The most prominent anthem of second-wave feminism is Helen Reddy's "I Am Woman", a pop song which appeared as an album track in 1971 without making a splash. It was released a second time in May 1972 after being altered and re-recorded. This improved version of the song slowly climbed the United States single charts, its airplay resisted by male deejays at radio stations, but urged forward by the demand of female listeners. The song finally hit number 1 in December 1972.[2] "I Am Woman", with its uplifting message of female strength, was played and sung many times by women promoting the cause of feminism. In 2020, a documentary about the making of the song was released: I Am Woman, starring Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Reddy.[3]
During the 1970s, earlier songs such as Aretha Franklin's "Respect" (1967) were brought forward as feminist anthems. Franklin's song, originally written by Otis Redding but significantly reworked by Franklin, serves multiple purposes including standing firm in personal relationships, advocating women's rights, and asserting racial equality for African Americans.[4][5]
Before the women's liberation movement, popular songs sung by women often expressed subservience to men. Songs about independence from men were rare; many of these are now considered steps toward feminism. Examples include Sophie Tucker's self-explanatory "I Ain't Taking Orders From No One" (1920s), "No More" recorded in 1944 by Billie Holiday,[6] and 1965's "Ain't No Use" by Nina Simone—the latter two about a woman leaving her man after suffering too many abuses.[7] Shocking in its day, the 1963 song "You Don't Own Me" sung by Lesley Gore describes the singer standing up to her controlling boyfriend.[6] In 2015, singer Saygrace took Gore's song to No. 1 in Australia with a version featuring rapper G-Eazy.[8]
Women around the world have used songs to unite in feminism and to organize for women's rights. Mexican singer Vivir Quintana is known for her song "Canción sin miedo" (Song Without Fear) which in 2020 became an anthem to fight violence against women.[9] In the Philippines, the 1981 song "Babae Ka" (You Are Woman) was covered by activist Susan Fernandez and also by the duo Inang Laya in the early 1980s as a protest against the reactionary patriarchal policies of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.[10] In Chile starting in 2019, the song "Un violador en tu camino" (A Rapist in Your Path) by the collective Las Tesis has been performed by masses of women who sing and dance to protest police violence. This form of protest has spread to other countries.[11]
Songs
Year
Artist
Song
Album
Notes
1884
C. C. Harrah
"The Equal-Rights Banner"
An American anthem for women's voting rights, the lyrics were written by Reverend C. C. Harrah, sung to the tune of "The Star-Spangled Banner". The second verse mentions the evil of "License", referring to alcohol abuse by men, a central issue for women in the Temperance movement.[1]
A Yiddish-language poem that was adopted as a song by striking workers in the then Russian Empire.[12][13] The song extols working-class women to stand up together in the fight for liberation as both a sex and as class.[12][13]
With words by Cicely Hamilton and music by Ethel Smyth, the song was the official anthem of British women fighting for voting rights, and was also sung worldwide.
The song was not a chart hit until it was remade in 1972 and released as a single. The hit version was included in the album I Am Woman released later that year.[16][2]
Produced by Joan Jett who also plays guitar, the song celebrates the sisterhood of punk. It is a leading example of the 1990s riot grrrl feminist movement.[15][7]
Sage wrote "Sistersong" as a tribute to women's independence, honoring Ani DiFranco who established her own record label. In 2018, Sage reworked the song and released it in acoustic form as "Sistersong 2018" for the #MeToo movement, with proceeds benefiting Girls, Inc.[23][24]
"Hard out Here" received critical acclaim upon release. Rolling Stone praised the song calling it a "feminist anthem through and through", and noted the subjects which Allen tackles including "tired gender roles and expectations to double standards regarding sex and appearance for men and women".[34]
Downtown Boys are a "sax punk" band from Rhode Island, with several women members. Spin magazine described the band's lead single "Monstro" as a "thrashing feminist anthem".[36]
i-D magazine wrote that the contemporary R&B song "Fight Like a Girl" is "a bewitching feminist power anthem championing equal rights and diversity."[42]
The funk/pop song "Woman" emphatically asserts the singer's self-sufficiency and independence. Parade listed it as one of Kesha's "empowering feminist anthems".[45]
This anthemic fusion of hip hop and pop ends with a gospel-inflected swell. The song's video shows the singer embracing her feminine power, rejecting the insults of small-minded men, and allowing her womanly divinity to shine out.[7]
Jess Glynne and Ed Sheeran wrote the song for Glynne, but they offered it to Little Mix instead. Nicki Minaj raps on the third verse. MTV said the "girl power" song challenges the stereotype of submissive women.[47]
