"Where words fail, music speaks." - Hans Christian Andersen
Music is often acknowledged as a universal language, and undeniably, music transcends all things. It encompasses much more than anything else can, as if it were an empty vessel that could be filled with infinity and the abyss all at once.
Words are deep enough, and often contain a lot more than what they mean on the surface, but a simple melody attached to the same words can instill in them a life beyond physical explanation. It can build or break, wreck or make, uphold or degrade, an eternity. It is power in itself, and it lends its power to the ones who use it by empowering their words with its harmony and breathing a new life into them with its symphony. Music is a legacy that is passed down to every generation in this universe, as it exists everywhere and, like divine energy, precedes every being.
Music is a gateway of expression. It can be used to draw out sorrow or carve out happiness, and it can be a source to channel and express power. It is a force like no other when it comes to making one feel moved and empowered. Through proper composition, technique, and impactful lyricism, music can uplift and emancipate minds.
Several artists have, over the passage of time, produced musical pieces for a variety of purposes with a variety of meanings, and in today’s day and age, music is one of the most significant means of influencing myriads and unshackling the chains that continue to strangle humanity.
Expressing power, or the need to attain some sort of a strength through music has become a very important part of the music industry. Whether it is about breaking norms, gaining capital strength, correcting the wrongs, or stepping up to stand up for yourself, modern music is designed to make its listeners feel what the artist strives to articulate.
Taking control and seizing power takes a different connotation when it’s a woman who sings about it. This power varies from typical ideas of strength. The typicality of strength and potence lies embedded in masculinity and definitions related to manliness. So, when men sing about power, it comes across as an instinctive and natural tendency that is being expressed by the being who has conquered the earth by virtue of possessing the human mind and bodily prowess. Such music is moving, but it's still somewhat native to all humans in a masculo-centric format, unless the expression showcases a violent motif. But when women sing about power, it voices an effort to survive, and a deep rooted need to be accepted, with their femininity as a source of life and strength and not a miserable weakness. It's a plea to take womanhood for what it is without demeaning and stepping on it with a patriarchal force which strips femininity off of humanity, and objectifies it with its brutal lens of stereotypicality. The accounts are variable and music isn't just about one thing, and such a filter definitely isn't always applicable to all kinds of scenarios, but some old tales remain true even when new ones have been written.
Several women have sung about such issues and voiced their disdain for patriarchal authority. Popular artists like Halsey, Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Selena Gomez, Pink, Little Mix, Katy Perry, Dua Lipa, etc. have all made their fair share of music that expresses these very sentiments. It's astonishing how even when times change, these songs seem to aim for a similar goal, and repeatedly keep hitting the mark, the place where it hurts the most when you are a woman. From writing about feeling wronged in break ups, to writing about being tired of becoming pawns of authority, it all exists within their musical voices.
One knows exactly what it means when Taylor Swift sings about "wondering if she'd get there quicker if she was a man" ("The Man", 2019). It seems to get a lot easier when you're a man. You're a "fearless leader", "the alpha type", and everyone just believes you because you're "the man". It's hard being a woman in the popular media, when people don't believe you, call you psychotic for writing songs about your past lovers, and call you stupid when you write about love, and then you're not sure what to write about. And regardless of all this, you must always smile, because a woman who doesn't smile is mean and obnoxious. "Come on, little lady give us a smile", sings Halsey in "Nightmare" (2019) but she "ain't got nothing to smile about" and "no one to smile for". But is it okay to refuse to smile like that? Wouldn't that end her up with some unpleasant label?
"I'ma let you speak if you just let me breathe".
It is hard enough to just exist when you're a woman. One may think that the world is equal and free, but it's actually in many aspects, still unfair and still biased against those who are stereotypically weak.
"She's overworked and underpaid/ /Just 'cause the way her body's made/ Ain't that insane? ", Little Mix in "Woman's World " (2019)
So women want power, not necessarily to usurp male authority, but to just reach an equal playing field at the very least. It's just the bare minimum that is expected; true equality and not a hoax in its name. So be it physical liberty, sexual freedom, or mental upliftment, we see all such fads in popular music.
"My mama said, 'Marry a rich man'/ And I was like, 'Mama, I am that rich man' ", Destiny Rogers in "Tomboy " (2019).
A woman understands her power, to an extent, when she frees herself from patriarchal expectations, and when she realizes that "it's all in" her as Ariana Grande sings in "God is a Woman"(2018). "A girl can do what she wants to do and that's what I'm gonna do", sang Joan Jett in her 1980 release, "Bad Reputation", claiming her life and her choices as her own, unchaining them from social norms and beliefs.
