Turkish singer takes part in Spotify’s gender equity program

ISTANBUL

A Turkish singer took part in the iconic billboards of Times Square in New York City as the first cover artist to represent Turkey in Spotify’s EQUAL project.

Debuting with a song she released in 2017 and gaining national recognition in a short period, Turkish singer Melike Şahin has succeeded in reaching a new audience in the international arena with the project.

In honor of International Women’s Day, Spotify launched EQUAL, a new initiative highlighting the women creators on its platform and working towards equity for women in the audio industry.

Speaking to daily Milliyet, Şahin expressed her happiness for being the first cover artist from Turkey on the international list.

“It also made me happy to meet the musicians whose work I follow with interest on this list,” Şahin said, noting that it was a great way to discover female music producers and artists from around the world.

Şahin stated that women have been in a constant struggle not only in the field of music but also in all areas of art and life.

“As your word is ignored, so you are ignored, and you constantly have to fight with a young mindset that sees itself as superior to you,” Şahin added.

Noting that it can be easily understood how depressing the situation is when even the policies revolving only on the female body are taken into consideration, Şahin stated that women’s weight, wrinkles, or what they wear were a focus of criticism for some reason.

“The feminist struggle showed me what kind of well we are in, and it helped a lot in terms of finding solutions or at least thinking about solutions on how to get rid of this well,” she added.