idiot / bad sex and cigarettes / oh it’s a cruel world you’re living in

Medford’s voice shines as brightly as her lyrics throughout the record, which is just how she wanted it.

She recounts how she spent many years covering up her vocals, using lush production as a shield against vulnerability. “So, I just intentionally set out on this…I wanted my voice to really be the star,”

Medford says. “I wanted to sing at the top of my lungs. That’s my love, that’s my passion — to sing. I wanted it to feel very raw and in the forefront and to push myself out of my comfort zone.”

We see this vulnerability throughout the record, but especially in the intimate production of “987” and “Speed Demon” and the belt-y choruses on “Jilian” and “Silver Screen.”

She’s not holding anything back, and her vocals are delivered with the rawness and self-assuredness of someone who is pulling the wool back from their own eyes. “The album was very much searching and sifting through a lot of messiness and chaos to find more of a clear path forward for me,” Medford recounts.

From that chaos came eight tracks of lyrical and melodic gold that anybody going through a purgatorial period of transition can deeply relate to. And while each of these songs delves into the sticky and unpleasant feelings that come with loneliness and uncertainty, Medford is a shining example of the inevitability of coming out the other end, armed with a brighter perspective and deep understanding of the self.

It’s a reminder that no matter how lost we feel, we always hold the map to find our way back.

Listen to Shiverstruck and catch IAN SWEET on tour in October.

Sometimes, music has the power not only to soundtrack our lives, but transport us to a different world entirely. Annie Bui, aka pastels, does this in her latest instrumental album, Pastels World (released on July 23rd). The LA-based, Melbourne raised songwriter and producer distills her love for liminal spaces, dreamcore, and the Frutiger Aero aesthetic into seven dreamy tracks that feel like stepping into a nostalgic, somewhat sexy, underwater video game. It’s the sound of the future we all imagined growing up in the early 2000s - blue skies and green pastures intermingling seamlessly with sleek and environmentally friendly technology. A world where technology and nature work together in perfect harmony to create a peaceful equilibrium. And right now, it’s a really nice world to imagine versus the one we have (read: burning warehouses in LA, Europe on fire, AI depleting precious resources, etc). Walk with me…

Subscribe now

Pastels World opens with an elevator ding followed by twinkling synths and bubble sounds in “Coconut Island,” officially welcoming the listener to enter this alternate dimension. R&B & jazz keys progressions are accompanied with lush underwater soundscapes, melding both Bui’s aesthetic influences, like Super Mario World and y2k website landing pages with her sonic influences of D’Angelo, Janet Jackson, and SOS Band. Also a classically trained pianist, Bui often weaves in unexpected, shimmery melodies that you wouldn’t expect to be paired with a traditional R&B progression.

Bui explains that writing a solo instrumental record leaves her a lot more space to experiment with melody and structure, as opposed to when she collaborates with other artists and vocalists (definitely go listen to Blue Fantasy, a collab with vocalist Jessica Domingo released this past April that has a similar vibe but with ethereal r&b vocals). With a background in film scoring, she let her obsession with y2k screensavers, liminal spaces, and anything aquatic take the lead while she constructed a sonic landscape around them. The names of each track perfectly encapsulate the feeling of the song and where it’s supposed to transport you too - i.e. “Screensaver Dreams,” “Aqua Vista,” or “Ocean Milk.” The result is a cohesive and auditorily satisfying escape from our current world into a wet, pastel, sensory-depriving utopian alternative.

But don’t mistake its calming effect for simplicity - Pastels World is scattered with intricate delights, like the horn arrangement on “Peace of Mind” or percussion that sounds like Dolphin sonar on “Bubble Memory.” I welcome you to head to put your headphones on, clothes your eyes, and see where it takes you.

