Feminist Playlist - Article

A PLAYLIST FOR FEMINISTS IN ANY SITUATION

It feels almost like a waste at this point to try and convince anyone to be a feminist. The internet is cheaper and faster than ever, and if there’s ever a genuine curiosity about a group of people’s experience, it’s easy to research how they’ve been treated historically, and how social movements have improved their conditions. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try, but I do feel you’re either with us in this liberation movement, or the truth is you lack empathy for women, and you’re just wasting our time. 

So this is for the people who already identify as feminists: Hello! Welcome! Or, if you’ve been here for a minute, I hope you’re comfortable. Allow me to set the mood with a playlist that will get you through some dark days and some big victories. (As of the writing of this essay, none of these artists were involved in a horrendous scandal that warrants throwing them and their music into a volcano.) 

‘YOU OUGHTA KNOW’ BY ALANIS MORISSETTE

This song isn’t just a song; it’s an anthem. For the scorned, the sexually liberated, the angry, the vindictive. Women deserve to feel and express all the emotions, and Alanis takes us on a roller-coaster of them. This song is best listened to before any march or protest to get you pumped up, after a less-than-ideal end to a relationship, or just screamed in joy at karaoke. 

‘FLAWLESS’ BY BEYONCE

This song is even better as a music video remixed with Nicki Minaj, with the visuals and the lyrics displayed, big and bold and red, on that black LCD screen. In the original version we have Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche’s words and voice loudly declaring, ‘We teach women to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller’ and ‘Feminist: a person who believes in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes’. It’s so powerful, and then an actual angel, Beyonce, reminds us that we woke up Flawless. An A+ song. This one is most enjoyable before a night out when you dance away all your worries. This is also just a celebratory jam for road trips to the grocery store or across your country. 

‘YOU DON’T OWN ME’ BY LESLEY GORE

Maybe the original feminist anthem, this song is impossible not to love. Sweetie-pie vocals meet biting commentary about being your own free woman: few things are more powerful. Listen to this jam during any study cram sessions, sleepover and general girls’ nights out.

‘DIAMOND HEART’ BY LADY GAGA 

Perhaps you thought I’d say ‘Bad Romance’ for the Lady Gaga of it all because of the line ‘I’m a free bitch, baby’. But no, in the vein of big, loud girl-fun, I have to go with the opening number from Joanne, ‘Diamond Heart’. The story of a young woman dancing for money of her own volition, admitting she’s not perfect but she’s still got a diamond heart. That’s a message I can get behind. Play this at your parties, and maybe also at your book club. 

‘I’M COMING OUT’ BY DIANA ROSS

The world is going to accept you exactly as you are, and you’re better than perfect, babe - you’re enough. This is the perfect getting-ready song before any amount of fun is to be had. In the words of someone who didn’t make this list, ‘Your presence is a present.’

‘KING OF ANYTHING’ BY SARA BAREILLES

This is that song for when you’re hella fed up with somebody special’s crap. Tell ‘em what’s what with this anthem that says, ‘You’re going to be half of this relationship or you’re gonna be alone.’ 

‘JUST A GIRL’ BY NO DOUBT

Is someone grating on your nerves? Do you need a sarcastic anthem to drown them out? Here it is. Imagine Gem doing a ton of push-ups onstage in the 90s. Get you whole life. 

‘NO SCRUBS’ BY TLC

Women hold up the whole world. I truly believe that. They are the backbone of family structures, and are expected to put everyone else’s existence before their own. Nah. Not any more. ‘No Scrubs’ is a song that will hold up forever, not only because of the iconic melody that’s been used in Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, and is sung in bars and cars alike. It will hold up forever because it’s unabashedly about reclaiming your time from scrubs who expect more than they deserve. 

‘WOMEN HOLD UP THE WHOLE WORLD’

Excerpt from ‘Feminists don’t wear pink and other lies’ 

Written by Akilah Hughes / Curated by Scarlett Curtis (2008)