Women in Music
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Lana Del Rey practices “automatic singing.” Using the improvisational songwriting technique, she lets her voice carry over accompaniments, not commandeering where her words or melodies take her, accepting all ideas she has in the moment and editing them later. Lately, her voice has led her home, back to memories of her childhood in Lake Placid, N.Y., and to ruminations on relationships with her family and the divergent paths they’ve taken.
That subject underpins her upcoming ninth album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (out March 24). Del Rey, 37, says she hesitantly began to unpack this subject matter with her previous album, Blue Banisters — but now, she’s ready to dig deeper. “At first I was so uncomfortable,” she says of the more personal material. “Then, by the grace of God, I just felt completely unburdened.”
As a singer-songwriter, this year’s Visionary honoree has embodied that word for over a decade. Her 2012 major-label debut, Born To Die, made her a star and defined music’s Tumblr era, as a young Del Rey toyed with both the romantic and the darker sides of the American dream. Her “world building,” as she calls it now, for her early work created a collage of beautiful and disparate images, pairing hip-hop aesthetics with references to the Kennedy family, Elvis Presley with John Wayne, and old Hollywood glamour with biker gang grit.
Since then, Del Rey has pushed musical boundaries — seamlessly peppering an album with features from Stevie Nicks to Playboi Carti (2017’s Lust for Life), reworking a Sublime cover into a contemporary Billboard Hot 100 hit (2019’s “Doin’ Time”), for instance — while achieving both critical acclaim and commercial success.
Read her full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Image Credit: Lia Clay Miller
Hair by Sheridan Ward at Walter Schupfer Management. Makeup by Etienne Ortega at The Only Agency. On-Site Production by Kayla Landrum.
Ivy Queen arrives in full color-coordinated regalia — a form-fitting, floor-length dress in lemon hues that match her long, yellow-tipped acrylic nails and the curly, beach blonde locks that reach her waist. Standing still and ramrod straight, her eyes surveying the room from under impossibly long lashes, she has the bearing of, well, a queen.
It’s a far cry from nearly 25 years ago, when Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, then 25, walked into the San Juan, Puerto Rico, studios of The Noise, the all-male rap collective formed by the pioneering DJ Negro, who sized her up: a country bumpkin from the island’s west side, her tiny frame dwarfed by oversized jeans and a T-shirt, hair tied in “500 braids,” lips painted blue, nails like talons.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “Ivy Queen,” she replied, without hesitation. “I have a song called ‘Somos Raperos, Pero no Delincuentes’ [‘We Are Rappers, Not Delinquents’].” Overcome by shyness, she then flipped the mic around and rapped, facing the wall. But even with her back to him, DJ Negro was impressed. “Welcome to The Noise,” he said. “You know we don’t have girls here, right? You’re the first one.”
It was 1995, a time when the Puerto Rican airwaves were dominated by glamorous, big-voiced pop divas like Ednita Nazario and Yolandita Monge, and when reggaetón and rap were still underground movements dominated by men.
“When I started in this music industry, I didn’t look like I look right now,” says Ivy Queen, noting she was relentlessly criticized for her deep voice, her fashion choices and her staunch refusal to exploit her sexuality.
Read Ivy Queen’s full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Image Credit: Austin Hargrave
Ivy Queen arrives in full color-coordinated regalia — a form-fitting, floor-length dress in lemon hues that match her long, yellow-tipped acrylic nails and the curly, beach blonde locks that reach her waist. Standing still and ramrod straight, her eyes surveying the room from under impossibly long lashes, she has the bearing of, well, a queen.
It’s a far cry from nearly 25 years ago, when Martha Ivelisse Pesante Rodríguez, then 25, walked into the San Juan, Puerto Rico, studios of The Noise, the all-male rap collective formed by the pioneering DJ Negro, who sized her up: a country bumpkin from the island’s west side, her tiny frame dwarfed by oversized jeans and a T-shirt, hair tied in “500 braids,” lips painted blue, nails like talons.