Can indies save the music industry? You’ve heard it time and time again - the music industry is cooked. The majors are signing AI deals, indie labels are getting bought up, A&R’s are using tiktok to sign artists. Then you see it; a little glimmer in the distance… what’s that? Two life-long best friends from San Diego that started a music blog during Covid. What started as a quest to counterbalance the droves of white men starting their own podcasts (no small feat) bourgeoned into a music blog, then a marketing and PR firm, and finally, a boutique distro house that kinda does all three. I chatted with the founders, Kelsey Kahla and Ashley Alderson, ahead of Grrl Music’s first ever showcase in Los Angeles (this Saturday, August 15th at The Virgil) about the evolution of Grrl Music and the state of the industry at large. They gave me hope that there’s a light at the end of the AI music slop and major monopolies.

Ashley and Kelsey don’t come off as your run-of-the-mill music industry execs - and I say that as a huge compliment (I’m allowed to talk a little smack because I’ve worked in the industry myself for 10 years). Right away on our zoom, I could feel warmth and realness emanating from the screen, which is a stark contrast from some of the sterile, Balenciaga-clad label meetings I’ve been privy to. Before Grrl Music, Ashley worked in accounting and Kelsey, her more type-B-ish BFF of 30 years, worked the odd admin job and wrote about music she loved on Tumblr. That was the earliest iteration of Grrl Music as we know it today. When both of them moved back to San Diego in 2020, they could feel the need for community that we all felt while donning our red light masks and trying out sourdough recipes and TikTok dances, so they started a podcast and online community devoted to fangirling amazing indie music. It wasn’t long until they realized there was a major gap in services available for the indie artists they were interacting with and the Wonka Factory-esque system that is the major label industrial complex.

“Our whole thing has always been about supporting independent music, because what the artists have been asked to do and handle on their own is actually ill. It’s so insane,” says Kelsey. “They’re asked to run their entire social media, they’re asked to completely produce, sometimes they mix and master their own stuff. They’re asked to do, just like crazy things that…major labels have teams to help them with. And we were like, well, that’s not fair just because they don’t have millions of streams or whatever it may be. How is that fair that they don’t get the same, if anything, they need to be developed more than say Sabrina Carpenter, right?”

So, on top of their music blog & artist discovery platform, the Grrls decided to try their hand at artist marketing / PR and now, their latest and final iteration, music distro. The distro model combines their artist services like marketing and pitching with practical distro services to get the music out there. But this is no Tunecore or Distrokid. With a small, curated roster of 40 artists, Ashley and Kelsey promise high touch relationships to every artist they sign, which is evident in the community they’ve built and the opportunities they foster, including this weekend’s showcase.

“It’s like a little community within our own community. And that’s our ethos at the end of the day, human connection and artist development. That’s what we bring to our distro,” Kelsey explains. “We sit on meetings all the time and do release schedules. We talk about what they should be doing on social media…chasing virality is not your end goal. You need to build a fanbase, and it’s slowly but surely by doing XYZ.”

It’s certainly refreshing to hear the words “virality is not your end goal” from someone running a music company in 2026. Numbers, numbers, numbers is all you’ve heard if you’re an artist who has released music in the last ten years. And while the numbers have always mattered and still do, the artist development piece is what has really been missing. Major labels scroll TikTok for the flavor of the week and pluck them from whatever corner of the internet they are from, solely because ten seconds of their acoustic song got 30 million uses on TikTok. That’s not to take away from the talented writers and artists going viral online, many of them deserve the success and attention - but are they ready for it?

Once a viral artist is signed by a major, they’re expected to produce that same lightning-strike moment again and again with new songs, while touring and keeping up their online presence. That would be pretty jarring for someone who is used to singing songs in their room or performing at their local dive. And while it sounds like the dream for many, it can lead to quick burnout for the artist and disillusionment by the label that signed them. This was evidenced in what we’ve seen from artists like Lola Young and Chappell Roan, whose quick rises to fame were followed by mandatory steps away from the spotlight to tend to their well-being.