Todevska performed the song at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, representing North Macedonia. The song celebrates womanhood and feminism, but is also intended for any downtrodden person striving for equality.[55]
Commissioned by Chilean singer Mon Laferte to perform at a women's equality festival in Mexico City, Quintana's recording of the song "Canción sin miedo" (Song Without Fear) went viral on WhatsApp prior to the festival.[9]
Aguilera joins American Becky G and Argentines Nicki Nicole and Nathy Peluso to perform the song "Pa Mis Muchachas" (For My Girls) which has been called a "decadent, grrl-power–filled showcase"[60] and "a modern-day girl-power anthem that honors the Latinas that came before us".[61]
Rolling Stone wrote that in "The Melting of the Sun" Anne Clark muses on women who have been crushed or otherwise mistreated by the entertainment industry, as she explains it is "a love letter to strong, brilliant female artists."[62]
Lovato wrote and released "Swine" in response to the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Billboard describes "Swine" as a "long lost nu-metal anthem" in which Lovato "rage[s] against the system that aims to strip women of their bodily autonomy."[66]
"Labour" has been described as an "anthem for female rage" that addresses issues of gender inequality within societal structures.[67] Snippets from the song went viral on TikTok receiving over 1 million streams on Spotify within 24 hours of release, and 1 million views on YouTube. After the single's release, it started a viral trend in which women posted TikTok videos with the song where they described their own personal experiences with sexism.
Aretha Louise Franklin was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Queen of Soul", she was twice named by Rolling Stone magazine as the greatest singer of all time.
Helen Maxine Reddy was an Australian-American singer, actress, television host, and activist. Born in Melbourne to a show business family, Reddy started her career as an entertainer at age four. She sang on radio and television and won a talent contest on the television program Bandstand in 1966; her prize was a ticket to New York City and a record audition, which was unsuccessful. After a short and unsuccessful singing career in New York, she eventually moved to Chicago, and subsequently, Los Angeles, where she made her debut singles "One Way Ticket" and "I Believe in Music" in 1968 and 1970, respectively. The B-side of the latter single, "I Don't Know How to Love Him", reached number eight on the pop chart of the Canadian magazine RPM. She was signed to Capitol Records a year later.
Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s and lasted roughly two decades, ending with the feminist sex wars in the early 1980s and being replaced by third-wave feminism in the early 1990s. It occurred throughout the Western world and aimed to increase women's equality by building on the feminist gains of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
"Spanish Harlem" is a song recorded by Ben E. King in 1960 for Atco Records. It was written by Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. "Spanish Harlem" was King's first hit away from The Drifters, peaking at number 15 on Billboard's rhythm and blues and number 10 in pop music chart.
"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" is a song released by American singer Aretha Franklin and English singer George Michael as a duet in 1987. The song was a number one hit in the United States and the United Kingdom. Billboard listed "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" as Franklin's all-time biggest Hot 100 single. The song was Franklin's biggest hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, reaching number two. The song was written by Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan and produced by Narada Michael Walden. Franklin and Michael won a 1987 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)".
"Respect" is a song written and originally recorded by American soul singer Otis Redding. It was released in 1965 as a single from his third album Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul and became a crossover hit for Redding.
"I Say a Little Prayer" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick, originally peaking at number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in December 1967. On the R&B Singles chart it peaked at number eight.
"I Am Woman" is a song written by Australian musicians Helen Reddy and Ray Burton. Performed by Reddy, the first recording of "I Am Woman" appeared on her debut album I Don't Know How to Love Him, released in May 1971, and was heard during the closing credits for the 1972 film Stand Up and Be Counted. A new recording of the song was released as a single in May 1972 and became a number-one hit later that year, eventually selling over one million copies. The song came near the apex of the counterculture era and, by celebrating female empowerment, became an enduring feminist anthem for the women's liberation movement. Following Reddy's death in September 2020, the song peaked at number 2 on the Australian digital sales chart.
