Liz Phair is a legend in her own right. This is something she recognizes, but not without naming all the women that she shares the proverbial stage with. “I am very proud,” she says, “and I consider myself on a continuum rather than being sort of the originator.”
The Pretenders. Blondie. Joan Jett. She names them all as artists she looked to, whom she felt were “fierce, strong, and up front and centre.” To her, it feels important that she is part of that lineage.
New and upcoming female artists in the industry should know that she is watching out for them. She searches daily for industry newcomers and dives into their work. “Every single day I follow a new female artist…on Twitter and check out their latest single!” she shares. “There’s just endless amounts of young women coming up who have this total authorship over their image, their sound, their musicianship. It’s awe inspiring for someone like me who came up when it was rare to even see a woman in a band at all and she was usually a bass player and she didn’t say anything.”
Her advice for them is simple and clear: “Read your own contracts.”
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