I think a lot of people in and outside of the industry are clocking this and yearning for the slow burn to stardom that trademarked the superstars of yesteryear. I’m not saying anyone should bring back the Mickey Mouse Club or Motown Revue, but maybe there’s a different, third thing that lives between the camps of instant internet superstars and long, grueling journeys to the top. Incubators like Grrl Music feel like the types of companies that can champion this model.

“I think on the industry side of things, it’s gonna be the indies that become a really strong, stable environment, because we’ve been stressed for so long, we have the building blocks, so to speak, of what’s true to the music industry,” Kelsey says. “The majors don’t have it right now, but we do. So I think industry indie is going to be super powerful within the next few years…The majors are just, they’re making AI music so that they can get money. I mean, it’s insanity. It’s insanity.”

And she’s not wrong! With the “Big Three” major labels - Warner, Universal, and Sony - all under contract with at least one AI company, the future of an artist-centric music industry is looking especially bleak. So, we can sit around and watch the ship hit the iceberg, or maybe, just maybe, we can look to people like the Grrls as an example of how to resurrect the scrappy, imperfect indie music landscape that so many of us romanticize and shape it into something that actually serves the artists.

“We’re seeing a lot of the CEOs of major labels come from tech or some other just far-flung industry, but…they’re not the fangirl. The fangirls are the ones that run the dang industry, okay?” Okay!

If you’re in LA, definitely come out to the first ever Grrl Music Distro showcase this Saturday, August 15th at the Virgil to see what they’re all about. If not, check out the artists that will be performing below:

Click to listen <3

Subscribe now

We’ll be reporting from 5 major U.S cities: New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Austin. Check out our LA edition if you missed it:

Today, you’ll be hearing from our NYC femme on the ground, Audiofemme’s Marketing Director, Courtney Roberson:

Helllllllloooo New York. I missed y’all! I created ISO for Audiofemme because I’ve been connected with you all for 3 years and your message is clear: you need resources. I can’t even be mad at that. Creating a forum for our community to receive those resources directly from us ultimately, is the greatest iteration of our values: putting our money where our mouth is.. I intend to create a private community where you all can intimately connect, right here on Substack.

If you haven’t already, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. This month, we’ll be launching our Substack private chat, exclusive to everyone who has upgraded their subscription. Your contribution feeds our fly-wheel of writers, events, and eventually more grants. If you have any leads to opportunities around the city, please feel free to email me at courtney@audiofemme.com and we’ll share them on the next ISO: Monthly Round Up (please, no submissions for the opportunities below).

ISO: Artist Collaborations

• Songwriter and Producer Mixer on August 17th

• Seeking Female Record Producer, $2500

  • Submit links and portfolios: katiemadonna@gmail.com

• Guest Editor on Cache’s Substack

Castings

Read more

We’ll be reporting from 5 major U.S cities: New York, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Austin.

Today, you’ll be hearing from our LA femme on the ground, you may already be familiar with her, Sara Barron:

Hello Femmes!! So happy to be acquainted :) As a working musician, journalist, and full-time industry exec, I definitely understand: it’s hard out here. We’re aiming to make it a little easier for you. I’ve distilled my findings across different music industry hiring boards, Facebook groups, and word of mouth opportunities and plopped them here for your convenience. This list will definitely grow as our community does, so please send any leads for the below categories directly to me at sara@audiofemme.com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

LA: AUGUST

Paid Short Term Gigs

• Brass Instructor, San Marino Music Center

• Bob Baker Marionettes, Seasonal Puppeteers

• Insomniac - Hard Summer 2026 Seasonal Artist Relations

• Coordinator, Music Programming, Part-time, Sirius XM

• Program Assistant, YOLA - Inglewood

ISO: Artist Collaborations

• Looking for a LA-based producer, mixing or mastering engineer, songwriting partner, etc? Email sara@audiofemme.com.

