Dressed in black and white, artist and DJ collective We’re Sweet Girls played dance music spanning five decades under the lights in the courtyard at The Gallery at Creative Pinellas during the Arts Annual Fundraiser in November.
We’re Sweet Girls are Zoë Robinson, Rebeka Burden and Delaney Staack, three friends who formed the collective in 2022. As musicians active in the music scene, the women noticed a lack of female representation when they went to shows.
So they changed that, putting on their own shows locally, at venues including Ybor City’s Crowbar, the VFW 39 in St. Pete and the American Legion 111 in Tampa. They have a monthly night at The Bends in downtown St. Pete. Independent radio station Sector FM gave them their own shows, and that’s when the DJing took off.
“That was really cool, because it’s like, oh, okay, I have a radio show,” Robinson said. ”I know how to do this thing that is, like, a different relationship to music, and is really fun. Then I get to DJ with my friends, or I’ll DJ by myself and do a solo set.”
They’ve also taken their shows on the road, in the state to Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainesville and nationally, to Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland and New York.
Collaboration is at the heart of We’re Sweet Girls. They often perform with local bands and other DJ collectives. Robinson is an artist known as Fessi K and Staack is also a singer-songwriter. They’ve dropped three mixtapes featuring their own music and those of friends.
Encouraging others to participate is a big part of We’re Sweet Girls’ mission. They hold DJ workshops to let people try their hand at spinning tunes. Robinson said they are very low stakes – meaning not held in the middle of a party – so that people feel more comfortable.
Another benefit of the workshops is giving people access to gear, Robinson said, which can be a huge barrier for people who love music but don’t have the equipment.
“We just felt inclined to offer that to the community,” she said. “No one’s withholding anything. It’s like a genuine ecosystem.”
They also held a songwriting workshop that was well attended. They were careful not to offer it as a lesson, but instead as a session in which they all were given the same prompt and wrote it together.
“I think a lot of people are searching for community and for support and something they may be unsure about,” Staack said.
Staack shared that though she had wanted to put her music out for a long time, it was difficult to do alone because of that uncertainty.
But when she connected with Robinson and her partner, Vonne Parks of the hip hop duo They Hate Change, she saw the benefit of having a supportive community that shares knowledge.
“That’s also why it’s important that we’re not asserting ourselves as experts on any subject. Because, I think when people realize that we’re all the same, that you don’t have to be perfect and already be at the high level, you can still just be doing it,” Staack said.
“Participation is key in any endeavor you want to do in life,” Burden added.
There’s no tolerance for any type of “cooler than you” attitude at We’re Sweet Girls shows.
Ditto on ageism; Robinson thinks it’s important to listen to the opinions of all age groups when it comes to music. She grew up surrounded by people who taught her, or “brought her into the thing.”
Staack agreed, adding, “I do think it’s because we all have our own experiences of that, of having either a mentorship dynamic or a successful kind of collaboration. “We all havebeen lucky enough to have that given to us.” •
For more information about We’re Sweet Girls, visit instagram.com/weresweetgirls/.
