Mainstream music, like society, is obsessed with singing about dating, heartbreak from breakups, and becoming coupled. Those are the three main subjects covered by popular music artists. It is nearly impossible to find a musician singing about the joys and trials of being single, but the band Clean Bandit wrote a song about what it is like to be a single mom. It is a difficult job being a single mother and the Clean Bandit song “Rockabye” acknowledges this reality.
Society still believes in the traditional two parent model despite the changing dynamics and realities of modern society. Two parent households are on the decline. Single parent households are on the rise. Single parents become single mother and fathers by circumstance or choice. In the first instance; it happens when a partner leaves, a couple divorces, or has a baby while in high school or college. All three of these circumstances are unfortunate, but the realities for how women become single mothers. The other option is that people become single parents now by choice using surrogacy. But the song “Rockabye” talks about single mothers who became a single parent by circumstance and who are trying to deal with all the problems that it brings as best as they can.
According to the United States Census Bureau, 80% of all single-parent households are headed by single mothers (Table FG10). And when the data is studied closer, 49% of single mothers never married while 51% of single mothers were either divorced, widowed, or separated (FG6). These statistics by the Census Bureau shows that single mothers are more common than society wants to believe. Single mothers normally face a variety of hardships that include low incomes, poverty, and not having access to healthcare or education. While the song “Rockabye” does not acknowledge any of these problems that single mothers face specifically, it does recognize that a single mother is working hard to provide for her son to give him the best life that she can.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Maria Brink is the lead singer of the metal band In This Moment. In This Moment tackles interesting subject matter than most metal bands because the band has a female lead singer. Maria Brink is a single mother in the metal world as In This Moment is gaining a larger fan base. Maria Brink, while being a rock star, has learned to balance life on the road with raising her son as a single mother of metal.
Maria Brink has an adult son, but she had to learn to balance family life with touring with In This Moment. Early on in her career, Brink notes that when her son was younger she had to deal with her career and raising her son. As her son grew up and got involved in high school sports, she later would schedule tour dates around her son’s football season in order to attend the games. But when she was touring with In This Moment, she would stay in contact with his teachers to make sure he was doing well in school. In addition to being a single mother and staying involved with her son, Maria Brink is a female singer in the predominantly male world of rock and metal.
As one of the top front woman of metal, receiving an honorable mention by WatchMojo, Maria Brink provides theatrics with the hellpop and metal of In This Moment. The female voice provides an excellent contrast to the sometimes harsh sounds of rock and metal. However, since metal music is the genre of music most closely related to classical music in its form it works nicely. These strong women of metal also create a different image from the typical pop counter parts by tackling darker subjects and different themes than their male counterparts within the genre. In This Moment’s new album Black Widow tackles themes about societal standards for female beauty, love, and the role of women in society with a line about living behind a “white picket fence [in the suburbs]” (“Into The Darkness”, Black Widow).
Maria Brink may be one of the top front women in the world of rock and metal, but that is a debate for metal fans. In an interview, Brink explains that the lyrics she writes for In This Moment to “tell kids that they can believe in themselves and know that they can manifest anything in their lives.” As a single mother and a lead singer, Maria Brink provides a unique perspective in the world of music and addressing issues such as gender roles and human sexuality. If you are looking for to expand your musical horizons or to find new bands within the genre, In This Moment is worth checking out for the themes that the band addresses and for the lyrics and theatrics of Maria Brink.
hile the metal scene and metal music is not mainstream, the music tackles more important topics and issues than most pop music as Maria Brink does in Black Widow. Maria Brink owns here stage presence in a male dominated music scene. However, Maria Brink has also been able to work out the struggles of being a single parent, raising a son, and working on writing music and touring with In This Moment. Single parents and single mothers can learn from Maria Brink’s example by creating, planning, and incorporating a schedule and a list of priorities for the different areas of one’s life.
Maria Brink is the lead singer of In This Moment and a single mother. She may be a female rock star in the metal scene but she is a mother first to her son. Brink had to give up things and plan her schedule when her band toured around her son while working on her professional career as a musician. Single mothers, and single parents, can learn from her example by choosing what takes precedence in life and working to make them a reality.
Views expressed in this article are the author’s opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of Secure Single. It is intended for informational and educational purposes only. It is not investment or financial advice. James Bollen is the author of Thriving Solo: How to Flourish and Live Your Perfect Life (Without A Soulmate). Now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon. Subscribe to Secure Single’s Substack for free!
Today is National Single Parents Day. Single Parents households have steadily been increasing in the United States since the 1960s. Secure wants to wish a happy National Single Parents Day to the growing number of single parents in the United States, single mothers and single fathers, and may you be able to enjoy a day that recognizes and celebrates all of the hard work, difficulties, and joys of single parents. Single mothers and single fathers are a growing household in America and should be respected for their hard work for raising children.
The definition of family has become more fluid since the 1960s in America, but single parents are less likely to be thought of encompassing the definition of ‘family’ today. Both single mothers and single fathers have increased in the United States since the 1960s. Single mothers account for a quarter of all American households while single fathers account for about eight percent of American households. But the fact is that “single parents have more than tripled as a share of American households since 1960” as the traditional two-parent have steadily declined in the United States.
Since the single parent household is on the rise, society should acknowledge single mothers and single fathers. National Single Parents Day on March 21st is a reasonable first step to moving forward and helping single parents gain recognition as being considered a family. Since America has moved away from the traditional heterosexual family as being the required standard by allowing others to marry and adopt children, society continues to neglect single parents. Many good steps have been successful in the United States to bring about equality for others, but single parents remain unequal to other family arrangements.
National Single Parents Day is a great first step to build up recognition and respect for single parents in America. Since the American family has evolved and other non-traditional arrangements are now becoming more acceptable in the United States, it is time to work for equality for the growing number of single parents. Today, on National Single Parents Day, America should consider its allegiance to freedom and equality by working to give single parents the same rights that others have gained with past Supreme Court rulings on marriage yet do not have since single parents continue to go unacknowledged by society despite the rise of the single parent family.