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I had absolutely no interest in being somebody else's muse.
I am not a muse.
I am the somebody.
Daisy speaks these lines in “The Groupie Daisy Jones” as she recounts her early experiences of having her ideas stolen by men. Simone says that the men in Daisy’s life wanted to make something of themselves with Daisy, which encapsulates the way men use her. The expectation throughout the male-dominated music industry was that women serve as accessories to men. Here, Daisy illustrates that she was determined to act in defiance of this expectation and be the main character in her own story, rather than a footnote in someone else’s. As she embarks on this journey, she’s often met with resistance from men. These include, notably, the record executives who refuse to let her record her own songs, preferring that she be a pretty face with a pretty voice giving new life to other people’s words. But over time, by giving in to the record executives and committing to putting more work into her songs, Daisy finds her path toward being “the somebody” and playing a starring role in her own life.
Men often think they deserve a sticker for treating women like people.
This quote from Karen takes place in “The Rise of The Six,” after Billy has figuratively patted himself on the back for inviting Karen to be in the band. This quote encapsulates the divide between what men in the music industry think they’re giving to women and what women know they deserve. Rather than congratulating himself for seeing past her gender, Billy could have opened his eyes to the ways the women around him were pushed to conform to a different set of rules to get ahead. Karen, here, suggests that she often doesn’t feel like men treat her like a person. This is why she has had to toe the line to get ahead in music, changing the way she dresses, hiding her relationships, and doing everything in her power to be seen as a talented keyboardist
I am not going to sit around sweating my ass off just so men can feel more comfortable. It’s not my responsibility to not turn them on. It’s their responsibility to not be an a**hole.
Daisy speaks these words in “Aurora.” As the band is shooting the album cover for Aurora, Daisy’s skimpy attire becomes the focal point of the story and of the cover itself. The album cover becomes iconic, and it heavily features Daisy’s body which can be seen through her sheer clothes. Part of the success of, and the legend around, The Six’s final album is the powerful image of Daisy on that cover. In this quote, Daisy recognizes that she’s defying people’s expectations of her and rejecting the social pressure to dress differently so that people aren’t uncomfortable. Daisy recognizes that this pressure comes from men’s failure to deal with their attraction to her. Because Daisy owns her image, her presentation, and her body, she subverts what could be a disempowering situation—being photographed and observed by men who see her as an object—and she becomes once again the agent of her own image and career.