"(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" is a 1967 song by American soul singer Aretha Franklin released as a single by the Atlantic label. The lyrics were written by Gerry Goffin from an idea by Atlantic producer Jerry Wexler, and the music was composed by Carole King. Written for Franklin, the record reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and became one of her signature songs. It made history on the UK Singles Chart a week after her death, finally becoming a hit almost 51 years after it was first released, entering at No. 79. Franklin also included a live recording on the album Aretha in Paris in 1968.
"Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" is a song by British pop duo Eurythmics and American singer Aretha Franklin. A modern feminist anthem, it was written by Eurythmics members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart and featured on both Eurythmics' Be Yourself Tonight (1985) and Franklin's Who's Zoomin' Who? (1985) albums. The duo originally intended to perform with Tina Turner, who was unavailable at the time and so they flew to Detroit and recorded with Franklin instead. The track also features three of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers: Stan Lynch on drums, Benmont Tench on organ, and Mike Campbell on lead guitar, plus session bassist Nathan East.
"You Don't Own Me" is a pop song written by Philadelphia songwriters John Madara and David White and recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, when she was 17 years old. The song was Gore's second most successful recording and her last top-ten single. Gore herself considered it to be her signature song claiming “I just can’t find anything stronger to be honest with you, it’s a song that just grows every time you do it.”
"Yo No Soy Esa Mujer" is a song recorded by Mexican singer Paulina Rubio for her fifth studio album, Paulina (2000). It was released as the fourth single from Paulina on April 2, 2001. After meeting with its writers Christian De Walden and Ralf Stemmann in Spain, Rubio recorded several versions of the song, including a Spanish version written by Carlos Toro Montoro. The pop rock-inspired song, produced by Marcello Azevedo, has self-empowerment lyrics.
"A Rose Is Still a Rose" is a song recorded by American singer Aretha Franklin. It was written and produced by singer Lauryn Hill for Franklin's album of the same name (1998). The song focused on a motherly figure giving advice to a younger woman who keeps getting into bad relationships. Throughout "A Rose Is Still a Rose", Franklin advises that in spite of everything and despite the woman's "scorned roses and thorn crowns," the woman is "still a rose". Elements of the song "What I Am" by Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians were sung throughout the song by Hill herself.
"Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" is a song written by Chips Moman and Dan Penn, and made famous by Aretha Franklin. Her version was released on February 10, 1967. Rolling Stone listed it as number 476 in their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"A Deeper Love" is a song written by American producers Robert Clivillés and David Cole, and performed by them as Clivillés & Cole featuring vocals by Deborah Cooper. Released by Columbia in 1991, the song was the duo's fifth number-one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. On other US charts, "A Deeper Love" peaked at number 83 on the soul singles chart and number 44 on the pop chart. Overseas, especially in Europe the single charted higher, going to number 15 in the UK and number eight on the Dutch Top 40.
Meghan Elizabeth Trainor is an American singer-songwriter and television personality. She rose to prominence after signing with Epic Records in 2014 and releasing her debut single "All About That Bass", which reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold 11 million copies worldwide. Trainor has released six studio albums with the label and has received various accolades, including a Grammy Award, four ASCAP Pop Music Awards, and two Billboard Music Awards.
LM5 is the fifth studio album released by British girl group Little Mix, on 16 November 2018 through Syco Music and Columbia Records. Described as a pop and R&B record, while incorporating elements of reggae pop, trap-pop, hip-hop, 90s, and reggaeton sounds. It features collaborations with Nicki Minaj, Sharaya J, and Kamille, while the deluxe edition of the album features a previously released single with Cheat Codes. It was also the group's last album to be recorded with Syco Music, after parting ways with the label days prior to its release.
"Joan of Arc" is a song recorded by British girl group Little Mix, and appears as the sixth track on their fifth album LM5 (2018). It was released on November 2, 2018 as the album's first promotional single. It was written by group members Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, along with Loosechange handling the production.
Unjoo Moon is an Australian film director, best known for the 2020 biopic I Am Woman, that tells the story of international feminist icon Helen Reddy.
American singer-songwriter Madonna is seen by some as a feminist icon. Throughout best part of her career, Madonna's forays into feminism, womanhood and media representation of women have sparked discussions among numerous feminist scholars and commentators worldwide. She has also been noted for her advocacy of women's rights.
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