Music: Personal is Political

People who say “I’m not political” are liars: there is no such thing as being apolitical. In the second wave of feminism, the idea of ‘Personal is Political’ — personal experiences being the results of social structure — came to light. Indeed, you can choose not to speak up about politics, but that does not stop you from being affected by politics personally.

There are rallying debates about whether music should be political. However, music is made by people, and people have personal experiences, so of course music gets political. If anything, music should be political because it is one of the most powerful tools to get people’s attention.

Following the #MeToo movement, not only women, but men have been more outspoken about the gender hierarchy that haunts our society day by day. Singers make bold, political statements, particularly when it comes to feminism.

God is a woman?

I believe most of you have heard the popular hit God is a Woman by Ariana Grande. Personally, I do not find this song appropriate because of the phrase ‘God is a woman’. Surely, this song will be a PR catastrophe if it is named ‘God is a man’. Feminism signifies gender equality and I do not think phrases like God is a woman are promoting that. But there is no doubt that plenty of women find Grande’s hit empowering. Despite the song’s main theme being about sex, God is a Woman is still a tribute to feminism and it praises women for being strong. During the VMAs show, Grande brought out her mother and grandmother at the end of her performance as a tribute to the empowering female figures in her life.

The only thing I do not like about this phenomenon of empowering feminist songs is how these songs tend to undermine male figures. Every time I look at the lyrics of songs like God is a Woman, I think: that is not the best message to send to young girls. I can’t help myself and imagine the amount of backlash the songs will receive in an alternate situation. Maybe some people will argue that men have had their fair share of power for decades, so it should be women’s turn. But as a feminist, I think otherwise.

I want to be like Most Girls

There are exceptions, though. Most Girls by Hailee Steinfield is another song that came to my mind when I was brainstorming empowering feminist pop songs. This song is different from the one I mentioned above because it does not put down men in its lyrics. It transpires the message that the world’s perception of girls needing to be unique to have value is wrong. Girls should admire each other no matter what kind of girl you are: you do not have to be special to have value.

Politics is all around us, you cannot censor something that is so ubiquitous. So why don’t we just embrace it?