Minerva Daisy - Musician
Minerva Daisy is a 19-year-old singer/songwriter based in Manchester, UK. Her music has been described as emotional, powerful and soulful. She has been singing from a young age, since she could speak basically, and remember always wanting to be a musician.
Growing up, Minerva remembers listening to Barbie Girl by Aqua, and loving the song with its catchy melody and the fun sounding nature. However, and with good reason, her mum said she shouldn’t sing it. It was only when Minerva got a little older that she realised the heavy sexualisation of women in the song and video which showed women as commodities. It would be a foreshadowing of the future that she wasn’t aware of at the time.
When Minerva hit high school that’s when she really started becoming more aware of the expectation of what women should be in popular music (for the most part). Girls would sing about heartbreak and love and guys would sing about sex, drugs, drinking, rock and roll.
It started to strike her as odd. Why is it when a girl sings about these things they scrutinise her in the media? When a female singer starts to party and go out, she gets hounded like Amy Winehouse was. Why couldn’t she sing about how much she loves her body and enjoy sex like men can without being called names, Minerva wondered.
It was around this time that Minerva started writing her own music. She wrote about pain, lust and love. She had comments from people asking why she doesn’t sing more feminine with the high notes; why she doesn't write love songs (which she does but It’s not her main area).
Minerva would hide away in the practice rooms every single day in school and write and play. She would get funny looks through the windows, people laughing and mimicking her. She was being ignored and laughed at by classmates because she’s going into an industry that just isn’t for girls. It didn’t deter her.
She pushed on and always had a dream of playing on the big stages. Minerva wants people singing her music back and inspire other women to push on and become a musician despite the hurdles in the way.
When she started doing solo gigs, Minerva noticed drunk men would become a little touchy at the end of them, thanking her by grabbing her, giving her a kiss on the cheek or leaning over the piano to touch her “for a bit of fun”. They would say they love how her mouth moves when she sings. Minerva would just ignore them, believing that she can’t argue, because they are her fans and it should just be accepted and seen as a compliment. However, it made her uncomfortable enough to want to leave immediately after a gig.
For a long time Minerva was ashamed of the way she looked and believed that looks + talent = success. All of these beautiful women with beautiful bodies and an air of sex around them, the media always focusing on when they reveal a little too much skin on a hot day, their outfits at the carpet events it was all about their looks.
Minerva got to a stage where she believed she wouldn’t become successful because she wasn’t like them. But then Minerva realised she had to love herself and be confident. She started doing body positive photoshoots on her own terms.
She wanted a shoot that showed she’s a powerful singer. And she is a woman. Minerva had amazing comments from women messaging her saying it gave them confidence to do it too. People were listening to her music and saying it’s so powerful and they want to become a musician. Despite her love of music, Minerva had doubts about continuing at one point because of the treatment women in music receive, but based on those comments she decided she can’t ever give up on music.
Minerva wants to inspire others to write music and other women to be in this industry. She wants to become a strong female role model in music to show other girls they can do it too; women can write about anything they want and look however they want.
She wants to show women, and empower them, that stereotypes can be broken and that women are just as powerful as men. She wants to create opportunities for women to work with her on stage and behind the scenes creating music, writing reviews, taking photos and more. She wants to make a change in the world and the music industry.
For someone still so young, Minerva is wise beyond her years. We thank her for sending her story along to help inspire other young women looking to get into entertainment.
Please give her a follow below:
Instagram: @minervadaisy
Facebook: @minervadaisymusic
Website: https://minervadaisy.wixsite.com/minervadaisyofficial