Vocal Break
On Women, Music and Power
Published on 21. May 2026
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-1-78474-527-1 (ISBN)
Description
A dazzlingly original reassessment of the power and plurality of women's singing voices by the critically acclaimed author of Art Monsters and Scaffolding
'It took me ten years to go from shy young girl to punk rocker, if I'd had this book I'd have got there much quicker' Viv Albertine
For millennia, women's raised voices have been heard as unruly, uncivilized, dangerous. Women singing were cast as sirens: mythical creatures who lured sailors to their death.
In Vocal Break, Lauren Elkin seamlessly blends memoir, feminist manifesto and cultural history to explore a plurality of female singing voices - and how women have used them to defy convention, genre, capitalism, racism and sexism. Drawing on her own experiences training as a young soprano in the 1990s, Elkin reflects on the way power and identity shape our voices, focusing on the women who most excited her when she was learning to sing.
A vocal break refers to the place where the voice shifts from lower to higher registers and this is a book about what kind of meanings, and sounds, can be made there. Immersing readers in an eclectic soundscape, from musicals and pop music to art punk, what follows is a full-throated tour of women's voices, including Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Cyndi Lauper, Kathleen Hanna, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Beyonce, FKA Twigs and Billie Eilish.
Reflecting on what makes women's singing so powerful - to the point where others feel the need to control or manipulate it - Vocal Break is a joyous call to arms, a siren call:
Girls to the front: NOW.
'It took me ten years to go from shy young girl to punk rocker, if I'd had this book I'd have got there much quicker' Viv Albertine
For millennia, women's raised voices have been heard as unruly, uncivilized, dangerous. Women singing were cast as sirens: mythical creatures who lured sailors to their death.
In Vocal Break, Lauren Elkin seamlessly blends memoir, feminist manifesto and cultural history to explore a plurality of female singing voices - and how women have used them to defy convention, genre, capitalism, racism and sexism. Drawing on her own experiences training as a young soprano in the 1990s, Elkin reflects on the way power and identity shape our voices, focusing on the women who most excited her when she was learning to sing.
A vocal break refers to the place where the voice shifts from lower to higher registers and this is a book about what kind of meanings, and sounds, can be made there. Immersing readers in an eclectic soundscape, from musicals and pop music to art punk, what follows is a full-throated tour of women's voices, including Edith Piaf, Maria Callas, Cyndi Lauper, Kathleen Hanna, Tori Amos, PJ Harvey, Beyonce, FKA Twigs and Billie Eilish.
Reflecting on what makes women's singing so powerful - to the point where others feel the need to control or manipulate it - Vocal Break is a joyous call to arms, a siren call:
Girls to the front: NOW.
Reviews / Votes
'Reading Vocal Break felt like being round at a friend's house playing through a stack of records and talking about them until sunrise. Warm, clever, funny and deeply thoughtful, this is a rich work of feminist criticism with a beautifully light touch...I loved it.' * Octavia Bright * 'An essential, eclectic, authentic exploration of the politics of women's voices. I loved it! It took me ten years to go from shy young girl to punk rocker, if I'd had this book I'd have got there much quicker' * Viv Albertine * 'Compelling, scholarly, rousing... Elkin writes with the intimate knowledge and the passion of one who sings, and the scholar's measured and listening ear. A pitch-perfect book' * Harriet Baker * 'A thrilling, erudite exploration of the power of women's voices, as artful as it is informed. The best kind of cultural criticism' * Sophie Gilbert * 'A lively and entertaining hymn to the female voice - its use, its artistry, its flaws, its triumphs, its sorrow and its rage. Elkin leaps from subject to subject with the smooth grace of a great vocalist moving between notes on a scale.' * Philippa Snow * 'A whirlwind if a book and a testament to sonic sisterhood. A compelling eclectic exploration of music from one of the finest voices of our times.' * Darran Anderson * Smart and brimful of enthusiasm, Elkin is fully tuned in to the mysteries of women's melodies * Simple Things * Exploring the interplay of music, power and gender... Vocal Break is a book about what music is for. Elkin sees it as a way of getting at something that is just out of reach, a way of finding out who we are * Literary Review * Elkin is a skilled, versatile and intensely curious writer... [Vocal Break] is clever and original * Financial Times * At the core of this book is not just sharp analysis but a deep appreciation for singing and how it represents expression and freedom * Guardian *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 160 mm
Thickness: 41 mm
Weight
598 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78474-527-1 (9781784745271)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
05/2026
Vintage Digital
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Lauren Elkin is the author of several critically-acclaimed books, including Scaffolding, Art Monsters, and Flaneuse. Her essays on art, literature, and culture have appeared in the London Review of Books, the New York Times, Granta, Harper's, Le Monde, Les Inrockuptibles, and Frieze, among others. An award-winning translator, she lives between Paris and London.