The Pop Stars Who Are Reclaiming Their Power

Well, it has been quite the week for blonde pop stars reclaiming ownership over their work, their names, and their lives.?

Let’s start with Taylor Swift, who released the re-recorded version of her album Red on Friday. This is the second album Swift has re-recorded as “Taylor’s Version,” as part of her larger project to re-record all of her first six albums so that she can own the masters.

Swift’s very personal battle against the powers that be in the music industry to regain control of her life’s work has certainly been well documented. Her first label, Big Machine Records, owns the original recordings of the six albums she released between 2006 and 2017—which is typical with recording deals, especially the first deal for a new artist.

But if there’s anything we know about Taylor Swift, it’s that she is anything but typical. When Big Machine sold to private-equity group Ithaca Holdings—an entity owned by powerhouse music manager Scooter Braun—in 2019, Braun swiftly (pun intended) sold her masters to Shamrock Holdings for a reported $300 million. Swift, who claims she has dealt with “incessant, manipulative bullying” at the hands of Braun and his clients for over a decade, was completely devastated by this news. So, what did she do? She decided to re-record all six of those albums—and this time, she’ll own them herself.

A less talked about but equally as important situation happened recently with Jessica Simpson, who founded her billion-dollar apparel and shoe brand back in 2005. It was revealed last month that Simpson and her mother owned 37.5% of the brand and had been in negotiations with Sequential Brands Group Inc., which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, to buy back the remaining 62.5%.?

According to Simpson’s recent Instagram post, “It was a long journey getting to this point. I was told no, that brand ownership was out of the question, that I was not relevant enough, and I would never have 100%. [...] We withstood the battle and today we CONFIDENTLY claim victory! The entire Jessica Simpson Collection belongs to us!” She also added the hashtag #OwnYourself in the post’s caption.

And last but certainly not least is Britney Spears, who is now a free woman after 13 years under a conservatorship arrangement that had granted her father and others almost total control over her estate and her person. Since 2008, Spears has been legally stripped of her ability to make her own decisions about everything from her finances to her social life to her medical treatments—one example of which came to light this year when Spears revealed she was forbidden from removing her IUD.

As Spears’s attorney said, “What’s next for Britney, and this is the first time this could be said for about a decade, is up to one person: Britney.” After what she’s endured throughout her entire career, even before the conservatorship with paparazzi and media harassment, that statement means so much more than any of us may ever realize.

So, what do all of these women have in common?

They’re taking back what should have been theirs all along. They’re refusing to allow outdated, misogynistic power structures and unjust arrangements to hold them back. They’re finding their agency and their own voices in a world that has allowed others to control them and speak for them for so long. They’re finally released from the grip of the patriarchal system that has wronged them for years.?

And, perhaps most important, their fame has brought these conversations about women and power and ownership into the mainstream. Now, it’s up to all of us to keep it that way.