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Just before the end of 2025, Doechii released a new song titled “Girl, Get Up.” Most of the attention wasn’t on SZA’s feature or the synth-heavy sample of Birdman and Clipse’s 2002 hit “What Happened to That Boy.” Rather, it was Doechii’s lyrics, in which she presented a very clear in-and-out list for the new year. In: Drink kombucha, sleep well and meditate. Out: misogynistic assholes on the internet.
Unfortunately, this “out” is nothing new for women in the music industry. Doechii fights with these attacks since 2024since her breakthrough with the acclaimed debut album “Alligator Bites Never Heal,” for which she won a Grammy for Best Rap Album. Including a prominent co-sign from Kendrick Lamar, as she emphasizes in “Girl, Get Up”. Although she’s been making music for over a decade, her mainstream success has led to her being accused online of being an “industry plant.” The controversial streamer Adin Ross in particular publicly attacked her on his Kick channel. Doechii counters these accusations directly in the song: “All that industry plans shit wack / I see it on the blogs, I see you in the chats,” she raps and adds: “Y’all can’t fathom that I work this hard / And y’all can’t fathom that I earned this chart.”
What does “industry plant” actually mean?
The term “industry plant” is thrown at artists to discredit them, question their authenticity and suggest that their success could not have arisen organically. What this means is that marketing strategies, label bosses or family contacts in the background allegedly built their careers artificially. Although this accusation occasionally also applies to male musicians such as the British rocker Yungblud or the R&B singer 4batz, it is striking that it is predominantly directed against women.
“This is a completely insane double standard,” said Phoebe Bridgers back in 2020. “If you’re a woman with wealthy parents, you’re obviously not allowed to make music – as a man you’re rewarded for it. According to this logic, every mediocre white boy is an industry plant.” Rhian Teasdale from Wet Leg 2022 made a similarly clear statement to ROLLING STONE: “In the end it’s just misogyny, right? If people want to troll us, I’ll just troll them back.”
From hip hop forums to pop culture
The phrase “industry plant” first appeared on hip-hop forums in the early 2010s and later spread to indie rock and pop. A prominent example is Lana Del Rey, who became the target of this story, especially after her previous relationship with a label boss became known. He never signed her. But Del Rey played ironically with the narrative and released the song “Fucked My Way Up to the Top” on Ultraviolence in 2014.
The term has become so commonplace that musicians are regularly asked about it in interviews. In 2022, I spoke with King Princess, real name Mikaela Straus, about how her great-great-grandparents were Ida and Isidor Straus – the famous Macy’s co-owners who died on the Titanic. It was less about an Industry Plant accusation than about the “Nepo Baby” label. She made it clear that she did not grow up in fabulous wealth. “Fundamentally, people are frustrated with the socioeconomic state of the music industry,” she said. “I totally get it. But I’m just not that girl. There were tough times, and there still are.”
Transparency instead of distrust
Claire Cottrill, known as Clairo, was also criticized for not being the completely self-made bedroom pop wonder many fans wanted her to be. The reason: Her father was friends with Jon Cohen, the founder of her label Fader at the time. Cottrill has never denied this, and her openness adds to her credibility rather than the opposite.
“I am fully aware that some things were easier for me than for others,” she said in her 2021 ROLLING STONE cover story. “It would be stupid not to acknowledge that privilege. But it would have been equally stupid not to take advantage of that relationship when I was scared and completely insecure. People believe what they want to believe – I’m just learning to explain it better.”
Even superstars are not spared
Even global stars like Billie Eilish and Chappell Roan had to listen to skepticism. Eilish joked about her acting parents: “They are Nobody! Where is this plant? Where is the seed? I would like to be an Industry Plant – then I wouldn’t have to work so hard for it.” Roan, whose career exploded in 2024 – around ten years after her first musical attempts – also reacted dryly: “Just because you don’t know someone doesn’t mean they’re an industry plant. Have you ever thought about the fact that maybe you’re just not up to date?”
Maybe that’s exactly a lesson for this year. So, paraphrasing Doechii and with a little addition from Chappell Roan: In: Kombucha, good sleep – and admitting that sometimes you’re just not up to date. Out: baseless allegations against Musi