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I have been influenced primarily by Björk, mostly due to her avant-garde, experimental compositions, combining classical instrumentation and futuristic electronic sounds, as well as her abstract lyrics, and her primal, emotive voice. My first impressions of her music (around age 13) was immediate distaste - then I discovered her albums Homogenic (1997) and Vespertine (2001) in 2010 and haven't looked back - both still feel and sound incredibly modern even over two decades later.

Kelela also lists Björk as one of her influences. Largely, this is due to Bjork being a woman with creative control over her music, and a relentlessly experimental innovator (Zolads, 2015). Björk's raw lyricism, vocal emotionality and soundscapes very much can be heard in the bulk of Kelela's work, particularly her 2017 album Take Me Apart. Interestingly, Kelela and Björk have worked with the same experimental producer Arca, which illustrates the immediacy of this influence (Camp, 2015) ; (Morse, 2015).

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Joanna Newsom is another primary influence of mine. Upon hearing her work, I wasn't particularly interested. But I persisted, and found the epic, elaborate story-telling of her lyrics appealing to the writer in me. I found myself often inspired/intimidated by dense classical works and even Greek mythology. Next are her intricate, ethereal harp and piano compositions, which also appeal to my love of the ethereal. Finally. and perhaps the most distinctive part of her, is her raw, folky voice, which has evolved over her career.

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Kelela is another primary influence of mine. Her unique combination of sleek, futuristic electronic music production with R&B sensibilities are what gripped me initially. There was an edge to her that I found captivating. The more I paid attention to her music, the more her intimate, often challenging lyrics, and her powerful, versatile voice became apparent and incredibly beautiful to me. Her experience as a black queer woman is what grips me most, particularly in her latest album Raven (2023).

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Björk has a varied number of influences, though Kate Bush is one of the more frequently listed. Björk mentions Bush as being a reference point for her career as an independent female avant-pop artist (Kornhaber, 2022) ; (Thomas-Mason, 2022). Bush's prolific output and role as singer, songwriter, composer and producer, and exploring various genres and experimenting with music conventions. which undoubtedly impacted Björk's career trajectory and creative output, (Hopper, 2015).

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Björk frequently lists Joni Mitchell as an undeniable influence on her as an artist, both lyrically (for being candid, vulnerable and raw) and even vocally as well (Thomas-Mason, 2021) ; (Thomas-Mason, 2022). Björk also praises Mitchell for being a leading woman in music who (preceding her) created sonic worlds in her albums, particularly 1976's Hejira and 1977's output Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (Hopper, 2015). These qualities are more than evident in the majority of Björk's albums, which feature overall sonic cohesion and thematic consistency.

Joni Mitchell is a primary influence for Joanna Newsom as well. Again, Mitchell's output from the 1970s is mentioned but this time it's Mitchell's 1971 album Blue, particularly, that Newsom says is one of her favourites (Frank, 2015). Due to the folk stylings, candid and emotional lyrics, and Mitchell's unique vocal arrangements and textures, these influences can be heard and felt especially in Newsom's 2010 album Have One On Me (Ronsen, 2010).

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Meredith Monk is a more avant-garde influence on Björk and one that she cites as being seminal throughout her adolescence (Björk.fr, n.d.). Monk's multi-disciplinary achievements (not necessarily across music, but more in art, composition and vocal performance) influenced Björk to do the same in subsequent decades, and this multi-disciplinary aptitude is apparent in Björk's music videos, fashion, art, acting, her app-album, and subsequent documentary on Monk illustrate this aptly (Leverenz, 2021). Notably, Monk's raw, primal vocal articulations and overall aesthetic have been citied by Björk as particularly inspirational (Counterstream Radio, 2007).

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Texas Gladden is someone Newsom describes as being her "epiphany person" (Gevinson, 2015), largely due to her unique and non-classically trained voice, which inspired Newsom to start experimenting with her own voice. Due to Gladden's profound influence over her, Newsom says,  "I stopped studying composition; I switched my major to creative writing, and...I started putting words to my music and singing." (Budnitz, 2004). While Gladden herself wasn't a trained musician or vocalist, Newsom claims she stood out to her as being different from the conventions expected of women in music circa the 1940s (Babcock, 2010).

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Kelela cites Janet Jackson as one of her primary influences, due to her being an exemplary black female artist with creative control, (Guzman, 2018). Not only this, but the raw sensuality in Jackson's lyrics, and even her blend of futuristic/electronic music with R&B/soul is apparent in most of Kelela's catalogue. Kelela cites the musical and thematic shift of Jackson's three albums from 1989 - 1998 (Rhythm Nation 1814 (political), janet. (sexuality), The Velvet Rope (emotionality)) as being particularly inspirational to her artistry (Giorgis, 2023). Furthermore, The Velvet Rope's sonics are apparent across Kelela's body of work, particularly her LPs Take Me Apart and Raven.

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Kelela often refers to Betty Carter as another primary and rather early influence over her work as an artist (Giorgis, 2023) ; (Shikhan, 2017). Kelela particularly makes note of Carter's blackness and her Jazz vocal stylings - and this seemingly influenced Kelela's early career as a Jazz singer in a bar in LA. Notably, Carter's vocal stylings have influenced Kelela's production process beyond her early Jazz performances, particularly due to her strong use of visceral emotive vocal capabilities and vocal improvisations across her oeuvre (Friedlander, 2013).

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Ruth Crawford Seeger is listed as Joanna's Newsom's primary influence. Notably, Newsom references unique, revolutionary composition style, which attempted to put a modern American stamp on more classical arrangements, a sight where art music blended with folk music (Babcock, 2004) ; (Budnitz, 2004). Furthermore, Newsom admires Crawford Seeger's experimental nature and the various dissonances of her compositions, particularly while navigating the complexities of being a woman in a male-dominated industry some decades before it became more acceptable for women to juggle competing priorities in music (Lock, 2015).