Sonya Madan, the voice of Britpop band Echobelly, has spoken out about her experience as a woman in the male-heavy 1990s scene, insisting that most of the major players, including members of Oasis, Blur, Pulp and Suede, were “lovely, supportive and decent.”
At a time when lad culture was making headlines and music magazines often lumped artists together with reductive labels, Madan says her personal experience was far more positive than people might assume.
“Yeah, and in my experience, the boys in all the bands that I came across were really lovely and supportive and decent,” she told Contact Music.
“If there was difficulty, it tended to come from the music press and supposedly intelligent people who should have known better.”
No divide among Britpop peers
Despite being one of the few women fronting a Britpop band at the time, Madan said she never felt excluded from the scene.
“Tell you the truth I don’t think it was an issue,” she said. “People like to think of it as an issue now because it’s so terribly trendy to talk about women’s rights and it wasn’t back then. But at the same time, I don’t personally believe in lifting someone up by putting someone else down.”
Echobelly emerged in the early 90s with a string of indie hits and an acclaimed debut album, Everyone’s Got One. But it was their 1995 follow-up, On, that made the biggest impact. The album reached No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart, thanks to standout singles Great Things and Dark Therapy, both of which remain fan favourites today.
Madan, who formed Echobelly with guitarist Glenn Johansson, acknowledged that the media tended to pit female-fronted bands against each other, often comparing Echobelly with Sleeper and Elastica.
“To a certain extent, there is some merit in it,” she said, “but I think that there were more women then fronting and being in bands. There are plenty of us.”
Echobelly celebrate 30 years of On with 2025 UK tour
The band will mark the 30th anniversary of On with a UK tour later this year, performing songs from the album that helped define their legacy within the Britpop era.