“What’s your name?” he asked. “Ivy Queen,” she replied, without hesitation. “I have a song called ‘Somos Raperos, Pero no Delincuentes’ [‘We Are Rappers, Not Delinquents’].” Overcome by shyness, she then flipped the mic around and rapped, facing the wall. But even with her back to him, DJ Negro was impressed. “Welcome to The Noise,” he said. “You know we don’t have girls here, right? You’re the first one.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
It was 1995, a time when the Puerto Rican airwaves were dominated by glamorous, big-voiced pop divas like Ednita Nazario and Yolandita Monge, and when reggaetón and rap were still underground movements dominated by men.
“When I started in this music industry, I didn’t look like I look right now,” says Ivy Queen, noting she was relentlessly criticized for her deep voice, her fashion choices and her staunch refusal to exploit her sexuality.
“Today it’s all about the look, but for me it was all about the music and about what I [could] bring,” she says. “How to be unique and not have a similarity to anyone else. I needed to learn how to fight with words.”
And sure, Ivy could rap, but writing was her secret weapon. “I used to go to a lot of freestyle competitions and study everything around me — the male behavior and how they went at each other with lyrics,” she remembers, “and that’s how I protected myself. I won my own spot. No one gave it to me. I’m notorious because I stomped on the guys.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
It took her nearly a decade, but in December 2003 she entered the Billboard charts for the first time with “Quiero Bailar,” then gained notoriety the following year as one of the 12 essential reggaetón artists, and the only woman, featured on Eddie Dee’s “Los Discípulos” (“The Disciples,” off his 12 Discípulos), where the likes of Vico C, Tego Calderón, Voltio and Daddy Yankee jockeyed for dominance.
Ivy Queen’s lines, written on the spot — “Quítate tu que llegó la caballota, la perra, la diva, la potra, la mami que tiene el tumbao” (“Get out of the way for the caballota, the b–ch, the diva, the mare, the mami with the swagger”) — and later her 2005 Latin Grammys performance of the song as the only woman among the men confirmed her entry into the top echelon of reggaetón.
“The first time I felt empowered in my life was when I learned and sang her verse from ‘Los Discípulos,’ ” says Elena Rose, who has co-written tracks for Rosalía, Bad Bunny and Becky G. “Ivy is the queen, and we have much to thank her for; for all the doors that were shut to her and she broke down for Latinas in urban music.”
In September 2005, “Quiero Bailar” peaked at No. 16 on the Tropical Airplay chart and debuted on Hot Latin Songs and Latin Airplay. Its chorus, describing how arousal and flirtation do not translate to consent, defined Ivy Queen’s ethos and personality, while also changing how women in reggaetón and beyond were perceived.
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
“In the history of reggaetón, we have to talk about a ‘before and after’ Ivy Queen,” says Puerto Rican attorney Edwin Prado, who has worked with virtually every major reggaetón artist, from Daddy Yankee to Anuel. “Before her, female artists sang poppy tunes focused on erotic dances and physical attributes. After Ivy, the musical conversation changed. Her songs spoke about the reality of the streets, and when she spoke about romance, it wasn’t about exploiting her looks.”
Back then, Ivy Queen didn’t have other women to collaborate with — and few men extended a helping hand. Still, she landed 11 solo entries on Billboard’s Latin Rhythm Albums chart, including eight top 10s and two No. 1s, over the next decade. On Latin Rhythm Airplay, she has 20 entries — the third-most among women, behind Natti Natasha (25) and Karol G (24), both next-gen stars who benefited from the doors she opened. And while she hasn’t cracked the top 10 since 2010, with her chart-topping smash “La Vida Es Así,” the queen, at 50, has endured. Most recently, she hosted Loud, a Spotify podcast on the history of reggaetón. On Feb. 23, she was honored at Univision’s Premios Lo Nuestro with the legacy award in urban music. And in addition to new music, this year’s Icon is working on a memoir, a makeup line and a film based on her life.