"I go hard, I go hard / Get what's mine, take what's mine / I'm a star, I'm a star / 'Cause I slay, slay", Beyonce in "Formation " (2015).
It's been years of brainwashing and stereotyping and centuries of recklessly trying to fit men and women into a mould of 'perfection'; for women, a perfect body, a ladylike manner, an elegant speech and refined taste, a perfect product to be sold to the highest bidder. Such whitewashing has left us with unreasonable expectations of how women and men ought to be. Accepting who you are is a difficult task. It seems like most of us have "pinched" our "skin in between" our "two fingers and wished" we "could cut some parts off with some scissors", as Halsey sings in"Nightmare ".
So when artists advocate love for self, it makes a wave of acceptance, of love for self.
"I'm beautiful in my way 'cause God makes no mistakes / I'm on the right track, baby, I was born this way", sings Lady Gaga in "Born This Way" (2010), declaring that being whoever you are is enough, and okay as long as it is you who's happy with it. Your own perception of yourself matters much more than anyone else's.
It's easier to feel accepted when people who look like you, and share the same pain, sing about it and more so about accepting it. It soothes the bruises that you have been accustomed to tolerate for a long time, and enables you to bear the burdens with a stronger front.
"Take off all my make-up/ 'Cause I love what's under it/ Jiggle all this weight, yeah/ You know I love all of this/ Finally love me naked/ Sexiest when I'm confident", Little Mix in "Strip" (2019).
It takes a lot of courage and strength to finally embrace what you think makes you less than others. It's hard to offer that friendship to yourself, the kind where you're willing to finally let go of ideas of how you are supposed to be and welcome who you really are.
"Destiny said it, you gotta get up and get it/ Get mad independent and don't you ever forget it/ Got some dirt on your shoulder, then let me brush it off for ya," Fifth Harmony in "That's My Girl " (2016).
It's uplifting to witness solidarity in these spheres, women standing up for each other and men taking part in these pop culture movements. Women and men, and people in general, talking about how these age-old patterns which hurt everyone, and not just women, and discussing how to deal with them in mainstream media, is a significant step in the mobilization of prejudiced mindsets that hinder freedom and equality. It's all a spiral, and we keep going in circles with prejudiced ideas of how each of us ought to be and ought not to be. These beliefs of our heteronormative social customs bind us in ways that toxically drain out the humanity in us, but we often fail to recognise them because that's how much we're used to them. We tear our own kind apart, with our words, actions, judgements, impositions and suppositions, and make excuses when things take a bad turn.
"When will we stop saying things/ 'Cause they're all listening?/ No, the kids ain't alright," sings Dua Lipa in "Boys Will be Boys" (2020), and it is true. We cannot expect our children to grow up to break these vicious cycles if we keep excusing misconduct and justifying deleterious patterns and habits. "Boys will be boys/ But girls will be women," as Dua sings, is a sentiment of the kind that rationalizes bad behaviour of one side and forces the other side to act mature and forgive the impropriety. This also draws both sides to develop mannerisms which fit into those customs and stereotypes.
"I'm tired and angry but somebody should be," sings Halsey in "Nightmare", and she's not wrong. We can't keep succumbing to the forces that have continued to degrade humanity in the name of imposing a "proper" order of things, with stupid distinctions that divide us and make one human less than the other, simply because of their gender or preferences.
"She should be mad/ Should be scathing like me/ But no one likes a mad woman," Taylor Swift in "Mad Woman" (2020).
Pop culture is a significant part of our lives today, and it's influence cannot be overlooked. It's a significant part of our lives, so it is important that people who have an impact on the mainstream, use their voices to liberate the masses from beliefs that hold us back from a better and more humane society. We all deserve to live in a peaceful state, without fearing for our survival and living under constant threat to our identities.
"Every night she tells her daughter'/ Don't you know a change is gonna come?'," Little Mix in "Woman's World".
A change is never accepted easily by those who are too accustomed to how things have been for ages, but change is the only thing that remains constant in the world. When our artists use their platform to advocate for things that are right and help us believe in a hopeful future, their music becomes a vehicle of change. It makes us believe in possibilities when we see them stand up for things we believe in and ideas that are evidently required to create a safer world.
Music is one of the greatest forces on earth and its power is one to be reckoned with. Using it for purposes that bring about awareness and make us conscious about important subject matters is truly a beautiful design, and an impeccably meaningful endeavour. I hope our artists and musicians will continue to take part in this worthwhile venture and keep producing sincere and earnest pieces of art through their music.