Over the past week, an up-and-coming pop-punk band has consumed TikTok—but not for a viral song or trend. The trio, a group of young women called Tramp Stamps, has more than 385,000 followers on TikTok and more than 27,000 Instagram followers, gaining fans on social media with only three songs out to date. But they’ve also attracted a lot of critics. The band has faced numerous allegations about whether their claims of being “indie” or “feminist punks” are legitimate—and whether they’re just industry plants.
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The outcry across social media grew loud enough that the band finally addressed it in an Instagram post on April 18. But instead of acquiescing to their detractors, they used their platform to defend their backgrounds, speak out against “cancel culture,” and criticize mainstream coverage of them and the drama for fanning the flames. While Tramp Stamps’ response did little to satisfy the haters, it did highlight an ongoing problem with the music industry: the persistence of damning labels attached to, and accusations of illegitimacy facing, artists who are nonwhite and/or nonmale.