Ironically, many of the trademarks the press and even Ivy’s fellow artists once criticized her for — her multicolored braids, the long nails, the deep voice — are now de rigueur among younger urban female artists. But her messages of empowerment, she feels, often get lost.
“Many women think empowerment today is saying, ‘Give it to me here, give it to me there,’ ” she says ruefully. “That the more clothes you take off, the more controversial you are. Empowerment is more than that. You earn your own money; you earn your own spot. I try to maintain my essence, of what reggaetón was, and what reggaetón is. I don’t want to be a puppet.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
Staying true to those core values, adds her manager, Sonia Clavell — the rare female manager in reggaetón — has sometimes meant saying no to opportunities along the way.
“Ivy isn’t swayed by trends or money. Everything has to align with her values and her message,” says Clavell, who adds that she has seen a rise in interest in Ivy Queen since they began working together two years ago.
Notably, Bad Bunny, a fan and admirer, featured her on the remix of his hit “Yo Perreo Sola” (“I Dance Alone”), which he told Billboard that he wrote “as an homage to women and a nod of respect to women in general and to Ivy Queen specifically.”
“He has given me a space that not even the gentlemen I started my career with ever did,” says Ivy Queen, who made guest appearances multiple times on Bad Bunny’s World’s Hottest Tour last year. “To have this young kid, who sings what he wants, does what he wants, give me my place and my honors while I’m alive is huge for me.”
Ivy Queen photographed January 20, 2023 in Los Angeles.
Austin Hargrave
And while some of her reggaetón contemporaries have retired from music or announced plans to do so, Ivy Queen plans to continue getting her due.
“I’m a great writer, I’m a great rapper, I’m a great lyricist, I’m a great chef. I’m great at everything that I do,” she says, matter of factly. “Come on. We have to normalize loving ourselves and praising ourselves. I’ve never thought of retiring. I’m healthy, I’m rolling.”
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
Doechii recently watched Avatar: The Way of Water, and it got her thinking about a key Na’vi tenet: “All energy is borrowed, and someday you have to give it back.” “That’s exactly how I feel,” she says. “From the women before me, I’m borrowing their energy so that one day I can give it back to the girl after me. That’s what I’m here to do.”
In just the past year, the 24-year-old rapper from Tampa, Fla. — who started releasing music in the 2010s before self-funding her debut EP in 2020 — has used that energy to impressive ends. In March, she became the first female rapper to sign with Top Dawg Entertainment, subsequently scoring a record deal with Capitol as well. Late-night TV and awards show performances followed, as did a string of standout singles, most notably “Persuasive,” which has 30 million official U.S. on-demand streams, according to Luminate. She also released her major-label debut EP, the five-track she / her / black b–ch, which peaked at No. 23 on the Heatseekers Albums chart and featured Rico Nasty and labelmate slash “big sister” SZA.
“Everything aligned,” says Doechii. And yet, despite her stellar 2022, this year’s Rising Star is planning an even bigger 2023 — which will include the first male feature on one of her songs, a Coachella performance and the release of her first full-length. “I’m in year three of my five-year plan,” she continues. “I’m constantly rising and I definitely haven’t arrived yet — at all. But I’m coming.”
What kind of pressure have you felt as the first female rapper signed to Top Dawg Entertainment?
A good pressure, because I know with me being the first, the next female rapper on TDE is going to look to me, look at the things I did and didn’t accomplish, and hopefully be better than me. That’s the point. I’m a leader of a new era of TDE, which feels really good. A lot of my fans reach out all the time about the impact that I’m making for them just being an alternative Black girl. Doing it on TDE like this is cool.
You mentioned borrowing energy and passing it on. Who did that for you?
