3 of Indie Rock’s Best Female Songwriters

People describe indie rock differently.

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It doesn’t just have to do with whether an artist signs with a major or independent label. Regardless of how you view this sprawling genre—with its noisy guitars and disinterest in the directional winds of the music business—the witty discontents have reached the upper levels of the pop sphere.

A list called “Best Female” anything seems silly and the songwriters here are equally at home on any “Best of” list. But in the interest of zooming in on three of the best indie rock songwriters, it just so happens that women are leading the class.

Far from complete, consider this only a snapshot. PJ Harvey, Julien Baker, Waxahatchee, Courtney Barnett, Kim Gordon, Cate Le Bon, Karen O, and Kim Deal missing here is just an excuse for yet another list.

All my life I closed my eyes
And stumbled in with wayward mind.

Sharon Van Etten

Since 2009, Sharon Van Etten has become one of the most consistent songwriters in the indie business. This is no small feat. She’s reinvented her sound, expanding from early folk and indie rock to synthy post-punk. “Every Time the Sun Comes Up,” according to Van Etten, “was like a joke.” The band had finished an early session and decided to record one more. She calls it her “Bruce Springsteen song.” Listen to “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” back-to-back with “Seventeen.” What you hear is self-doubt becoming self-assurance. Van Etten leaps from fragility to catharsis when she screams, Afraid you’ll be just like me.

Phoebe Bridgers

Do you remember when the internet gasped and clutched its pearls after Phoebe Bridgers smashed her guitar on Saturday Night Live? That performance, not just the guitar smashing, should solidify Bridgers’ place in a class of her own. There’s now a “Phoebe Bridgers” sound frequently appearing on other artists’ recordings. It’s like how people tried to copy the tortured genius of Elliott Smith. Still, Bridgers is a Smith disciple. Now she’s become the same to others. She might wince at the suggestion but you could defend the position by playing back one of Bridgers’ own songs like “Kyoto” or “Scott Street,” or the whole of Punisher.

St. Vincent (Annie Clark)

If you glimpse Taylor Swift’s Spotify, you’ll notice her most-played song is “Cruel Summer.” Written by Swift, Jack Antonoff, and Annie Clark, the track showcases Clark’s unique approach to songwriting. You don’t get to “Cruel Summer” without St. Vincent’s “Cruel.” But Clark has steadily grown more comfortable writing within the lines. On her fifth album Masseduction, she used art pop as an Andy Warhol-like medium. “New York” represents Clark’s lament for pieces of the old city she’s lost. It’s also where you hear more Clark than St. Vincent. All this leads to her crushing 2024 album All Born Screaming.

Also, one of this year’s best lyrics:

Snubbed-out smoke in a pack from the Nowhere Inn
Water glass with the smudge of a lipstick stain
Box of nails, olive branch, and the Holy Ghost
Leave the rest, but come back for the marigolds

Photo by Naomi Rahim/WireImage