Following a year after winning awards and nominations for Barbie the Album, Barbie is continuing its love and connection to music with its latest doll collection, 2025 Career of the Year: Women in Music. Women have been making remarkable strides in the music industry, with names such as Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and Chappell Roan being just some of the most popular names in music today. The Women in Music collection will include two industry roles, Musical Artist and Tour Manager, which are meant to encourage the next generation to consider music careers in front of a crowd and behind the scenes.
In connection with the focus on music, Barbie is also honoring Alicia Keys. Alicia Keys has won seventeen Grammy awards, received the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award, and has two diamond certifications. Barbie is also celebrating Ann Mincieli, Alicia Keys' recording and mix engineer. Each of their respective dolls will be portrayed in their likeness.
Being a musician can be one of the most rewarding careers out there. It is telling stories, personal or not, that allow the musician to connect directly with the audience. Music can be a universal language that allows people to feel a connection or bond, and part of that comes from the lyrics, performance, and engineering done by the song's creators. Barbie's desire to emphasize the Musical Artist comes from realizing that only twenty-two percent of artists on mainstream music charts are female. Granted, that has not stopped some of the biggest names in music from being women. Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is one of the most successful tours of all time, and Disney+ even released a film version for those who never got to see the concert in person or those who wanted to watch it again. Women are giving it their all on stage, whether it be belting out their vocal range or delivering an exciting show for fans.
The Tour Manager is one of the most integral roles in the music industry. Their role is to organize all of the details of the artist's tour, from the venue to traveling, and to be responsible for the crew. Only thirty-one percent of tour managers across the globe are women, and Barbie is encouraging girls to dream of moving forward with this career as well, as providing an amazing concert experience can be satisfying for the artist, the fans, and the tour manager herself.
Barbie's focus on music encourages girls everywhere to tell their story through song, regardless of whether it means as a performer, lyricist, or composer. Barbie wants to encourage girls to take on positions of power, such as Tour Managers, because they are more than capable of handling it. So tell your sisters, daughters, nieces, granddaughters, or any other young girls in your life to tell their stories, and that you know they can do anything they set their mind to, and you support them in their strive for any musical future they see for themselves. The music industry may be home to plenty of iconic women, but there is still room for many more.