They don’t even know they did it for me. It was artists like Trina, Nicki Minaj, Lauryn Hill, SZA — just powerful women being powerful women. Even watching Beyoncé be Beyoncé, she shows me that I have permission to be a boss. I can be a woman, and I can be a boss. Then Rihanna, she’ll be like, “I can be a savage.” Sometimes I’m sassy, sometimes I’m not. Watching all of them gives me permission to be more of myself.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is there a favorite recent memory you shared with your labelmate SZA?
She’s like a big sister to me. When we were on tour [in 2021] she gave me a lot of advice on what to expect from the industry and how to carry myself. She has just always been supportive of who I am.
You mentioned your five-year plan — what will year five look like?
By year five I want to be at my peak. I want to be in my Sasha Fierce era, the top of my game with still a long way to go — but I want to reach my prime and never leave it.
You show so many sides of yourself in your music. What haven’t we seen yet?
Y’all are going to get it this year. It’s my pop era. Usually I’m alone [in the studio], but these days I’ve been inviting people in. Usually I like people to send me beats and I’ll just listen through, but recently I’ve been working with producers like J White in person, which is cool. So my vibe is kind of changing; it’s a lot of energy. It feels like a party.
Doechii photographed on May 17, 2022 at Seret Studios in Brooklyn.
Hao Zeng
Is this the year you’ll release a full project?
I will. I said that last year, though, and I didn’t. Like, for real for real, I have to this year. It’s not even funny, I have to. It’s time for me to debut this year. My fans will kill me if I don’t.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
When asked if she remembers her first forays into producing, Rosalía giggles. “Oh, my God. I always felt that I wasn’t good enough, so I would treat it more like a game,” she says, before quickly adding, “Still, I wanted to learn how to make a beat because when the time came that I needed to do it, I would be able to do it.”
What started as a “game” inevitably became a way for the 30-year-old Spanish star to gain creative control — something she doesn’t take for granted considering the lack of women in the field. “There’s [still] skepticism about a woman being able to be an artist, singer, producer and songwriter at the same time. To me, these disciplines are not mutually exclusive.”
Like her previous albums (Los Ángeles and El Mal Querer), Rosalía’s Grammy-winning Motomami, released in 2022, thrives on the intersection of those skills. The sonically groundbreaking set — which finds her boldly fusing jazz and reggaetón (“Saoko”), as well as sampling Soulja Boy in an otherwise traditional bolero (“Delirio de Grandeza”) — is an honest expression of the creative freedom she felt as she drew inspiration from the sounds and artists that have shaped her. During the sessions, she would sit in the studio for 15 hours or more, searching for the right sounds, arrangements and structures for each song. “My homework as a producer is to follow my intuition,” she says firmly. “It’s to make decisions and take risks.”
Following in the footsteps of the artist-producers she read about when she was younger, like Björk and Missy Elliott, Billboard’s first-ever Women in Music Producer of the Year hopes to motivate a new generation of innovators.
What led you to first take on this role in the studio?
My first desire was to be onstage and share something. Then I realized that I wanted to decide what I was going to sing. I also wanted to decide what I was going to say and how it would sound. I didn’t just want to be an interpreter. I wanted to write, and then I wanted to produce. The desire to create became bigger than the desire to just interpret.
Is Motomami the freest you’ve ever felt as a producer?
One hundred percent yes. I was always thinking: “How can I be freer?” Fear, or whatever the opposite of freedom is, is the biggest enemy for a creative. There was an urge to find the reason why I’m doing this. “What is the world all about? What is life about?” All those things matter, and it’s why I make music.
What’s Rosalía the producer like in the studio?
I try to not have a specific idea of how a song must sound. Instead, I go in with concepts, or ilusiones, of how I would like it to sound. But never a rigid idea. That’s not organic, nor is it productive. Producing also requires humility because you’re constantly testing out ideas. I remember Pharrell [Williams] once told me that we’re just testing ideas from the universe because no one really owns an idea. I love that concept.
