Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos AdrienneTrier-Bieniek. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013.

Abstract

Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos Adrienne Trier-Bieniek. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2013.Adrienne Trier-Bieniek's Sing Us a Song, Piano Woman: Female Fans and the Music of Tori Amos offers a visionary glimpse into the myriad of ways that Amos's recorded and live performances positively impact her fans. The book blends primary and secondary sources in order to jump start a conversation about women, music, and fandom (13). The Introduction of the text outlines Tori Amos's career, provides an explanation of research methods, and offers insight into each of the book's six chapters. Throughout the text, feminist theorists (including Judith Butler and Laura Mulvey) provide context alongside Trier-Bieniek's analysis of first-person female fan interviews. Rather than examining popular musicians who promote style over substance (e.g., Britney Spears), the focus of this study surrounds the complex ways in which Tori Amos and her ethos impact the ways in which fans relate to, discuss, and deconstruct her music.The book chronicles six chapters, the first of which being 'Cock Rock' and 'Teenybop.' Here, Trier-Bieniek establishes the role of gender in the industry through a historical lens and presents connective links between various female singer-songwriters. Especially relevant is the section where Tori Amos sites Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush as early influences on her personal craft. Additionally, female fans expound via first-person interview content on how their connection to music is gendered (26). The book delves into the issues surrounding contemporary and feminism in the next section.Chapter 2, Challenging the Pop Culture Portrait of Female Fans, focuses specifically on history with respect to specific female artists and feminism. Andocentric paradigms are contrasted with the ways in which Amos gives voice to women's concerns within her lyrics. Trier-Bieniek posits, Tori's fans recognize that by situating women at the center of her songs (as well as drawing on her own experience as a woman in a male-dominated field), she goes against previous studies of culture that have focused on and used men as representatives for both genders' musical preferences (42). After accepting that production fights against patriarchy and noting how the aims of feminism can be expressed through music, the text turns its attention to the social roles of Amos's female fans.Chapter 3, Musical Healing, examines the ways in which female fans respond to Tori Amos's opus as a means for self-reflection and internal growth. …