It’s Time to Abandon the Sad Girl Stereotype

graphic by Ande Wittenmeier

If you spent your grade school years constantly correcting your classmates’ snarky (and completely unoriginal) jokes about Taylor Swift’s obsession with her ex-boyfriends, we’re sure that the overwhelmingly positive reception of Midnights (like, literally record-breaking) is refreshing to say the least. It’s nice to finally see her music being appreciated for something other than the drama that inspired it.

But despite our tireless efforts as fierce little Swiftie warriors so many years ago, Taylor and her music are yet again being shoved into a new, digestible little package for the world that is still for some reason incapable of accepting female artists as more than one thing. Yes, we’ve finally started to ditch the bitter breakup song stereotype that once haunted us, but Taylor has recently become one of the faces of another sub-genre that ~predictably~ only applies to female artists: Sad Girl Music.

The Sad Girl emerged all the way back in 2011, when Lana Del Rey first established her absolute chokehold on the ridiculously toxic world of 2010s Tumblr. A true pioneer. She quickly became the poster child for girls who recently discovered the art of making their perpetual sadness (or their need for a professional diagnosis) their main personality trait. But the depth that the “Sad Girl” title once implied almost immediately began to imply the opposite.

Lana Del Rey’s music conveys so much more than just sadness. Her emotions, just like any other human being’s, have far more depth and nuance. And yet we still insist that she makes music for Sad Girls and Sad Girls only, and even worse, we’ve begun grouping any female artist with something to say into this category too.

Artists like Mitski and Phoebe Bridgers have gained traction and recognition in the past couple of years for their songwriting abilities, and thus are some of the most influential Sad Girls of the music industry today. And when Taylor Swift’s absolutely groundbreaking music-industry-changing albums Folklore and Evermore came out in 2020, she began to get grouped in with them as well. Because why should female artists be recognized by the world for their talent, when instead, they could be recognized for their relatability for those in desperate need of therapy?!

The craziest part? These artists sound nothing like each other. But they’re women, and their music conveys complex emotion, so they must all be the same, right?

When you go to the Spotify search bar at 1 AM and look up the word “sad” – it’s okay, we’ve all been there – the top result is a playlist called “sad girl starter pack”. (Yes, it’s in all lowercase letters too. They know who their target audience is.) This playlist features Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, and many other artists that have also been forced into the Sad Girl sub-genre, like Faye Webster and Clairo. So it’s not necessarily just the listeners that perpetuate the Sad Girl stereotype – although the Twitter users with Phoebe Bridgers profile pictures definitely contribute – but also the streaming services themselves.

And once these artists have established their presence in this grouping, willingly or not, there’s virtually zero wiggle room.

When Phoebe Bridgers featured on “Silk Chiffon” by MUNA, a generally positive love song, many fans were quick to reject it at first because it sounded so different from her usual depressing style. Even when these artists are happy in their personal lives, which listeners have no damn business being so obsessed with, they get all butthurt that the artists they love so much are going against their brand. Because that’s rational.

Some of these musicians don’t necessarily mind their work being classified as Sad Girl music. Lana Del Rey has leaned into it, even releasing a song literally titled “Sad Girl” (like, try to be more obvious about who you’re marketing toward), and Taylor Swift has as well, releasing a “sad girl autumn” version of her wildly popular song “All Too Well”. But not all of the aforementioned artists appreciate their art being forced into one particular category. Mitski, for example, has taken a firm stance against being classified as a Sad Girl, calling it “reductive and sad” in an interview only nine months ago. And here at Jerk, we agree.

Is this not the “Taylor Swift only writes songs about her exes” phenomenon all over again? Just in a different font?

In the words of Mitski herself: “It’s time to retire the Sad Girl schtick.”