Castings

Read more

And what is that landscape exactly? Well, at least in the U.S., it’s the rise of an authoritarian government, a crack down on LGBTQIA+, women’s, and marginalized people’s rights, and an oppressively high cost of living - amongst other things (sorry to be a downer). And what has dance music been since its Disco origins but a sweaty, strobe-lit reprieve from the oppressive structures that be? What we know know as modern Electronic Dance Music (EDM) - a huge blanket covering subgenres like techno, house, synth-pop, dub, drum&bass, and more - can be traced back to dingy, 1970s basements where the counterculture met in solidarity to make communion through Disco. Disco emerged from the need for marginalized groups - especially Black, Latino, and LGBTQ people - to have a safe place to converge and feel JOY. It was specifically made in response to the male-dominated rock music that lorded over the charts of the time. It was everything that rock was not: sensual, inclusive, queer. And like everything that challenges the mainstream, it faced severe backlash, including a literal “Disco Demolition Night” in 1979, where local radio DJ, Steve Dahl, incited White Sox fans to burn tens of thousands of Disco, Funk, and R&B records at Comiskey Park – an act that many felt was fueled more by racial and political motives than musical ones.

SO, unless Charli is going to turn around on her next single and release an undeniable dancefloor banger, proving to us all that her corny rock song & statement was all just one big troll and she’s in on the joke (bad joke if you ask me), then her little stunt is just a tasteless and predictable mirror of the cycle that has repeated tens of times; Counterculture tops the mainstream for a moment then mainstream beats the counterculture into submission. Did Charli and her team see this coming and want to get ahead of it with a genre switch? Or is Charli trying to make some meta statement about this aforementioned cycle? After reading her personal essay, “the death of cool,” I’m not sure I am willing to give her that much credit.

In her essay, Charli says:

“I have always rejected the idea that art, film, persona or music becoming commercial means it cannot also be considered cool. The rejection of commerciality ‘just because’ is such a boring and immature argument that is perhaps more suited to some mediums than others but in general I find to be elitist in a way that does not thrill me whatsoever.”

And, sure, I agree with this to a point. It’s completely pretentious to look down on something just because it appeals to the masses. There are plenty of universally loved pop icons who have maintained their cool - i.e Prince, David Bowie, Addison Rae, etc. I think something becomes uncool when it feels ingenuine. Like, say, massively profiting off adapting the sound and look of a subculture and then pivoting when you get “bored.” And before the Angels (Charli fans) come at me talking about Charli’s background in warehouse rave culture, yes, I know.

Subscribe now

Charli performed at warehouse raves when she was fourteen, tailed by her parents who were reportedly being offered drugs left and right. And while some would say that offers her a level of “street cred” in terms of the dance music world, those observers may be missing the fact that this was a part of the New Rave movement. Far from the ethos of the underground Detroit, Chicago and New York warehouses where house music was born, the New Rave scene championed artists like Skrillex, David Guetta, The Chainsmokers etc. And, sure, while some of these artists undoubtedly pulled from sounds of early 90’s rave culture, the scene in itself was a much less subversive community. It was sunglasses without the shades, glowsticks, American Apparel jumpsuits. Your high school bully loved Skrillex.

So, while Charli has been crowned the “queen of cool” - the girl who always knows where the party’s at, the blueprint for your going out look, the courthouse-wedding-chic anti-bride - maybe she’s literally not? Maybe she’s that for a very specific type of person. And, again, I LOVED brat and am not trying to be shady. But maybe her “devil-may-care” attitude and “effortless cool” is an aesthetic informed by years of market research and professional curation. Carefully shaped by a team around her that HAS been entrenched in underground scenes, attended ballroom clubs, ingested culture where it lives at the fringes of society. I just don’t necessarily believe that Charli has ever truly been a part of an underground dance scene (especially if her core rave memories included mom and dad, bless them), which is probably why she’s so quick to dismiss the “dancefloor” as a whole.