You’ve been very vocal about the lack of representation of women producers. Why is that important to you?
If you don’t see yourself represented in a role like this, how can you picture yourself working in that position? I became a songwriter and producer because I cared way too much. I did research when I was younger of women who were producing, and it was hard to find them, but they taught me that this was possible. Björk, Delia Derbyshire, Kate Bush — they’ve done this, and we don’t talk about it enough. I know I’m not the only one because there’s a new generation of women producing like Caroline Polachek, PinkPantheress — there are literally so many. It would be great if more people knew about them outside of the industry.
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
It’s 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, and most of the nine members of TWICE have just woken up. They’re barefaced, dressed casually and cozily in warm knits and sweatshirts; Chaeyoung still wears her parka hood, her blonde hair peeking out of the bottom. Nayeon, seated next to her, cleans her glasses with her shirt sleeve. Tzuyu, however, is alert and attentive. When I ask (through a translator) who’s the early riser of the group, everyone points to her.
This morning, the women of TWICE look more like students who’ve arrived at an early-morning class than the wildly popular K-pop girl group they are. But for their globe-spanning cohort of fans (known as ONCE), this is a familiar sight. The group’s long-running YouTube reality and vlog show, TWICE TV, along with other online vlog content, have gone behind the scenes with the act since its 2015 debut. Over the past seven-plus years, fans have followed along as Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu (who range in age from 23 to 27) have recorded music; toured across South Korea and Asia; attended award ceremonies; debuted their first-ever English-language single, “The Feels”; and, last year, played and sold out U.S. arenas, a still-rare feat for K-pop artists.
“That was our first time having a concert of that scale, so it was really shocking for us to see so many fans in the U.S.,” says Jihyo, recalling TWICE’s two nights in May 2022 at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium.
Nayeon
Sunhye Shin
Jeongyeon
Sunhye Shin
“At that time in Korea, we couldn’t perform in the same way as in the U.S.,” adds Chaeyoung, referring to South Korea’s stringent COVID-19 restrictions. “So it was really refreshing to see the fans face to face in the U.S.”
Only a few of TWICE’s members speak English, but their fans’ raging devotion has long dispelled any questions about the group’s ability to successfully cross over. TWICE crafted a strong foundational identity early on with technicolor, rush-inducing pop exemplified by hits like 2018’s “What Is Love?” and 2019’s “Fancy.” More recently, it has expanded its sonic palette. Last year, “The Feels,” a groovy, disco-inflected song about a budding crush, became the group’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 (peaking at No. 83). Its subsequent album, Formula of Love: O+T =
It’s 9:15 a.m. in Seoul, and most of the nine members of TWICE have just woken up. They’re barefaced, dressed casually and cozily in warm knits and sweatshirts; Chaeyoung still wears her parka hood, her blonde hair peeking out of the bottom. Nayeon, seated next to her, cleans her glasses with her shirt sleeve. Tzuyu, however, is alert and attentive. When I ask (through a translator) who’s the early riser of the group, everyone points to her.
This morning, the women of TWICE look more like students who’ve arrived at an early-morning class than the wildly popular K-pop girl group they are. But for their globe-spanning cohort of fans (known as ONCE), this is a familiar sight. The group’s long-running YouTube reality and vlog show, TWICE TV, along with other online vlog content, have gone behind the scenes with the act since its 2015 debut. Over the past seven-plus years, fans have followed along as Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu (who range in age from 23 to 27) have recorded music; toured across South Korea and Asia; attended award ceremonies; debuted their first-ever English-language single, “The Feels”; and, last year, played and sold out U.S. arenas, a still-rare feat for K-pop artists.
“That was our first time having a concert of that scale, so it was really shocking for us to see so many fans in the U.S.,” says Jihyo, recalling TWICE’s two nights in May 2022 at Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium.
Read TWICE’s full Billboard Women in Music interview here.
