From female musicians & confusing submissions: rising controversies at the Lux Style Awards

With little over two months left for the year to end, and nothing but a vague Instagram post suggesting that The Lux Style Awards will take place this year, the annual show is facing several controversies already. The post first linked people to the official luxstyle.pk website, that listed ‘nominations’ in each category, asking people to vote. As it turned out, these ‘nominations’ were in fact submissions, and some categories had over 20 names each. Without an explanation or clarity given for the changed process, it thoroughly confused people. Subsequently, the Lux Style Pk website has been down for maintenance ever since and no official statement has been made to clarify the situation. If this wasn’t discrediting enough, singer and songwriter Meesha Shafi pointed out that there were no female musicians/ singers in LSAs list of ‘nominations’. Meesha wrote about the unfair nominations on her Instagram Stories and tagged 19 fellow female singers of Pakistan. “Not a single woman nominated in the LSA music nominations. Erasure at this scale (there is an exceptionally high number of nominations this time) of the entire female population occupying the Pakistani music industry is unjustifiable and highly problematic,” she wrote. “The LSA brand and jury has set an example of women being blindsided and denied the recognition they deserve. A brand like Lux, who sells their soaps on the back of women in their ads, ought to be more mindful of women equity on their platforms, especially when there is no dearth of women singing/songwriting and releasing high quality music in any given year. LSA is accountable and should be answerable for this blatant discrimination,” she added. Sania from Justin Bibis reshared it, while Risham Faiz Bhutta gave a nod to the statement and wrote that she is “not shocked but it’s a prime example of women being blindsided and denied the recognition they deserve. Looking at the list made me feel like women didn’t exist this year, they did.” “Seeing the list didn’t demotivate me, but shocked me to the core that no one from the jury thought about this? was it THAT okay to have no female musician to be a part of the nominations?” she asked.

 

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Zeb Bangash also highlighted the wrong messaging it is giving out and wrote: “Awards and nominations in our industry haven’t necessarily been a measure of an artist’s caliber, contribution and/or their popularity. However, they do reflect a certain acknowledgement and acceptance of an artist in the mainstream fraternity. To completely ignore women on a platform fueled by a woman-centric brand that has always been run by women is surprising and gives cause for concern. I’m wondering why NO woman artist made the cut this year?” she questioned.

Maria Unera also criticized it and she even shared a link from an article from Bol News which pointed out there wasn’t a single female artist in the list of nominations in the music category. “You’ll have women sell you soaps and products but y’all don’t have the decency to nominate women in music? Should be ashamed of yourselves. I’m not even surprised anymore at this point, just straight up disappointed. Same…I just see the same dudes over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again…. What a damn shame,” she wrote.

Rachel Viccaji was next to raise her concern. She re-shared shots of several posts and asked: “Where is the appreciation for our female artists? Women have been SLAYING in the music industry! Come on Lux Style PK! Do better.” Natasha Noorani, who has been given hits after hits, also called out the nominations. “The systemic erasure of women in music always manifests in new ways. So sick of the boys club. Gatekeeping starts in the studio,” she wrote while reposting Shafi’s Instagram Story.

Eva B, Natasha Baig, Nimra Rafiq, Rutaba Yaqub and many other female musicians have also shared their thoughts on Instagram Stories and re-shared the stories to voice their disappointment and concern. Responding to a journalist on the matter, CEO Talking Point and award manager of the LSAs, Fareshteh Aslam commented on Instagram: “This is a submission list. Whoever submitted is on this list. Nominations will be announced after voting. Finally a winner will be announced.” However, Meesha isn’t convinced as she asked the burning question that “then shouldn’t it be called the ‘submission list?'” She also pointed out that she knows some of her “male colleagues who are on the list and it is a fact that so many of them submitted nothing.” Regrettably, it seems that an oversight or a mistake by team LSA has grown out of proportion because of an untimely reveal of the Submissions List which was wrongfully circulated and uploaded as the finalized “Nomination List”. Nearly 25 to 35 nominations in most of the categories were enough to doubt the legitimacy and reliability of the said list. The Lux Style Awards are the longest standing and by comparison, fairest and most neutral award shows to take place for fashion and entertainment in Pakistan. That they should take a hit to their credibility, at this stage, is unfortunate. We hope the problem will be addressed and rectified soon.

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