Because for those who go out to dance, I mean truly dance, It’s not about the cocaine or the end of night conquest. It’s church. It’s moving your body because you’re tired of speaking, of screaming. It’s revolution. Gathering in basements and warehouses to sweat on each other and be healed by the reverberations of a 140+bpm drum and bass song. It’s a way to be in community with others who are experiencing the same meta turmoil as you and wordlessly meld with each other, letting go of pain, hurt, anxiety - if only for a night. But don’t take it from me. I talked to a couple DJ’s who make people shake ass on the daily. Here’s what they had to say:

“I’d just say the dancefloor will never die and expressing ourselves through dance and community is both primal and what real music lovers will continue doing in the future.” - Father Dukes, Detroit

“The dance floor is definitely not dead!! Honestly I actually think it’s thriving right now. In a post-COVID world, I feel like people are craving third spaces and tangible connection more than ever, and dancing offers this rare sense of collective release and community that’s hard to find anywhere else. Every good night I’ve played recently has felt less like escapism and more like people trying to feel alive together again.”- mal d’amour, Los Angeles

“No, I don’t believe the dance floor is dead - that’s an idiotic thing to say. If anything, dance music is having a resurgence or “reimagining,“ if u wish. That’s how I’d describe it…. Also, the dance floor aesthetics that are being romanticized are from reminiscing from the 70s-90s where we had pure party and zero cell phones and social media…so I will say the dance floor will be dead if these fuckers cant put their phones down and release their inhibitions - AK, Detroit

And…not a DJ, but I like this quote from a similar piece written by Misha MN for Polyester:

“As the dictator of cultural coolness, Charli’s flippant proclamation that the dancefloor is dead just because she wants to explore more music genres and undergo another popstar reinvention is harmful to an already precarious industry that depends on the goodwill (and financial investment) of its customers. In an unstable world full of war-related inflation, an increasingly fascist approach to identity politics and new cost-of-living-crises dropping every week, mass spiritual communion in the nightclub seems superfluous as more and more venues close their doors, never to be seen again. Nightlife, and especially queer nightlife, is no stranger to ebbs and flows of popularity and accessibility, from American prohibition to post-stonewall legalisation, from the homophobic terrorism wave of nail bombs in 90s Soho to Rudy Giuliani’s zealous sanitisation of New York, from Great Depression to the 2008 recession, the threads of the dancefloor have always sparkled behind closed doors.” - Misha MN

Sources:

Barker, E. (2019, July 19). Disco demolition: The night they tried to crush black music. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/19/disco-demolition-the-night-they-tried-to-crush-black-music

CharliBB. (2024). The death of cool. Substack.

Hermes, W. (2014, August 14). Dark star rising: Charli XCX talks rave roots and her colorful future. Rolling Stone. https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/dark-star-rising-charli-xcx-talks-rave-roots-and-her-colorful-future-52620/

Pelly, J. (2024, August 29). Charli xcx’s brat and the return of new rave. The FADER. https://www.thefader.com/2024/08/29/charli-xcx-brat-new-rave

Seal, T. (2024, July 18). What’s cooler than being cool? Charli XCX and what the moment tells us about the ultimate party girl. Tatler. https://www.tatler.com/article/whats-cooler-than-being-cool-charli-xcx-what-the-moment-tells-us-about-the-ultimate-party-girl

The brief history of EDM. (n.d.). Los Angeles Film School. https://www.lafilm.edu/blog/brief-history-edm/

“If you can’t already tell by our award winners and our performers, the music business is going country. We’re going country. It’s happening,” - Lana Del Rey, NMPA Awards - January 31st, 2024.

Whether you love her or hate her, Dear Lana was absolutely right about this. As of today - April 22nd, 2026 - there are two county songs in the Billboard Hot 100’s top five songs. Number one, “Choosin’ Texas” and number five, “Be Her,” are both performed by Nashville sweetheart, Ella Langley. And while the pendulum swing to boots and bolos began well before Lana’s prophetic declaration - including a 20.3% year over year increase between 2022 and 2023 - something about this year feels like it might be peaking, with the women of country leading the charge.