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Nayeon
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Jeongyeon
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Momo
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Sana
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Jihyo
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Mina
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Dahyun
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Chaeyoung
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Tzuyu
Image Credit: Sunhye Shin
Standing, from left: Tzuyu, Sana, Chaeyoung, Nayeon, Jeongyeon and Jihyo. Seated, from left: Momo, Dahyun and Mina. On-Site Production by Stacy Nam.
The September day that Becky G learned she had scored her first No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, with “Bailé Con Mi Ex,” she woke up her fiancé, the soccer star Sebastian Lletget, with tears in her eyes. “He was like, ‘Is everything OK? Why are you crying?’ ” she remembers. “A lot of people like to say I’m only successful because of my collaborations. To be able to prove myself as an artist and carry my own weight was important for me. To show the world that whichever way, collaborations or alone, I’m good.”
That solo feat is just one of many points of pride for the 25-year-old Mexican American artist and businesswoman, born Rebbeca Marie Gomez, these days. In 2022, she earned her first No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart with the 14-track Esquemas, and another album — her first regional Mexican set — is due to arrive later this year. Come April, she’ll have “a huge opportunity to reintroduce myself to the world” when she plays Coachella under her own name for the first time.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
All the while, Becky G has used her platform to help elevate the women around her. “This industry has really tried to condition women to see each other as competition. We’ve had to survive these very male-dominated spaces because of that ‘there’s only one seat at the table’ mentality. So we’re looking at each other like, ‘Who’s going to get it?’ [But] at my table, everyone is welcome,” she says firmly. “When I open the door, I’m going to leave it open and make sure everyone gets in.”
That impulse, she says, comes from her experience growing up in a tight-knit community in Inglewood, Calif., where her grandmother would cook for her grandchildren and, “If Doña Lolita from down the street came over, she would have enough [food] for her kids too,” says Becky G. “My entire being has been inspired by the houses I grew up in, the people that raised me. It really does take a village when it comes to our culture. Where one person eats, everyone can eat. I’ve really lived by ‘sharing is caring.’ ”
Monot dress, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Eéera earrings, Vera Belleza ring.
Martha Galvan
And this year’s Impact honoree applies that kind of thinking not only within the music industry but beyond it, including as a co-chair of Michelle Obama’s voter registration nonprofit, When We All Vote. “I want to be a bridge-maker. I want to be a peacemaker,” Becky G says. “I want to be a real model, not a role model, because I know perfection is not real.”
How have you used your position to create change around you?
It’s not about what you identify as but who you are and how you treat other people and the change you want to make after you become the change. Someone told me the other day, “This contract looks like industry standard,” and I really challenged them. I said, “To be honest, that’s offensive because industry standard wasn’t made with people like me in mind.” It wasn’t made for young, brown women who are Latinas; who identify as a boss; who have ideas; who speak two languages. It’s about time that the industry starts to reflect that. And not just in how we’re represented but how we’re treated, how we’re paid, how we’re invited into those spaces. Changing those things is hard and I can’t do that alone, so I’m grateful I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with so many women.
Marine Serre top and pants, Al Zain necklaces, Rainbow K, Yvonne Leon and Grace Lee rings.
Martha Galvan
Which artist made you believe you could have an impact outside of music?
Selena. She was more than just a pretty face. She was a kind person, a good person, and that heart she had for people translated not just into her artistry but how she loved her fans. Being Tex-Mex, speaking Spanglish, someone who took over genres that were very male-dominated, she inspired other people.
How have you chosen which issues matter to you most?
It’s hard to think about being one person and saving the world, but when you think about being one person and making just a small impact in your community, it feels a lot more achievable. There are a lot of trailblazers coming into these spaces, and it’s important to create alliances.
Jean Paul Gaultier top, AKIRA jacket, Versace shorts, Giuseppe Zanotti shoes, Moschino earrings, Grace Lee and Yvonne Léon rings.
Martha Galvan
What does receiving the Impact award mean to you?
