Exclusive:Sheryl Crow Makes a Bold Declaration About Taylor Swift’s Influence on the Music Industry

The ‘My Favorite Mistake’ singer said some stars are ‘bigger than the actual system.’

Sheryl Crow has made a bold declaration about how she thinks the influence of megastars like Taylor Swift has impacted the music industry for the better.

Ahead of the March 29 release of her new album Evolution, the “All I Wanna Do” singer reflected on her early days as a musician during a recent interview with the Australian magazine Stellar.

Crow, 62, previously revealed the sexual harassment she endured in Sheryl, the 2022 documentary about her life. She told Stellar that the experiences she faced “happened frequently” to women before #MeToo. The movement has helped women be “taken more seriously,” she said.

The “Soak Up the Sun” songwriter then explained how she believes major pop stars have, in some ways, been able to shake up the gender politics of the industry.

“What’s interesting is that when you get women who are bigger than the actual system in general—like a Madonna or a Beyoncé or a Taylor—it sort of is a giant ‘eff you’ to the entire history of men manipulating women,” Crow said.

Though the stars she mentioned have significant influence, Crow told the magazine she wonders about other female artists who “are sexualising themselves,” and whether they do so “in the name of feminism” or for “branding.”

The 2023 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s comments followed a year when Swift and Beyoncé served as dominating forces in pop culture, with Swift kicking off her Eras Tour and Beyoncé launching her Renaissance tour. Each artist later released films—complete with theatrical releases—about their successful tours and the work that went into them.

The two appear poised to dominate 2024 as well, with each artist preparing for their imminent new album releases.

Beyoncé’s new album will drop first on March 29, the same date as Crow’s Evolution. Beyoncé first teased her new album, Cowboy Carter, through a commercial that aired during the 2024 Super Bowl and later released its first two singles.