Historically, country music has thrived in times of economic turmoil. Some observations have noted that while pop and other genres lean towards escapism during hard times (“Low” by Flo Rida was the most popular song in 2008), country musicians - especially the older ones - tend to tackle economic and societal issues head on. A Today article from May 15th, 2009 mused, “Despite the sour economy, radio has been remarkably free of songs about tough times….Country seems the lone exception,” citing John Rich’s blue-collar anthem “Shuttin’ Down Detroit” (ok but why do they have southern accents in the music video lol) and “Red White and Pink Slip Blues,” Hank Williams Jr.

With the chorus lyrics of, “Yeah while they’re living up on Wall Street in that New York City town / Here in the real world they’re shuttin’ Detroit down,” “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” peaked at No. 75 on the Billboard Hot 100. Not exactly a hit, but enough to show it was resonating with many Americans at the time. “Red White and Pink Slip Blues” only made it to #45 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, but still served as a stamp in time and a cry into the void during an excruciating socioeconomic time for the American public (It also just wasn’t as good of a song as “Shuttin’ Detroit Down” in my opinion).

All that’s to say, while these poignant songs by middle-aged male country stars certainly resonated, they didn’t break chart records by any means. Actually, a study conducted by the APA in 2015 - Gone country: An investigation of Billboard country songs of the year across social and economic conditions in the United States - found that female country artists tend to thrive when the social and economic environment is threatending, especially when the songs are more positive and musically upbeat. The reason given was that working people tend to lean towards voices that feel comforting, and even maternal, in trying times. Cue Miss Ella Langley, our current Billboard Hot 100 chart Queen. Not only has Langley dominated the country charts, she has made the coveted leap into mainstream number one success, and stayed there for twenty six weeks and counting. Soooo, is it giving recession country?

I’m not an economist, but from my personal viewpoint and that of many of my peers - it’s looking pretty bad. Buying a home has turned from an aspirational milestone to a distant dream of the past. Gas is almost $6/gallon (in LA). The job market sucks. Gen Zers apparently aren’t having sex? There’s a fucking war going on. So, listening to Ella Langley sing about how her boyfriend is leaving her for a gal with his same Texan roots - but in the cheerful key of D flat major!! - seems a lot better than facing the reality that the world is crumbling around us.

Langley’s music sits between the acute observations of old-head country songwriters and straight up feel-good female country (a la “I Feel Like a Woman). While the lyrical subject matter of her #1 hit, “Choosin’ Texas,” is morose, the tone of the song is comforting, predictable, and even somewhat upbeat if we’re talking strictly musical theory (it uses a common upbeat country chord progression). While the lyrics touch on loss, it doesn’t feel like true heartbreak, but acceptance that she’s lost the battle and resigned to moving on. Maybe that’s the shift that’s happening with this specific generation of listeners experiencing trying times. Rather than moving towards full toxic-positive escapism, we want to hear stories of imperfect heroines, moving through adversity (but let’s keep it light) and coming out the other side in one piece. Like the musical form of “A Girl Who’s Going to be Okay.”

If this is true, Langley isn’t the only artist tapping into this perfectly balanced dichotomy of existential dread and apathy written to a comforting melody. Artists like Kasey Musgraves (arguably walked so Langley could run), Sierra Ferrell, Laci Kaye Booth, and Goldie Boutilier have penned similarly two-steppable tunes of despair. Not to mention, they’re all women. And while they may not all be currently charting (Musgraves recently touched the charts with her new single “Dry Spell,” but didn’t top them), they certainly have their fair share of devoted fans clinging to their words in a blur of aspiration and ennui. And, let’s be real, I’m one of them.

So, are these chart topping cowgirls a concrete sign of a recession ahead, or just another meme-able coincidence? I am absolutely unqualified to give an answer to that, but I can make you a playlist and let you decide.

Sources:

“Country Music Taps Recession Blues.” Today, www.today.com/popculture/country-music-taps-recession-blues-1c9484348.

