This post was updated Oct. 10 at 9:12 p.m.
Contemporary pop hits have sounded hollower without the regular inclusion of girl groups in the Western musical landscape.
Even as this summer featured the explosion in popularity of several female artists from Sabrina Carpenter to Chappell Roan – while others such as Charli XCX experienced a resurgence in mainstream attention – the music industry’s ever-evolving ecosystem remains strangely absent of female groups. Since the disbandment of Fifth Harmony in 2018, the pop arena in America has been almost completely devoid of an all-female act to carry forward the category’s cultural relevance from previous decades. This decline in commercial viability for pop and R&B girl groups suggests a loss of appreciation for this sect of music by both fans and industry professionals, with potential consequences for the melodic complexity of popular music.
In order to properly understand just how dramatic the ongoing drought of pop or R&B-infused girl group talent is within the music industry’s upper echelons, it is necessary to revisit the history of girl groups since their rise to prominence in the 1960s. Although the first all-female songs began to build resonance during World War II, girl groups such as The Supremes and The Ronettes were responsible for catapulting the Motown-infused sound of the 1960s into pop’s stratosphere. Hundreds of hit songs were released by female groups during this period, and new groups continued to do so as the genres topping the charts became laced with disco in the 1970s and punk in the 1980s.
By the 1990s, girl groups had arguably reached their peak, as evidenced by R&B troupes from En Vogue to SWV sending hit singles flying up the charts. Likewise, TLC became the most successful girl group in American history and Spice Girls successfully crossed over internationally to become the highest-selling girl group of all time. By the turn of the millennium, girl groups that would dominate the decade – such as Destiny’s Child – had emerged, and burlesque-influenced groups such as The Pussycat Dolls also experienced success. By the 2010s though, the limited success and lack of enduring impact for newer groups such as Little Mix and Fifth Harmony already indicated that the girl group sound was on its way out.
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Of course, countless other influential all-female acts have come and gone during the past six decades, but the stretch from The Supremes to Destiny’s Child represents the core golden age for the girl group genre. To be sure, the considerable success of female artists such as Carpenter and Roan in 2024 is worth celebrating – after all, female artists succeeding in a male-dominated industry remains a victory to be encouraged, regardless of whether the artist in question is a soloist or a group act.
However, the decline in girl groups has coincided with the decreased melodic complexity of popular songs. Several studies in the past year have indicated that pop music is more simplistic than ever before, particularly in terms of vocal arrangements. It seems reasonable to assume that groups with multiple vocalists in prior decades were able to bring together more intricate harmonies and vocal layering than solo artists can achieve. Although the hit singles controlling the Billboard Hot 100 are quite expansive in terms of genre, it is disappointing for the euphonious melding of multiple singers to be lost in favor of a homogenized solo-driven sound.
Admittedly, these concerns about America’s largely nonexistent girl group sound erroneously ignore the fact that girl groups are perhaps more successful than ever before outside of the Western world. For example, South Korean groups such as NewJeans and BLACKPINK are crossing over here in the United States to an extent with albums that have topped the Billboard 200. So far though, that success has not carried over to creating era-defining hit singles in America.
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One reason for the possible decline of girl groups in the 21st century is the unspoken industry shift in a group’s core purpose. Where the branding of a group – with potentially interchangeable members that could still cash in on a reliable commercial pop sound – was once paramount, many groups have dissolved once it became evident that one member would emerge as the star soloist. In Destiny’s Child’s case, 32-time Grammy winner Beyoncé arguably had more success with her first solo album than her Destiny’s Child bandmates have had combined across the past two decades. The decision to disband was a natural one, even if the group’s output remained strong through their final album.
All of this said, it is crucial to realize that there are female groups with immense potential that have yet to break through onto significant stages in the West. For example, FLO is one such group that has received comparison to Destiny’s Child for the past few years but has yet to translate that online hype into hitmaking power. Elsewhere, KATSEYE demonstrates potential for increased success – especially after the viral Netflix series “Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE” provided more background about them to audiences – albeit with evident label machinations behind the scenes to try to maximize the group’s profitability that could turn off possible listeners.
Regardless, the rocky success of groups such as FLO and KATSEYE so far remains worrisome when considering the previous imperialistic success of several dynasties of female groups between the 1960s and 2000s. Most musical trends eventually go out of style, but it would be an unfortunate loss to have girl groups remain in pop music’s graveyard as they have for the last several years. Aside from adding a different and valuable perspective that soloists cannot replicate, the richness of past girl groups’ harmonizing is too mellifluous to completely let go.
If the music industry and consumers are to celebrate the diverse representation of artists, then girl groups need to be part of that growing collection of talent.
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