Help me find more female singers and bands

A few of my favorites across several genres:

The Birthday Massacre, Natalie Walker, Goldfrapp, Metric, Barrie, Cinetrope, Lights, Men I Trust, Eisley, Rachael Yamagata, Switchblade Symphony, Morcheeba, Shiny Toy Guns (M/F leads), Sneaker Pimps, The Marías, The Jezabels, A Fine Frenzy, Emilíana Torrini, Clairo, Xandria

Oh I adore a female led band or group! Most of this is punk or indie

• Bikini Kill
• Amyl and The Sniffers
• Sleater-Kinney
• Brody Dalle
• Deap Valley
• Rezz (this is EDM / goth dance music vibe)
• Mannequin Pussy

I've got more but don't want to drone on haha. I am always down for convos about music!

Jinjer

Arch Enemy

Crypta

Cage Fight

paramore, olivia rodrigo, and avril lavigne are my faves :)

How do you feel about metal?

• Nightwish
• Delain
• Epica
• Within Temptation
• Xandria
• Arch Enemy
• Jinjer
• Spiritbox
• Crypta
• Frantic Amber
• Otep
• Cellar Darling
• In This Moment

And a few other assorted genres

• The Vincent Black Shadow
• Beach Bunny
• Elle King
• Halestorm
• The Pretty Reckless

It may not be your thing, but Agnes Obel is one of my favourites. This is one of her best tracks IMO.

https://youtu.be/32kYH6XZrIo?is=H33ZzrvXOAekt0Br

Some indie rock:

• the beths
• ratboys
• beach bunny
• blondshell
• the beaches
• Courtney barnett
• snail mail

• Halestorm
• The Pretty Reckless
• Feminazgûl (atmospheric black metal)
• New Year's Day
• In This Moment
• DIAMANTE
• Smackbound
• First to Eleven
• Kalafina (Japanese metal)
• The Warning
• The Nearly Deads
• Cheap Perfume
• She/Her/Hers
• Mischief Brew
• Beyond the Black

• The Warning: an all women rock band. I like their latest album a lot
• Linkin Park has released an album 2 years ago with a new vocalist and she kicks ass, she was in a band called Dead Sara before
• Lari Basilio: guitariste, no vocals.

Artists from my "Villain Era" playlist:

• Ashnikko
• Delilah Bon
• Ella Red
• Peggy
• Zand
• Snow Wife
• Chandler Leighton
• Emeline
• Aston
• Ehle
• Chloe Adams
• Bella Poarch
• Emeline

Other mentions with a somewhat different vibe:

• In this moment
• Nova Numb
• Jacklyn Feara

I normally wouldn't post in this comm but I have artists to mention that I don't think I've seen

• Khruangbin
• Megan From Work
• Nubya Garcia
• Wednesday
• Dominique Fils-Aime
• Heather Maloney
• Kate Bush
• Jill Scott
• Erykah Badu
• Esperanza Spalding
• Hiatus Kaiyote
• DOMi & JD Beck
• Doechii
• Minnie Riperton
• Larkin Poe
• Pomplamoose
• Moonchild
• Lake Street Dive
• Missy Eliot
• Susan Tedeschi
• H.E.R.
• Tank And The Bangas
• Sade
• Sister Rosetta Tharpe

All over the place but all great, there probably more I'm forgetting about too

Edit: Oh fuck 2 important misses, DakhaBrakha and Coco Rosie

On mobile, but here's a few big ones:

Popular (I'd argue mainstream) I've not seen mentioned:

Florence and the Machine (no one mentioned her yet? Similar style to Fiest)

St. Vincent (again, pretty well known. Won a Grammy in 2025)

Brandi Carlisle (more folk/country. I enjoy her collaborations more than her solo stuff)

Semi-popular:

Lucious (female duo vocals)

Suki Waterhouse

+1 for The Beaches

Edit to add:

Jenny Lewis

The Kills

This isn't going to be super strongly thematic or focused on a specific genre, but here's what I've been listening to lately.

Bands will be listed, along with the specific album I've been listening to in parenthesis, in case you need a place to start.