“The Commercial Rise of Country Music During the Great Depression.” Bunk History, www.bunkhistory.org/resources/the-commercial-rise-of-country-music-during-the-great-depressi on.

“Record 2014-12882-001.” APA PsycNet, psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-12882-001. “Eric Church: Recession-Era Country Star.” Rolling Stone, www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/eric-church-recession-era-country-star-40251/.

Billboard Bulletin, July 7, 2023. Billboard, www.billboard.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/july-07-2023-billboard-bulletin.pdf.

“CMTs: Morgan Wallen Leads Country Streaming in March.” Variety, variety.com/2023/music/news/cmts-morgan-wallen-country-streaming-march-1235573629/.

“Recession Pop Benefits.” Time, time.com/7276586/recession-pop-benefits-essay/.

“Recession Indicators, Tariffs, Memes.” CNN, www.cnn.com/2025/05/04/tech/recession-indicators-tariffs-memes-cec.

“IF12774.” Congress.gov, www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12774.

Our last article from The Magazine was published on April 20th of 2023. If you’re new to Audiofemme, The Magazine is our flagship blog that started in 2012 with just Marianne (our Founder) and Lindsay going to shows around New York and writing about them. We snowballed into a full fledged office full of female journalists covering indie/alternative music with a feminist lens, and we’ve written about many now-massive artists mostly through critical reviews and essays. We’ve covered Mannequin Pussy, Phoebe Bridgers, Soccer Mommy, Snail Mail, Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, Lucy Dacus, Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Ethen — all before they were huge.

Plenty of time has passed since then, and yet we STILL get pitched for projects and artists to be covered on The Magazine.

So we got to thinking. Why NOT bring it back?

But this time in a different format. We’re bringing you the same editorial quality from our blog era to Substack, with a little more in it for you. Here, what we’re pushing out:

• Artist Profiles

• Interviews

• Editorial Contributions from Audiofemme’s around the world about all things music, entertainment, art, culture, feminism, media, and more

• Exclusive Grant Opportunities

• Exclusive Event Invitations

• First dibs on paid music industry calls + job opportunities

How does that sound?

Subscribe now

It sounded pretty good when we came up with it. First, let’s catch up on what we’ve been up to at Audiofemme:

SXSW 2026 Was Our Biggest Showcase Yet

For the first year ever, we produced 2 official showcases with the sickest lineup: Amie Blu, Sassy 009, Amy Gadiaga, Horsepower, Lucaa, Dizzy Fae, Eydrey, Morgan Munroe, Oya Noire, Mai Anna

Take a look at some digitals we took for the archive:

and the performances…

Not to mention we printed a zine — complete with the contribution you’re about to read below and a 2 part photo essay from Audiofemme.

We would like to extend a hefty thank you to every partner and contributor who made this year extra special — South Congress Hotel & Mañana, Wynk, Planned Parenthood, and the whole production crew from SXSW. Till next year! Before we know it, it’ll be booking season all over again.

We Went Non-Profit

Audiofemme is officially a 501(c)3 organization creating sustainable and equitable alternatives to traditional music and arts industry structures. We’ll be able to share more transparently about what this shift means for our community, but rest assured that it’s only good things!

Please encourage like minded folks to subscribe to our Substack. Each paid subscription is considered a monthly donation that keeps Audiofemme’s programs going.

I Don’t Want Ritz to Be A Young Ho

by Naomi Lilly

AAVE (African American Vernacular English) is often traced back to Ebonics, a term coined by Robert Williams in 1973 from ebony and phonics (Pullum; Williams). Though intended to legitimize Black language, Ebonics was swiftly ridiculed. Outlets like The Economist treated it as a punchline, spawning “-onics” variations meant to mock the idea that African Americans could claim linguistic ownership at all (Pullum). Over fifty years later, the sentiment hasn’t shifted much. In a recent Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update,” Marcello Hernández summed it up succinctly: “Gen-Z slang is African American slang. Basically, Black people start saying something, then young people think it’s cool, so they start saying it” (Saturday Night Live).

