Invasion of the Grammy girls

When it comes to this year’s crop of Grammy Awards newbies, it looks like there may just be some truth to the playground taunt “Girls Rule, Boys Drool.” For the first time in the Grammy’s half-century history, all contenders for the title of best new artist are of the female persuasion.

Come Feb. 10, the awesome fivesome of Taylor Swift, Ledisi, Paramore, Feist and Amy Winehouse will duke it out (and yes, we know the band Paramore has male musicians, but we’re trying to make a bigger point here).

You can’t say this uprising of girl power is a total surprise. Since 1992, women have either dominated or equaled men in the new artist category. The difference was that back in the day there was always a Hootie and the Blowfish or Kid Rock to represent for the guys. But men have seemingly left pop for more idiosyncratic or aggressive forms of music, passing the torch to women.

“It’s an excellent time to be a woman in this industry,” says nominee Ledisi. “What’s great about the (artists in the) category is that everyone is raw. There’s some realness to it — it’s not industry made. It’s like ‘This is who we are’ period.”

The question, though, is why Grammy judges are now getting an earful of male artists and saying “no no no” (to quote Winehouse’s breakout hit “Rehab”). There are five reasons why it’s a woman’s world now — and each of those reasons is reflective of the appeal of a particular Grammy nominee.

It’s a woman’s world
The most obvious reason for the new spate of wonder women is that women’s roles have dramatically expanded in the last few decades. Few people blink an eye when a girl plays sports or chooses a career in law. Similarly, few people will probably be surprised that country songstress Taylor Swift only turned 18 this past December, but has been writing songs professionally since age 14. Swift scored three country hits last year, including the No. 1 “Our Song.” Her career is reflective of a generation of echo boomer girls growing up with far fewer gender restrictions than their baby boomer mothers.

More women in any given field also means that younger girls get more role models to emulate and learn from. Back in the 1960s, the Beatles and Rolling Stones influenced the lifestyle choices of young men, and you can bet that today young girls are learning a thing or two about life listening to R&B up-and-comer Ledisi. Ledisi (whose surname is Young), sings about finding both her inner confidence and long lost father on her newest CD, “Lost & Found.” Her warm, soulful vocals earned her scores of loyal fans, plus a second Grammy nomination for best R&B album.

A 2004 cover story in Entrepreneur magazine claimed that it’s “standard marketing wisdom that women control 80 percent of all household purchases.” So it should come as no shock that record companies now regularly sign bands that appeal to female consumers — like Paramore, a pop-punk quartet fronted by 19-year-old flame-haired lead singer Hayley Williams. In the late 1970s, female punk and new wave acts got ignored by the record industry. These days, record companies help, not hinder, an artist like Williams get her message across to an audience of her peers.

No discussion of women in music can be complete without mentioning the influence of music videos. Where videos were once mostly focused on the female form, they’ve now become a female forum — at least in the pop world. In pop, women are no longer relegated to supporting roles in guy’s videos; these days they can use whatever type of femininity suits them to communicate their message.

The Grammy-nominated video for 31-year-old indie artist Feist’s impossibly catchy “1234” presents a good example of the kind of theatrically-oriented video in which women excel. Feist’s joyous street dance routine in the “1234” video looks natural and expands on the song’s mood. In a guy’s hands, such a video would probably have come off as unintentional satire.

True, videos don’t get played on MTV much anymore. But the heavy rotation of “1234” on VH1 likely helped secure Feist a second Grammy nod for best video. And the fact that it attracted almost seven million views on YouTube, proves an audience for videos still exists — it’s just moved online.

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The Winehouse phenonmenon
This brings us to the most notorious Grammy best new artist nominee, Amy Winehouse, whose ubiquitous single “Rehab” has become both a hit and a self-fulfilling prophesy. The British songstress’ muscular vocals have scored her legions of fans while her erratic behavior has made her a tabloid favorite.

Slideshow: Ladies of R&B Credit Madonna for the media attention now lavished on female pop artists, because when she became a mega-star, she altered the age-old template of the pop star from male to female. In the days of Frank Sinatra and Elvis, the lone male singer was considered the pop ideal. Then the Beatles made the male rock group the model for success.

But not only did Madonna spawn legions of imitators, her reign as a top pop act has gone on longer than the aforementioned artists. Her influence has thus caused a bigger sea change; plus, post-Madonna artists like Mariah Carey and Alanis Morrisette have themselves become models for stardom. Unless another Elvis or Beatles comes along, the pop star ideal will likely remain female.

Winehouse is an artist who embodies the cultural zeitgeist. In an earlier era, her idiosyncratic style and retro-appeal might have had her relegated to the status of talented eccentric. Instead, her work has been embraced.

The Grammy folks also nominated “Rehab” for record of the year, song of the year and best female pop vocal performance. Winehouse’s album “Back to Black” is up for best pop vocal Album and Album of the Year. Her producer Mark Ronson scored Grammy nods for his work on the single and album.

Years ago, the tabloids would trumpet lurid stories about the excesses of the male musicians in the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith. Now its female artists like Winehouse whose unrestrained behavior gets chronicled. No one said equality would be easy.

The 50th annual Grammy Awards can be seen Feb. 10, 8 p.m., EST, on the CBS Network.

Tony Sclafani is an East Coast-based arts and entertainment writer.