In her speech, she cited statistics from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism study of Grammy nominees. “Of almost 3,000 pop songwriters credited last year only 12% were female, only 3% of the engineers were female, and one of them is Ann [Mincieli, Keys’ regular engineer]. Only 2% of producers are female and one of them is me! Our world is 50-50, and it’s time for our industry to reflect that.”

My mama taught me that every year is the year of the woman… but this year is definitely something else. It’s a powerful year, it’s an empowering year, and it’s the beginning of so many things. And many of us in the music world are working more diligently than ever to showcase and support the work of female songwriters, musicians, engineers, and producers.

Keys went on to talk about the Time’s Up movement as well as the gender pay gap. “We deserve the utmost respect, and so many of these women across industries are telling our culture that time is up on double standards.” She further stated, “and it is over for pay inequity and colleagues who are at best disrespectful and at the worst unsafe – so it’s over for that.”

The singer highlighted the importance of diversity and women of color in the music industry. “Songwriters tell our stories, they sing who we are as people — don’t we all want to hear from all of us? My ancestors’ spiritual songs told their stories and gave them strength, and we’re all stronger because of it.” Keys named some of her influences, such as Joan Baez, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. Contemporary female artists of color  such, as Janelle Monáe, SZA, Solange and Mary J. Blige were also mentioned.

The singer concluded by saying: “We were told we need to step up. Well, you feel that step up now?”

We over at QM definitely feel that step up and are ecstatic about this new movement. The singer has shown that not only is she famous for being incredibly talented, she cares for the rights of  people of colour as well as those of women and we couldn’t be more proud that she’s utilising her platform for good.

Maroon 5 have just released a new single entitled: Girls Like You and it features all our female power-house faves from Jennifer Lopez, Tiffany Haddish, Mary J Blige, Camila Cabello, Gal Gadot, Ellen Degeneres and so many others. We can’t help but recognise how the message behind the video seems to be so in tow with the celebration of women from all fields, as it also seems as though the women selected are all iconic in their own right, including names that might not be prevalent on the red carpet such as: Tech entrepreneur and author, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh; activist and writer, Angy Rivera; as well as Politician, Ilhan Omar. It is such a beautiful thing that women all over the world are gaining recognition and are being celebrated for their vast accomplishments.

Maroon 5 lead singer, Adam Levine, who is also TV co-host on the hit music competition, The Voice, can be seen in the video singing with a microphone in hand, while the ladies dance and mouth the lyrics as they appear in several rotations behind him.

Rapper and mama-to-be, Cardi B, also features as she does a rap number on the track (can we give it up to this woman for being so hardworking though?). The music video then ends with an emotional moment, as Levine’s South African model wife, Behati Prinsloo, holds their baby as he embraces her.

We love a beautiful tune with an empowering message behind it.

I can’t seem to get over women taking over the world!

Watch the video: