Women's Spirituality as a Source of Creativity in Popular Music

This research examines the ways in which creativity can be expanded through spirituality in women’s contributions to popular music. Women’s spiritual explorations bring together some of the most important political and religious dimensions of contemporary life, but their research treatment remains confined to the status of sexualized Other. This research focuses on the unvetted artistic languages women use to express spirituality to yield a new understanding of the role of spirituality on creativity and the contributions of women as creative agents, analyzing metal and hip-hop music to understand: 1) the interrelation of spirituality with women’s identity, 2) how spirituality affects their perceptions of the music as a dialectical language, and 3) the influence that spirituality has on their creativity and production processes. The researcher will implement an interdisciplinary methodology to analyze 10 case studies and carry out 10 interviews with musicians. These techniques will be leveraged by theoretical considerations for studying religions, including Critical Discursive Study of Religion -developed by Prof. Hjelm- to guide a discursive analysis of lyrics and performances. The study will contribute to making women’s artistic spiritual practice visible, expanding understanding of the articulation between spirituality, identity, and creativity in popular music through a comprehensive analytical perspective that includes the musical process as a whole. To ensure the successful implementation of this project, the researcher will conduct the study at the University of Helsinki with the guidance of Prof. Hjelm, a leading scholar in the field of religious studies. The MSCA Fellowship will prepare the researcher to be competitive at the international level for advanced funding, strengthening her academic profile, and allow her to conduct subsequent follow-up studies in art education based on her findings.