Green and gold? More like green then gold; a look into how the competitive nature of the music industry impacts Australian artists trying to break into the international sphere and drives jealousy.
The concept of the It Girl is one that has existed since the turn of the twentieth century. Becoming mainstream through Clara Bow's movie It, an It Girl is a female that is seen to be engaging through her sex appeal, personality and talent. In today's stan culture, it is often conflated with being an 'alpha', HBIC and more generally the best of the field of which that woman is part of. Don't be mistaken though; the conflation did not immediately come alongside social media. It simply exacerbated it.
In the 1980s, a girl who would go on to be one of Australia's most successful artists of all time had her international breakout and become our It Girl. I am, of course, talking about Kylie Minogue. Knowing how hard it is to crack the international industry, the entire country was beyond thrilled and proud of what Kylie achieved. One person, however, was not as thrilled for her. Fellow Australian singer and icon in the making Kate Ceberano labelled Kylie's success as nothing more than marketing and even went as far as to say that no one with taste buys any of Kylie's discography. The comments did not land well with everyone including Kate's manager telling her off about them. She has rarely spoke of the comments again, but has since admitted that it took time and a think piece implying the same of her to realise the full implications of her calling a peer average at best. The realisation has only exacerbated upon her daughter entering the music industry. But in a rare statement on the matter, Kate has admitted recently that her comments came from a place of insecurity and jealousy.
Though there is likely more to the situation than that, insecurity and jealousy has unfortunately been a mainstay in the music industry over the years; as has comparisons from the public and those in the field. Even within members of musical groups at comparable talent, these traits can turn destructive, regardless of if that is towards the target, jealous party or both. David Caplice, ex manager of Australian girl groups Bardot and Young Divas, noted envy and resentment as two main reasons for both groups' split when interviewed on the topic. Young Divas members Ricki Lee and Jessica Mauboy have both alluded to the same over time with Ricki Lee acknowledging that performing events that she (but not the other girls) had previously conducted solo for a higher fee for free as part of the group had taken its toll and Jessica noting that upon her joining the group, she felt the others hated each other.
Internationally, this insecurity and resentment has also been present through the difference of recognisability of individual group members to the public and professionals in the industry building many groups around having one “main” singer. Even in cases where that individual has not taken the role, cracks start to appear. Though three of the four members of Little Mix have remained close, Leigh Anne Pinnock noted in her book Believe that the other girls having more outspoken fans and comments from the X Factor staff that co-singer Perrie Edwards should be the lead of the group weighed heavily on Leigh Anne. Insecurity and jealousy were also major factors in the factors that led to co-singer Jesy Nelson no longer being in contact with the other members, who eventually left the group when her own insecurity led to mental struggles. Again, I acknowledge that there were more factors to be considered, particularly race in relation to three out of these four situations. But with the exception of Leigh Anne, as far as I am aware, none of these artists have indicated race as a reason for their insecurity or jealousy so I will not speak for them on that matter.
Though Kate Ceberano may not have spoken about her industry related jealousy until recently, it is a topic that has been well documented through the years via other artists. A large part of Taylor Swift's Lover 'era' (2019 – 2020) reflected on and put to bed the same kind of jealousy Kate spoke about; both for Taylor herself and fellow singer Katy Perry. In her documentary Miss Americana, Taylor also spoke about the oxymoron of feeling her time is running out but also feeling frozen at the age she got famous (16) for large sections of her career; a theme that is also in her music. Earlier in their careers, Taylor and Katy had 'feuded' and partaken in actions that impacted each other's careers. Following an earlier (2018) olive branch from Katy, Taylor extended the metaphor by having Katy in her You Need To Calm Down music video; a video for a song that champions both queer rights and feminism by stating that female singers had caught onto the public and industry's games and would no longer compare themselves to each other because there was room for them all to have success. Though not referencing anyone else in particular, in her recent interview, Kate Ceberano mirrored this idea, particularly in contrast to the comments on Kylie Minogue she made almost four decades ago. And given both her and Kylie's countless hits as well as platinum and gold albums, there is certainly proof of that. Likewise, media reporting on this interview noted both Kate and Kylie's young ages (early 20s artists who gained fame at 17 and 11 respectively) at the time of Kate's comments towards Kylie.
But that leads to the question; if the artists have been realising the lack of competition among themselves, has the industry listened let alone relayed that to the younger generation? Well, to be blunt, no. Between singing shows that insist to (typically < 25yo) artists that the winner will have the best experience to stan wars that social media has exacerbated to artists still feeling like there is an elephant graveyard that will lead them to run out of time after age 30, it's no surprise that insecurity and jealousy is still rife in music industry. And the worst part about it is that historically none of it is true. And even less of it is true now. As just one example, with the exception of best new artist, the big four at the 2025 grammys all went to acts that were above 30 years of age (and even with best new artist, it was an artist who not only has been in the industry for years, but thought she had lost her career years ago). The best selling album of the year was by Taylor Swift, who is also over 30yo (and 3/5 of the top selling albums for 2024 were from artists above 30). But it's falsehood does not change that the industry believes it and acts accordingly.
Of course what I have said affects every artist in every country. It does not discriminate between gender nor location. But with the added issues of Americanisation of the music industry, cost of living pressures and the fall of Australia's festival scene, it is definitely felt here (and I imagine other non USA countries, especially ones where English is not the most spoken language, but this is an account about Australia's music scene so that is the focus here) to a higher degree. Though the UK has both had success with having notable artists break the US market and, in the words of Dua Lipa, a special bond with Australia musically in which have similar charts, Australia has rarely shared that bond or success within America. I plan to write longer pieces on both the Americanisation of the music industry and the fall of Australia's festival scene (and how the cost of living contributes to both) at a later date. But for now I will leave it with between the factors spoken about above and a recent study showing that only 14% of artists within Australia are making minimum wage through their music endeavours, I am not surprised that insecurity is rife within the industry.
It is noble of Kate, Leigh Anne, Katy, Taylor and many other artists to acknowledge their insecurity, reflect on how that has made them act and feel gratitude for where they are. However, it is clear at this point that this is not an individual issue and systemic change needs to be made. The music industry is a snapshot of society as a whole which feeds off of the vulnerability of the fears and ambitions of the younger generation. I don't have answers on how to fix it, and in many ways, I think much like other areas of society as a whole, the issue is getting better and worse at the same time. But something needs to change within the industry, as well as on a fan level. With mental health at the forefront of a lot of society's mind over the last few years and artists including Chappell Roan demanding the industry take theirs seriously, I have hope that things will get better and hopefully lead to an industry whose first response is to lift up artists rather than tearing them down. But as I've said, progression isn't linear, and, unfortunately, we still live in a society where drama sells. But for everyone's sake, I hope an answer comes soon and we can reach a point where green and gold are only the colours of Australia, not bound and tied with jealousy.