• Hop Along (Bark Your Head Off, Dog)
• The Beths (Jump Rope Gazers)
• Ekko Astral (Quartz EP)
• Gezebelle Gaburgably (The Freezer)
• No Vacation (Phasing)
• Sussanah Joffe (Your Mother's Name)

Here's a mix of some ones I found recently:

• South arcade
• Honey Revenge
• Blame Me!
• Davvn
• Au/Ra
• Good Boy Daisy
• Instant Crush
• Stitched Up Heart
• Meet Me @ the Alter

More:

• Yours Truly
• Stand Atlantic
• Stela Cole

Off the top of my head since Im not at home, in no particular order:

Deathbyromy Vukovi Icon for hire Bludnymph TRiDENT Halflives Demondice Alt blk era Sophie powers Lilisthatyou FKA rayne Ennaria Vana Mothica Zand Bodyimage

Im definitely forgetting some that i really like, but i almost exclusively listen to women lead vocals. Feels wrong to say but its what i enjoy.

some electronic:
Lords of Acid (F/M leads)
Bjork is lovely of course
Michelle Adamson
Kate Bush
Laurie Spigel
Valentina Moretti
Janelle Monae
D. Tiffany
Maiia303
Ellen Allien
thought of a few more :)

In no particular order:

The Hush Sound

Ani DiFranco

Ingrid Michaelson

Ida (band)

First Day Back

Stereosity

Lisa Hannigan

Rainer Maria

Wednesday

Not sure your genre, but I've got:

The Warning

Butcher Babies

Concrete Castles (and First to Eleven)

Chvrches

Pvris

I know none of the bands you mentionned 😅 but personally I would say : Delain, Battle Beast, In this Moment, Arch-Enemy

(All metal or metal-adjacent)

Are you into alt/goth bands? I've found some you likely haven't heard of

The Cranberries

Amy Macdonald

The Beaches

A Sound Of Thunder, Platinum Elite, Unleash The Archers, Graveshadow, Solas

(Not all bands are always female vocals) -Indy/punk- Pity sex, Tigers jaw, Lemuria, Hop along, War on women, G.L.O.S.S, The last dinner party, Expert timing,

-Pop- Wild ones, The beaches

-Ska- Dance hall crashers, Save Farris

That’s all i can come up with for now, I’m sure I’m forgetting a bunch. Usually you only need a few bands to find more of a sound you like. (Edit:formatting)

Appalachian Terrir Unit is a crust punk band that fucking rules and has a woman on vocals

Aww, definitely going to bookmark this thread.

I've completely fallen for Chelsea Wolfe last year. Also enjoying Portishead, Darkher and Emma Ruth Rundle a lot lately.

Oh yes, I am melancholic occasionally, how did you know?

Edit: Eeeeeek, Kiki Rockwell is soooo cool!

Amazing thread! A few I have not yet seen mentioned:

• Charlotte Wessels (pop, metal-ish, former singer of metal band Delain, but now goes solo)
• Seraina Telli (hard rock I would say)
• Visions of Atlantis (pirate metal)
• Exit Eden (metal covers of pop songs and original songs)
• My Indigo (pop music, solo project of Sharon den Adel, singer and founder of Within Temptation)
• Suzane (french pop)
• Anneke Van Giersbergen (pop, rock)

Try some Japanese music!

• Ado
• Yorushika
• yama
• Polkadot Stingray
• Zutomayo
• YOASOBI
• Ryushen
• Kessoku Band
• Sangatsu no Phantasia
• NakamuraEmi
• Regallily

Not quite as folk / acoustic than what you listed, but here are some albums that you could like (I guess 😁) :

• choke enough by oklou
• Lullabies by Camilla Sparksss
• Been Here and Gone by Thalia Zedek Band
• 2009 by Nalan (slimgirl fat)

I like AViVA and Ado in general, and have liked some of Sasha Alex Sloan's songs (like Matter To You and Hypochondriac).

VIAL is good :)

edit: actually i think one of the three members is non binary, but I highly recommend it anyways!!

Brutus

Flock of Dimes! (Jenn Wasner)

Listening to your favorites, the only ones I can think of with similar vibes are Zee Avi and maybe the Suckerpunch soundtrack, but honestly I don't think they match all that well. It's like a genre of music I'm not at all familiar with.

I'm more into (alt) rock, which is why I'd recommend Nico Vega, Meg Myers, or Jessica Hernandez and the Deltas, just to list some more names I haven't seen yet. Alice Merton leans a little more pop I think, and Rebecca Black (yes, best known for Friday) much more so.

I've never heard of the favourites you've mentioned, so I'm going to have to fly blind here. I'm just going to go alphabetically over my music folder and see what pops out. I'll try to identify genre as I go (though you might spot a pattern...). Every one of these is either female-fronted or all-female.

