Today marks the start of Women’s History Month, so make sure you listen to this playlist in celebration of some of the greatest women in the music industry.
“Praying” – Kesha
On Jan. 27, 2018 Kesha released a statement on Twitter, saying, “when i wrote praying, with ben abraham and ryan lewis, i just felt as if i had gotten a huge weight off of my shoulders. it felt like an emotional raw victory for myself, one step closer to healing.” This one tweet puts into words the impact this song had not only for Kesha personally, who released the song in 2014 as a way to vocalize the physical and emotional abuse her ex-producer put her through, but for all of her fans who may be facing a similar situation.
“Rolling in the Deep” – Adele
The release of “Rolling in the Deep” in 2011 set the stage for Adele’s career. If people weren’t talking about Adele after her 2008 hit “Chasing Pavements,” they definitely were now. This song was the opening song of her second studio album “21,” and the lyrics are full of soul, passion and power. The song demonstrates that, unlike the misogynistic belief that women always have to beg for a man back, women know and accept their own worth and can show a man what they are missing out on.
“Freedom” – Beyoncé ft. Kendrick Lamar
This track from Beyoncé’s 2016 album “Lemonade” is filled to the brim with Black female empowerment. The lyrics allude to themes surrounding slavery and civil rights. The music video includes cameos of the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner, all Black men who were murdered due to racial discrimination. In this song, Beyoncé showcases the strength and resilience of Black women in everyday life.
“Respect” – Aretha Franklin
One of the earliest, most monumental stances a female made in the music industry was when Aretha Franklin re-released Otis Redding’s 1965 song “Respect.” The song was originally written as a way to tell a wife to respect her husband’s boundaries. Franklin, instead, flipped the script. In her re-release of the song she called for respect toward women and emphasized it by spelling out in the now infamous lyric “R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me.” During the feminist movement in the 1970s, this song became an anthem of empowerment.
