Like many women in the music industry who deal with the constant uphill battle that is simply being a woman in the music industry, Sky Ferreira has had some difficulty in releasing new material (she’s in good company with Grimes, though we really can’t feel sorry for her when she’s decided to surrender herself to the enemy). To add to the issues, she was locked out of her SoundCloud account for a minute, publicly commenting, “I was forced/told I had no choice to hand over my account information to my label after my album came out. They gave me the wrong information and changed it so I can no longer access it.”
Now that she’s been able to, however, we’ve been given what she’s dubbed an “infant demo” of her version of the ‘Til Tuesday classic from 1985, “Voices Carry.” At the time of the song’s release, Epic Records was hesitant about the content of the material, originally more lesbianic in perspective (this given a nod in last year’s Atomic Blonde), and already controversial in terms of its frank allusions to domestic abuse as well as a generally tawdry affair. Aimee Mann, who obviously went on to create plenty of success for herself before succumbing to a Portlandia appearance, ultimately reworked the lyrics slightly so as to placate. Even so, it was with great uncertainty that the final version was permitted its entry into the mainstream. The backstory alone behind the song speaks amply to Ferreira’s own situation with a stifling distributor. As she also commented recently in an overt reference to collaborative contention with her label, “I earned the hundreds of thousands of people that follow the account without my label & have never had help/paid for anything on social media or whatever. I think of soundcloud as the website that allows musicians to have freedom. Please help xx SKY FERREIRA PS: I would like to clarify I have always done all of my work directly & by myself. No ‘team’ has ever uploaded (or anything else under any circumstance) my stuff for me whatsoever.”
The significance behind Ferreira choosing to cover and put out such a track, one that overtly highlights an abusive relationship, upon regaining control of her account is not lost on her audience. It’s been almost five years since her beloved debut, Night Time, My Time, came out on Capitol. With its positive reception, it was no surprise that Ferreira announced that she was recording new material for a sophomore album in summer of 2014. With years passing since that time and more false promises of a release for what she has appropriately titled Masochism, it’s evident that the stalling has to have more to do with label issues than a creative block.
“Voices Carry” serves as a more than adequate jumping off point for throwing the gauntlet down for all women who have been oppressed continuously in their efforts to put new music out on their own terms (Kesha’s horror story most especially comes to mind). And maybe, just maybe, Mann’s original lyrics, “He tells me tears are something to hide/And something to fear/And I try so hard to keep it inside/So no one can hear,” will no longer apply to the perpetual anxiety women in music have been conditioned to believe is the norm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt-EDG08Elw