There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing that you’re helping others and not expecting anything in return other than seeing people live in their truths, being inspired to be the change, live better lives because of whatever awareness I can bring. That, ultimately, is my version of success.
Miu Miu top, Area NY skirt, Wolford stockings, Marc Jacobs shoes, Grace Lee earrings.
Martha Galvan
This story originally appeared in the February 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.
The September day that Becky G learned she had scored her first No. 1 as a solo artist on Billboard’s Latin Airplay chart, with “Bailé Con Mi Ex,” she woke up her fiancé, the soccer star Sebastian Lletget, with tears in her eyes. “He was like, ‘Is everything OK? Why are you crying?’ ” she remembers. “A lot of people like to say I’m only successful because of my collaborations. To be able to prove myself as an artist and carry my own weight was important for me. To show the world that whichever way, collaborations or alone, I’m good.”
That solo feat is just one of many points of pride for the 25-year-old Mexican American artist and businesswoman, born Rebbeca Marie Gomez, these days. In 2022, she earned her first No. 1 on the Latin Pop Albums chart with the 14-track Esquemas, and another album — her first regional Mexican set — is due to arrive later this year. Come April, she’ll have “a huge opportunity to reintroduce myself to the world” when she plays Coachella under her own name for the first time.
All the while, Becky G has used her platform to help elevate the women around her. “This industry has really tried to condition women to see each other as competition. We’ve had to survive these very male-dominated spaces because of that ‘there’s only one seat at the table’ mentality. So we’re looking at each other like, ‘Who’s going to get it?’ [But] at my table, everyone is welcome,” she says firmly. “When I open the door, I’m going to leave it open and make sure everyone gets in.”
Read Becky G’s full Billboard Women in Music profile here.
By the time Lainey Wilson showcased for BMG Nashville staff in 2018, she was at a crossroads. She had already been in Nashville for over five years after leaving her small Louisiana hometown of Baskin and was struggling to fit in. Her heavily accented, twangy country vocals and Southern swagger weren’t in fashion as the genre leaned more toward pop, but her attempts to accommodate that style weren’t working either. So she doubled down on her tough-but-vulnerable authenticity. With that attitude, she sang, “She’s a soldier/When I hold her/Up in the air” in her defiant “Middle Finger.” “Take that, Nashville,” she thought.
Wilson, now 30, laughs when she remembers that time. “I just got to a certain point where I’d been in Nashville for so long [and] my give-a-damn was a little busted. I felt like, ‘Why not just say what I want to say how I want to say it?’ That’s one of the thoughts that really set me free.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
That fearlessness — and her robust, honest voice — captivated BMG Nashville president Jon Loba, who had been turned on to Wilson by another artist on his roster, Jimmie Allen.
“[She had] this absolute confidence. And it was an amazing vocal and, even at that time, amazing songs,” says Loba, who immediately signed her to Broken Bow Records. “But it was her narrative in between the music [where] you really got a sense of who she was: this strong woman from a small town in Louisiana who did not want to compromise who she was.”
Five years later, Wilson’s refusal to compromise has taken her to the top of the charts and awards show podiums. Her first album for the label, 2021’s Sayin’ What I’m Thinkin’, included her first No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, “Things a Man Oughta Know.” “Never Say Never,” her duet with Cole Swindell, reached No. 1 seven months later. Her current single, “Heart Like a Truck,” from last year’s Bell Bottom Country, and her feature on HARDY’s “wait in the truck” are racing toward the peak of the chart. With six nods, she led all nominees for November’s Country Music Association Awards, taking home new artist and female vocalist of the year. Between supporting slots for Luke Combs — she’ll appear on his stadium tour this spring and summer after opening his 2022 arena tour — she headlined her first large club tour.