The originators and never the imitators. Somehow, Black people are always the butt of the joke. I started musing over this piece after another recent debacle with Ritz Crackers in which they hopped on the “young ho” trend to create a viral social media post. Young ho language is akin to young negro discourse, funny terms started by Black people to categorize specific groups of people.

“Young hos cook everything on high.”

“Yns wear Nike tech and drink matcha.”

So, seeing brands like Ritz Crackers capitalize on the language feels weird to say the least. A friend of mine had a differing opinion that I found valuable and an added element to an already difficult conversation. Her insight was based on social media managers who are Black and are championing the use of AAVE in brand materials because they are the creators, creating. And while I understand this perspective, it still feels odious to have brands profit off of Black people – again. Do the White executives of these companies know the history of African American Vernacular English? Do they know that the origins of the term Ebonics were grounded in comedic vitriol? And is there a deep sense of appreciation for the creator that has never been given proper due credit? In this instance, a brand relying on the cultural awareness championed by Black employees becomes another form of exploitation that questions who owns the IP of Black culture and how Black employees are still cogs in a larger system meant to profit White executives.

Take the viral savage dance created by Keke Janajah or the Spotify Wrapped creator, Jewel Ham, both creators who weren’t given proper credit for pieces that would go on to be enjoyed and popularized by non-Black artists. Black people are consistently moving the needle forward for all things capitalism, and in my opinion, it’s not fair for others to profit off our community over and over again. It presents a larger question: Can brands amass the same virality without stealing from Black people?

And to me, the answer is no. As new terms are added to the Black toolkit, they are also borrowed, stolen, and misused not for the purpose of better understanding consumer markets, but for the purpose of exploiting said markets for further financial gain. The same terms and language that are coined “ghetto” or “unprofessional” are now “quirky” and profitable for brands, resulting in the flattening of the language and a transfer of ownership. Similar to a familiar transfer of ownership, and perhaps championing a new form of slavery in itself.

Whether or not Ritz intended to do harm, the impact outweighs the intent. As scholar Geoffrey Pullum puts it, “The majority of English speakers think that AAVE is just English with two added factors: some special slang terms and a lot of grammatical mistakes. They are simply wrong about this.” AAVE is cultural. A reclamation of language and a shared tool to describe the Black experience - by Black people. In a perfect world, this remains true. In the present America, it continues to morph into a tool to manipulate capitalistic markets. And I won’t stand for it during my Black History Month.

My recommendation for brands is to take a step back and really evaluate the impact of producing posts laced with copy that relies on AAVE. If brands want to continue to profit off of Black creators, those same creators should be credited for their copy. I’d love to see these posts signed by the relevant social media managers. Perhaps even investing in content series done by these managers themselves to both show their faces and highlight their voices would be a great first step. Ultimately, AAVE is not a trend, not a tone, and definitely not a shortcut to relevance. It is authorship. And authorship demands consent.

Sources:

Pullum, Geoffrey K. 1999. African American Vernacular English is not Standard English with mistakes. In R. Wheeler (ed.) The Workings of Language, 39-58. Wesport, CT: Praeger.

Saturday Night Live. “Weekend Update: Marcello Hernández Translates Gen Z Terms - SNL.” YouTube, 24 Jan. 2026, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw0ifECyfPI. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.

Williams, R. L. (1997). The Ebonics Controversy. Journal of Black Psychology, 23(3), 208-214. https://doi.org/10.1177/00957984970233002 (Original work published 1997)

Have Something You Want To Share?

Our Substack will be 80% community driven, meaning that contributing content and community opportunities will be the primary content you receive from us.

If you’re looking to submit a story please email social@audiofemme.com.

If you have an opportunity (grants, event invitations, castings, and gigs) you’d like to share with our private community here, please email courtney@audiofemme.com

We’re so excited to connect with you all through our words again. Thank you for your support and we’ll chat with you in the comments 🖤

xo,

Courtney from Team Audiofemme