Underrated and Miscategorized Women in Music

I'm starting a series of articles based on females in the music industry that are underrated and/or mislabeled. There is a very popular phrase that says "don't judge a book by it's cover" and I truly think people still do this too often. Shakira was already popular in her home country when she came to america to expand her music career, it was near the era of Britney and Christina. People saw how beautiful she was and how well she could belly dance and thought of her as something like a "spanish britney or christina" (which is weird because Christina is actually spanish herself). Anyway, that was not the correct category to put Shakira into. Sure, she is beautiful and can dance, but she doesn't have much else in common with the other "pop princess" artists. For one, she writes almost all of her own songs, not only in spanish (her first language) but also in english, which to me is quite impressive. Another thing is that she plays several instruments very well: harmonica, guitar, drums, bongos. Her sound in her songs is not that "pop" if you ask me, they are more of a folk indie rock, plus her original look is more "rocker chick"

There are several pictures of her early days that prove this. She decided to have blonde hair later on. She is actually rumored to be a literal genius, with an IQ of something like 142. I'm not sure if that is true or not but it seems likely given all the things she has done, and can do. She can speak in 4 different languages. And she wrote her first poem at the age of 4, it's titled "La Rosa De Cristal" (The Crystal Rose). In school as a young girl she was rejected from her school choir because her vibrato was too strong. This infuriates me because "vibrato" is legitimately the most difficult thing for a singer to learn or do. Most actually can't do it, even with training. It's hard also to teach because there isn't one particular trick to it, it either happens or it doesn't. I actually learned that from a vocal coach. And trying not to go on a huge rant, the same vocal coach taught me to "belt" in one 15min video. Belting is seen as the most impressive singing "trick" when actually it is one of the easiest things to learn, and with practice almost anyone can do it. "Vibrato" however, especially strong vibrato is often made fun of and people will say that someone sounds like a goat. When actually vibrato is only possible with a proper singing technique, meaning if you aren't singing right, vibrato will not happen. But even if you sing correctly and try to have vibrato and practice, it still might not happen. So Shakira was rejected for being too naturally good at something that is really difficult for most people, just because they didn't understand it. Another problem is that people listen to Shakira with pop music in mind, they don't understand that her yodel tone is actually appropriate for the music she is writing (think Alanis or Fiona). When you hear Shakira, don't compare her voice to christina, other pop singers, divas, etc. she doesn't and shouldn't sound like them. Her voice is so unique and beautiful and for her to try to sound the same as everyone else would be literally tragic. I feel like if she weren't one of the most gorgeous women on the planet (she is) and if she had hidden her bellydancing from the public, people would take her more seriously. But that is not her fault or mistake, it's a problem with society. Pretty girls can't be smart, girls that like to dance are slutty... neither of those things are true at all. Shakira is a very talented artist, a true artist and a very intelligent caring woman. She is also active in a lot of charities, that and other interesting things about her can be read about in her wikipedia page.