Popular music is still missing female voices.
Popular music reveals little progress for women. A study by USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative shows that there has been no meaningful and sustained increase in the percentage of women artists in nearly a decade.
“It is International Women’s Day everywhere, except for women in music, where women’s voices remain muted.” - Stacy L. Smith, Founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative
So we picked 5 songs for you that convey a powerful feminist message. Sing it out loud so that the people in the back can hear it too!
You Don’t Own me - in the style of Grace, G-Eazy
Grace and G-Eazy versioned Lesley Gore’s original You Don’t Own me, which was an exceptionally bold piece for its publishing time, 1963, being an inspiration to women during the second feminist movement. The new version was published in 2016 - and is more relevant than ever in the era of #metoo.
Diva - in the style of Beyoncé
There can hardly be any listing of feminist songs in which Beyoncé wasn’t mentioned. She has preached us about running the world (Run the World), being flawless (Flawless), and being a fire-breathing dragon (Don't Hurt Yourself) - just to name a few things. In addition of her outstanding vocal performance and songwriting, Queen Bey has been credited as producer for several of her albums and singles.
Can’t Hold Us Down - in the style of Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim
The Ultimate Female Empowerment song from 2002 about ditching double standards and not letting men (or anyone) tell you what to do. The Princess of Pop has also been one of the writers of this song. Nobody can hold these ladies down!
It’s Raining Men - in the style of The Weather Girls
We can’t but appreciate, when The Weather Girls are singing about Mother Nature being a single woman, taking off to Heaven and teaching every angel how to rearrange the sky. Amen!
Confident - in the style of Demi Lovato
Demi, who is also one of the songwriters for this iconic confidence-boosting song, leaves no one wondering who’s the boss, when she sings out “Bitch, I run this show”. So you ask what’s wrong with being confident - we say, not a damn thing!
Inevitably the music industry is facing a change as well. There are some great initiatives happening - for example a YouTube-sponsored all-female songwriting camp SheWrites.
