Monsters, Devils, and Kings: Subversive Female Identities in the Music of Florence and the Machine, Milck, and Valerie Broussard

Music is a powerful medium of expression—not only of emotions but also of social and political concerns—making it a privileged space for communicating ideas and creating connections among individuals. Like any other form of artistic expression, music has been shaped by dominant ideologies and discourses that play a crucial role in determining public recognition and social legitimacy. Within this framework, women have had to fight to gain a foothold in the industry and develop their own voice from which to narrate their experiences and perspectives. Across different genres and historical periods, it is possible to trace the work of female artists who articulate the specific struggles and tensions that women face under patriarchal systems in diverse cultural contexts. This paper focuses on three contemporary singer-songwriters—Florence Welch (Florence and The Machine), Milck, and Valerie Broussard—whose work challenges patriarchal notions of female identity through the creation of transgressive figures that derive power from subversion, monstrosity, and ambiguity. These figures resist conventional expectations of femininity and destabilize the boundaries that define it. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from gender studies and cultural studies, this article analyzes six songs by these artists to explore how the representation of subversive female figures in music enables a counter-hegemonic understanding of femininity. By reconfiguring identity through musical performance, these works reveal the mechanisms through which patriarchal structures seek to regulate women’s actions, thoughts, and experiences. Ultimately, this study argues that contemporary female singer-songwriters employ musical creation as a means of reclaiming subjectivity and agency, while proposing alternative and plural forms of inhabiting femininity beyond the restrictive norms imposed by patriarchal discourse.