• Ad Infinitum (symphonic metal)
• Amaranthe (electronic dance metal?)
• Among Gods/Among Your Gods (death metal)
• Andry (power metal)
• Annie Lennox (sophisticated pop)
  • also Eurythmics since Annie sang here
• Área 7 (punk)
• Artesia (folk ambient)
• Battle Beast (power metal)
• Beast in Black (power metal)
• Bikini Kill (punk, riot grrrrl)
• Blodwen (goth)
• Blondie (punk, disco ... no, really!)
• Burning Witches (classic metal, all-female)
• The Cranberries (alternative rock)
• Catching String (post-punk gothic)
• Dead Can Dance (goth, post-goth)
• Dead Venus (softish rock)
• Delain (electronic dance metal?)
• Descartes A Kant (theatrical post-punk metal feminist performance art)
• Doro (classic metal on the softer side)
• Dryadia (goth metal?)
• Dummy Toys (street punk, all-female)
• Dymna Lotva (black folk metal/death metal)
• The Dark Element (symphonic metal)
• Eleine (symphonic metal)
• Enya (ambient folk)
• Epica (symphonic power metal)
• Erykah Badu (soul)
• Frozen Cross (symphonic power metal)
• Garbage (alternative rock)
• Girlschool (hard rock, all-female)
• Halestorm (hard rock, also frontwoman is my spirit animal, emphasis on animal)
• Hellcats (classic metal)
• Hang on the Box (punk)
• The Hormones (feminist pop-punk?)
• Hall of Ecstasy (metalcore)
• Ieschure (single-woman occult black metal project)
• Imee Ooi (Buddhism's answer to Enya)
• In This Moment (very heavy metal?)
• Infected Rain (punk-tinged metalcore, post-metal)
• Isabelle Huang (quirky pop)
• Jaded Lady (classic metal, all female)
• Jane Siberry (avante garde)
• Jenner (thrash metal)
• Jinjer (...metal and more)
• Joan Jett (straight up rock and roll)
• Kate Bush (avant garde with a slight pop tint)
• Kate Miller-Heidke (avant garde with a heavy pop tint)
• Katra (goth metal)
• Kittie (nu-metal/groove metal with a touch of riot grrrrl)
• Kobra and the Lotus (metal, survivor strength themed)
• Laurie Anderson (almost defines avant garde)
• Leah (metal's answer to Enya)
• Loura Lou (pop)
• Lureaway (symphonic metal)
• Lyriel (symphonic folk metal)
• The Linda Lindas (feminist punk)
• MIA (dance? pop? rap?)
• Mystyfica (symphonic metal, goth metal)
• Mystica Girls (classic metal)
• Mysterain (symphonic folk metal)
• Mist (melodic death metal)
• Nena (pop)
• Nocturna (symphonic power metal)
• OU (an immortal from the moon coming to Earth for a Friday night bender and singing with her angelic voice a melody that ties together a drummer, a bassist, and a guitarist each playing completely different djent melodies in a way that adds up to something sensible)
• The Order of Chaos (thrash metal)
• Paula Cole (alternative, indie)
• Pumarosa (alternative, art rock, indie, electronic)
• Purple Hell (thrash metal, metalcore, post-metal)
• Queen Sea Big Shark (... ... OK, here we go: punk, synth-pop, rockabilly, post-punk, electro, indie, alternative)
• Rage of Light (melodic death metal)
• ReVamp (symphonic/progressive power metal)
• Rexoria (heavy metal)
• Rhea's Obsession (darkwave)
• Rosa Nocturna (symphonic goth metal)
• Rose Kemp (folk doom metal)
• The Runaways (proto-punk, hard rock)
• Radiation Fog (symphonic folk metal)
• Sarah Brightman (pop, opera, pop opera, operatic pop, other)
• Semblant (goth metal)
• September Mourning (pop metal, pop metalcore, metalcore, classic metal)
• Seven Spires (symphonic metal)
• Sheila Chandra (folk fusion, pop)
• Shireen (folk pop, folk rock)
• Silent Elegy (symphonic gothic metal)
• Silent Resentment (gothic doom/death metal)
• Single Winged Angel (symphonic melodic death metal)
• Sirenia (gothic metal)
• Skarlett Riot (hard rock, classic metal)
• Stitched Up Heart (alternative metal)
• Synaxaria (industrial metal)
• Tanya Tagaq (inuk punk, avante garde)
• Tarja (tarja)
• Tina Guo (cello metal ... no, really!)
• Unleash the Archers (classic metal, power metal)
• UnSun (classic metal, heavy metal)
• Vera Lux (folk metal)
• The Warning (hard rock, alternative rock)
• Within Temptation (symphonic gothic metal)
• Wagakki Band (folk metal?)
• Faye Wong (pop, some avante garde)
• Xandria (symphonic metal)

I know there's a lot of metal in that list. This is not actually a reflection of my overall tastes, just that with harder music I prefer female vocals. :D Also, it's easy to find metal to Jolly Roger than it is some other genres I would LOVE to collect.

A few Spanish goups, either all women, or with female vocalists...indie rock vibes Los Punsetes Las Odio Ginebras

Red Hook for punk/metal

King woman for goth/industrial