I love groupies.

Future is the voice of a generation. A man that can somehow turn ego, heartbreak and toxic vulnerability into the same song. "Throw Away" is one of the greatest stories I've heard about the emotional cost of sexual hedonism. It's messy, indulgent and strangely cathartic all at once. But every time I hear it, I end up thinking about the woman.

It always takes two to tango. Whenever people talk about songs like "Throw Away", they talk about Future's vulnerability. His honesty. His storytelling. I always end up wondering about the person on the other side of it. Normally behind every song like this is a stunning woman (Think of Drake's whole discography).

The woman who inspired the lyric, the late night phone call, the hotel room argument, the messy sex. That's the song that ends up with hundreds of millions of streams. But she's usually reduced to one word.

"Groupie."

In particular, Karrine Steffans recieved a lot of public scrutiny for releasing a best seller about her tumultuous relationship with being a video vixen.

Instead of Tyra Banks giving her the chance to talk to young women and girls about her experiences with abuse, people are more in an uproar about the famous men she "outed". (mind you she's getting more hate then the married men who slept with her.)

I've always thought that was a strange trade.

Groupies don't just exist around music. They help build the mythology of it. Every genre has them. Rap. Rock. Indie. R and B. From the 70s till now. They're the beautiful woman in the music video sitting effortlessly beside the artist while he raps things we can't even conceptualise. They're backstage, blurred in paparazzi photos forced into gossip blogs and placed into throwaway lyrics fans spend years trying to figure out . They make the fantasy feel tangible. If we couldn't see the women, would we believe the lifestyle quite as much?

I don't think artists build these worlds on their own.

The mythology needs a muse. It needs adoration. It needs somebody to desire and somebody to be desired the ecosystem needs to be able to carry on.

That's what makes the "Future mentality" so interesting to me. At some point his music stopped being music and became a personality people wanted to borrow. His lyrics became captions. Being emotionally unavailable became aspirational as more people began showing their evidence of creating an almost toxic, detached mindset in their relationships. That world isn't built by one person. It's largely populated by women. Women who are expected to exist inside the fantasy while pretending they gain nothing from it. I don't know if I'm shallow but I would flaunt my shit too if I was put on a pedestal .

I've become extremely fascinated by women like Catya Washington, Karrine Steffans, Bria Myles and Lola Monroe. There's an almost provocative confidence to the way they carry themselves. Whether being with someone famous is attraction, ambition, validation or simply desire almost feels beside the point. What interests me is the certainty. They don't seem embarrassed by their own desirability.

I wonder if that's what makes people uncomfortable because I think a lot of people could take their attitude and apply it to their own self concept. Women are constantly encouraged to be beautiful. Fashion, music and beauty all revolve around creating the ideal woman. Be attractive. Be desirable. Be the fantasy.

Just don't ever let anyone see you benefit from it.

The second beauty becomes currency instead of decorative value it becomes whore, slut and groupie.

It reminds me of the Madonna whore complex. Women are expected to inspire desire but never openly pursue it. To be wanted but never want. To become the muse without ever acknowledging the power that comes with being one. Meanwhile men can spend decades building careers around the graphic nature of their sexual lives and it gets a fucking standing ovation.

The women who helped make those stories believable are remembered as a footnote and I hate it sometimes.

So there. I love groupies.

They create our (yes our) favourite songs.