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Along the way, Wilson, who co-wrote all but one of the songs on her two albums, developed a signature look — a wide-brim hat and bell bottoms, which she has worn daily for several years — as recognizable as her clear, strong vocals and striking songs. “When I was little, my mom bought me a blue leopard-print pair of bell bottoms I was absolutely obsessed with,” she says. “At one point, she was like, ‘You’ve got to take them off, we’ve got to wash them.’ I’ve always been in love with things that are throwbacks, whether it’s music or stories.” Wilson came by her love of bell bottoms honestly, but they’ve also served a purpose: “Trying to be an artist here in Nashville, a female artist specifically, you’ve got to figure out what you can do that’s a little different to stand out — so I definitely leaned into that as much as I possibly could.”
Not bad for an artist who got her start imitating someone else. Wilson worked her way through high school as a Hannah Montana impersonator. One of her last gigs, at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis, helped prompt her move to Nashville. While performing, she established an intense connection with a little girl recovering from brain surgery. “Everybody in the building was crying as she sang every word to [Miley Cyrus’] ‘The Climb.’ I handed her the microphone, and my Hannah Montana wig was hanging off sideways. She hands me back the microphone and what she meant to say was, ‘Hannah Montana, you’re my star,’ but she said, ‘Hannah Montana, I’m your star.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, you are,’ and I thought, ‘I’ve got to figure out how to do this the rest of my life.’ ”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s own climb has been simultaneously exhilarating and exhausting as she navigates how to make a lifelong career in music sustainable. The self-described “homebody” slept in her own bed only 15 nights during her “whirlwind” 2022. “Last year definitely threw me for a little bit of a loop,” she says. But as her ascent continues, this year’s Rulebreaker is finding ways to make the road feel more like home, including bringing her French bulldog, Hippie Mae (who, of course, has her own Instagram account, with a bio reading “owner of that b–ch @laineywilson”), on the road with her, as well as her essential oils, meditation apps and grounding mat.
Those comforts have proved especially key as Wilson’s rise has expanded beyond music. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan designed a recurring role specifically for her this season on TV’s most popular show, which Wilson found the courage to take on after considering what some of her own favorite rule breakers, Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton, would do. (She even has a song on her first Broken Bow album called “WWDD,” short for “What Would Dolly Do.”)
“When it comes to Dolly and Reba, I feel like they really do listen to their heart. I feel like they’re not scared to go outside that box and do things that are a little scary,” she says. “I had never acted a day in my life. But I thought to myself, ‘Dolly and Reba, they’ve always made sure that their music is No. 1, but that has laid the foundation for so many opportunities to come their way.’ And so, if it’s a way for me to share more of my music with the world, even if it is a little scary, you’re dang right I’m going to do it, because that’s what they would do.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
Wilson’s radio hits and Yellowstone role have brought her fame that she’s still wrapping her head around. Late last year, her team posted a video of her onstage with an angle that unintentionally highlighted her posterior and, she says, “The next thing you know, everybody’s TikToks are about my rear end.” The clip went viral and spawned imitators with women showing off their own bountiful booties, but it also invited legions of opinions about Wilson’s body.
“I definitely went down the rabbit hole reading comments,” she says. “A year-and-a-half ago, people didn’t give a rat’s ass to say something bad about me. Now the more well-known you are, the more negative comments you’re going to get … The reason why I take it so personal is because I do believe that words are powerful.”
Wilson is handling what newfound fame throws at her much as she has her career: with an authenticity that harks back to her roots, and on her own terms. She recently purchased 30 acres in Nashville and is renovating the house on the property, bringing in her own creature comforts to create a personal oasis. It’s a far cry from the camper she lived in for her first three years in Nashville. “I’m going to have some horses,” she says, adding that she decided against moving her childhood horse, Tex, up from Louisiana given his advanced age. “I want to be able to go somewhere and turn it all off and just jump on a four-wheeler.”
Lainey Wilson photographed on December 1, 2022 at Eldorado Canyon in Nelson, Nev.
Sami Drasin
This story will appear in the Feb. 25, 2023, issue of Billboard.