04 - Pop Princesses or Feminist Fighters? Celebrating a new feminist genre open to all - Emily Reay

Feminist. No longer a taboo word. No longer proceeded with the word ‘raging’.  Feminism is everywhere and it’s for everyone. And isn’t it evident in the music we’re listening to?

I don’t know whether I’m just growing up and noticing it or whether we really are entering an era where it’s more than just Tracey Chapman singing about revolutions. The whole damn charts board is a revolution – fighting many different fights – and it’s beautiful.

Look at Billie Eilish: doing whatever she wants, being whoever she wants to be, but absolutely slamming you if you try to compare her feminism to Ariana Grande’s brand of sisterhood. God may well be the sexy, breathy woman Ariana sings about and we love it. 

Then there’s WAP by Cardi B. Outrageous? No worse than any Biggie lyrics… 

People are just finally getting it. Anyone can now sing about whatever they want to – a right that has been long reserved just for men.

We’ve always had strong female figures in music, of course. Aretha Franklin: a power house, an indisputably talented singer and respected (pun intended) globally – but some of the lyrics to her songs haven’t aged too well. Just look at Aint’ No Way – a beautifully heartfelt love song however there’s a line in that song that I totally refuse to sing along to: 

I know that a woman’s duty is to have and love a man, and that’s the way it was meant.

Hell no. She represents a different time. We’ve got Beyoncé now and we’ve got Freedom. I don’t know when this change happened but 2009 was pretty pivotal for me. This was the year we saw Akon strive to find the words to describe a girl ‘without being disrespectful’ and fail miserably. It was also the year that the single ladies stood up and sassily shook their hands on the dance floor. Not convinced? What about Lily Allen finally singing about women being unsatisfied sexually? 

Lying in the wet patch in the middle of the bed, I’m feeling pretty hard done by I spent age giving…

Or Rihanna asking if he’s big enough?

Feminist icons existed in music before then. Queen Latifah, Missy Elliot, Lauryn Hill and what about all the punk girls? Suzi Quatro, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey. But they were the minority during an era when most women in the charts weren’t fighting their fight – at least not through their music. 

So what does it mean? Is anything changing?

I say yes, because this shift in music has taken me from feminist sympathiser to full blown feminist and I think it’s brought others with it too.  

For me, it was Poppy Ajudha who convinced me I was a feminist. Ok yes I was late to the party but I’m here now and I’m dancing on the table – pint in hand and no plans to leave. The weird thing is that it was her song The Man You Aim To Be that got me. Here was this feminist standing on stage in Camden singing a song about men’s struggles. This feminism isn’t about us and them, it’s just about freedom, looking after yourself, looking after others, and that big old word - equality. 

It would be doing feminism a disservice to fail to acknowledge the men that help fight for this equality. There are plenty out there championing women’s interests and treating us equally. However, when considering examples of male artists pushing the cause through their music I struggled – a few isolated examples in some niche corners but very little in pop music. Only one name immediately came to mind: Mark Ronson. Late Night Feelings may well be one of the most perfect pop albums, not just for the music but for the Zeitgeist it encompasses through those female artists. They told their story, they wrote their songs, he put them in the spotlight and quietly added his genius production.

Conversely, I had no issues trying to identify cases of women supporting each other – something we’re being treated to now regularly in the form of collaborations. Other than Lady Marmalade, female pop moguls working together wasn’t something we saw often. Then in 2009 we were served up a dose of Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The press it received reflected the rarity of it at the time but since then we’ve seen many more examples: Iggy Azalea with the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Britney Spears, Rita Ora. Then there was Bang Bang with Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj... the list goes on with Dua and Miley being the most recent power collaboration. 

The strong successful female feminists of pop are no longer the untouchable individuals, running alone and being pitted against each other. They now work together and lift each other up (… mostly). 

I shudder to admit it, but I used to assume that female artists had to be sampled on a male artist’s track to get fame – that heinous thought of mine is specifically linked to Chipmunk’s Diamond Rings with Emeli Sandé (there’s that 2009 reference again).  

All this has aided in bringing me to my new feminist status. It has made me examine areas of my life where I’m short changing myself. I feel able to speak up when I hear sexism in action – and I’ll often do it quoting a song. I often think about the lyrics of Dua Lipa’s Boys Will Be Boys – she summed up the reality of being a female in London with the opening line.

It’s second nature to walk home before the sun goes down. And put your keys between your knuckles when there’s boys around.

…There’s nothing funny here. I long for a day when I don’t have to wait for the last text from my girlfriends to say they got home safe before I can go to sleep. But I’m so, so glad Dua has addressed it. 

I long for the day I never have to justify my saying no to a man. But, just like Meghan Trainor, I’m so glad I have found the strength to shame him for not accepting my ‘no’ rather than allowing him to shame me for ‘leading him on’. 

I long for the day the word slut won’t get used. But I’m so glad that Ciara and Jhene Aiko are singing about women having their sexual fun.

I long for the day that my demand for a pay rise isn’t me ‘doing it like a dude’ but is just me asking for what I deserve. But I’m so glad we’ve got the likes of Taylor spurring us on.

My new found confidence has largely come from music. Hearing women sing about their sexuality, their strength, their struggles, their anger, their fear has made me realise I’ve been sitting on more than I thought I was. And boys, you’re invited for the ride – a ride that many men are already proudly on board for. Listen to the songs, learn from them and enjoy them. Trust me, you want to be on the right side of this revolution.

If you want to enjoy the tracks from this article, you can find them here in this playlist on The Soulstice Collective Spotify account put together an eclectic Spotify playlist of the songs cited in this piece. Enjoy!