How Demi Moore’s Golden Globes Win is Inspiring Female Singers Over 40
The best part of the Golden Globe awards was the text chain among my mom friends after Demi Moore snagged her trophy.
“Did you see Demi Moore?” One wrote.
“Her speech brought me to tears,” said another.
Me and most of my girlfriends are well into our 40s, past our fertile years. Seeing Moore — one of the greatest actors of our times — win a Golden Globe for her role in The Substance felt like redemption. The fact that she won at age 62 for a movie that spotlights the cruelty of sexism and ageism in Hollywood made it even sweeter.
Seeing older women like Moore in badass, interesting lead roles hits home for another reason, too: I’m the lead singer in a rock band – and I’m over 40.
With every year that passes — and every wrinkle that invades my face — my fears rise. What will happen once I can no longer pass for 39? Will people listen to my music? Will people still pay to see me perform at nightclubs?
I’m Just a Girl … But Older
Being a musician is hard for a multitude of reasons. There’s pressure to play well, sing well, write catchy original songs, and deliver a performance that electrifies audiences.
Age compounds these pressures. At 40 you’re more likely to have a kid or other life responsibilities, which makes it harder to make time for art. You’re also at a disadvantage when trying to pitch your band to a nightclub owner. Young bands have friends and fans in their 20s who are eager and willing to go out till 1 a.m. to see your band play at a dive bar.
Being a woman compounds these issues even more. I’ve seen club owners pass on bands with female lead singers who are visibly older than 45, though none would ever admit it. That’s why, in addition to working out and eating like a saint, many women like me spend hours on their hair and makeup before a show.
On the flipside, I’ve yet to meet a man who spends more than 20 minutes getting ready for a show, or has even considered Botox.
Even before The Substance came out, the idea that a woman is “finished” at a certain age has been continually reinforced by real-life events, like the firing of gray-haired Canadian news anchor Lisa LaFlamme from CTV News at age 58 in 2022. As Golden Globes host Nikki Glaser quipped in her opening monologue, “If you’re a woman over 50 in a lead role, they call it a comeback … if you’re a guy over 50 in a lead role, congratulations! You’re about to play Sydney Sweeney’s boyfriend.”
Is it any surprise that I spent much of my 30s pretending I was in my late 20s? Is it any surprise that I still compulsively subtract five years when strangers ask my age?
Even when I was an collegiate intern at the Village Voice in 2004, I lied about my age. I worried that people knowing my real age would perceive me as “too old.”
Years later, when I watched the series Younger about a woman who’s 40 but pretends she’s 26 to get a job in book publishing, I finally felt like someone got me!
Singing into My Senior Years
In The Substance, Moore’s character Elizabeth Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday. When Sue, the younger version of her character (played by Margaret Qualley) snags her old job, female entertainers everywhere — whether they’re A-List famous, or part-time rockstars — felt seen.
But while I can’t do anything about my age, I’m encouraged that some progress is being made, in my own life and the world at large.
Today, I’m the editor of the blog Rockmommy, which celebrates mothers in music. Ninety percent of the women I interview are between 35 and 55 and are proud to continue to make music and chase their dreams long past their youth.
I’m also a better musician than I ever was, and a much more responsible and capable human.
At 41, after my kids were past diapers, I started a band with three other working adults who were thrilled to have me as their frontwoman. I started taking voice lessons, and now hit notes that 28-year-old me couldn’t. A few years later, my band opened for Tiffany (who is in her 50s) at The Wall Street Theater.
I’m thrilled that many women in music are refusing to stop playing music, regardless of how the world values feminine youth and beauty.
In 2024, Kim Gordon, who is 71, released some of her best work yet. Also in 2024, Kate Hudson, 45, decided to launch a music career despite being told she couldn’t. In 2023, when I saw The Pretenders for the first time, opening for Guns n’ Roses, I was awestruck at the badassery of then-72-year-old Chrissy Hynde. Her voice sounded as good as it ever did, possibly better.
Moore’s momentous Golden Globes win is a small, but important, victory, even though we still have a way to go before female entertainers in their 40s and 50s stop feeling self-conscious about their age and viability as artists.
I can’t guarantee that I won’t cave on Botox or fillers once I hit 50 in a few years. But I hope to spend 2025 working fearlessly on my art, as if age doesn’t matter. And while I’m not holding out for a Grammy anytime soon, I’m excited for all the lead-singer women over 40 nominated for Grammies — like Gordon, 43-year-old Beyonce, and 42-year-old St. Vincent. The latter two just won a bunch of them, too! I’m excited to see if Moore can snag an Oscar this weekend.
All of these women over 40 are masters of their art. And I can’t wait to hear and see what they put out next!
Marisa Torrieri Bloom is the editor and founder of Rockmommy.
