Feminism in Popular Music

Alex Johnson
25 April 2020
REL 264
Prof. Japinga
Feminism in Popular Music
The number of examples of feminism and feminist ideas covered in popular music is so
much that I could honestly write a whole dissertation about it, so I had to decide on what
specifically to include. I’m going to talk about a few of the best instances of feminism shown in
modern music, including FKA twigs’s song “mary magdalene”, Lauryn Hill’s 1999 song “To
Zion”, and Stella Donnelly’s 2019 song “Boys Will Be Boys”. “mary magdalene” talks about
what it means to be a woman through discussing relationship dynamics at a level of vulnerability
that hadn’t really been seen discussed in this way very often. “To Zion” talks about motherhood
and the uncertainty that comes along with it. And “Boys Will Be Boys” dismantles rape culture
by viciously attacking the perpetuators of it. When all is said and done, these three examples all
showcase women reclaiming their narrative for various parts of their lives, which to me, is at
least part of what feminism hopes to achieve.
“mary magdalene” is from FKA twigs’s 2019 album MAGDALENE. Obviously, naming
her album and one of the songs on it after Mary Magdalene is a very deliberate move.
Throughout history, Mary Magdalene has been inaccurately thought of as a prostitute due to a
mistranslation by an early Pope, and while later Popes have acknowledged that this was wrong,
after over a millennium of mislabeling, it’s hard to get rid of that misconception. But twigs
thinks of her differently: “I found a lot of power in the story of Mary Magdalene; a lot of dignity,
a lot of grace, a lot of inspiration.” This song, and the album that it’s on, serve to empower
women by lauding Mary Magdalene. She sings “A woman’s war/Unoccupied history”, which
means that women have to fight in order to get their history the attention that it deserves. In an
interview with i-D magazine, twigs says, “No matter what you’re doing or how great your work
is, sometimes it’s as though you have to be attached to a man to be validated.” In twigs’s
personal case, since this album is largely centered around a breakup with actor Robert Pattinson,
she was definitely attached to Pattinson, and when they broke up, many people were quick to
blame her and discredit her rather than Pattinson. She compares her journey of navigating that to
Mary Magdalene, because even though Mary isn’t alive anymore, she’s endured somewhat of a
journey in recent times to reclaim her history and her narrative. twigs says, “It’s easier to call her
a whore, because as soon as you call a woman a whore, it devalues her. I see her as Jesus
Christ’s equal. She’s a male projection and, I think, the beginning of the patriarchy taking control
of the narrative of women.” twigs went through a similar struggle, and because of that, she
empathizes with Mary Magdalene in that way.
Lauryn Hill discusses motherhood on the song “To Zion” from her massively influential
1999 album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill was pregnant with her first son during the
writing of this album, and many of the people she looked to for guidance urged her to abort the
baby, saying that having a child would interfere with her music career. They told her to be smart,
but she kept and eventually delivered the baby (Zion), and came to view Zion as something
directly from the Holy Spirit: “See I know that a gift so great/Is only one God could create”. This
is an absolutely empowering way to look at pregnancy and motherhood, especially since so
many around Hill were encouraging her not to have Zion.
Stella Donnelly also writes music from a feminist perspective. On her 2019 album
Beware of the Dogs, her song “Boys Will Be Boys” bluntly discusses the perpetuation of rape
culture. This song, in the context of the album, is a definite change of pace. The rest of the album
has stereotypical indie rock instrumentation, but on this song there is only a lone guitar so that
Donnelly’s uncompromising lyrics can truly show through. Many times, discussions surrounding
sexual assault are approached with delicacy, but Donnelly is firm: her chorus says, “’Why was
she all alone/Wearing her shirt that low?’/They said, ‘Boys will be boys’/Deaf to the word ‘no’”,
dismantling the “boys will be boys” reason that is so often given as a counterargument. But the
real forcefulness of this song comes in verse 2: “Your father told you that you’re innocent/Told
ya, ‘Women rape themselves’/Would ya blame your little sister/If she cried to you for help?”
This verse also uses another cliché phrase, “Women rape themselves” to further dismantle rape
culture, flipping that thought, asking the man in question if this thought process would extend to
their own immediate family. I really admire the bluntness of these lyrics, because sometimes
delicacy isn’t as effective as it needs to be. At this point in society, especially when so many
women are finding their voices, we are past the point of trying to protect people who “aren’t
ready to hear” these terrible truths. And in some cases, not being as blunt and straightforward as
possible can actually be detrimental, because ignorance can lead to perpetuation of these harmful
stereotypes. And while Donnelly isn’t actually singing about herself or her own personal
experience with sexual assault on this track, she’s still giving voice to a person that had their
voice stripped away from them in possibly the most explicit and egregious way possible.
(stepping away from the kind of formality that a paper has – if you haven’t listened to this song, I
urge you to, I really don’t think enough people have heard it.)
There are obviously countless other examples of feminism in popular music. I could have
discussed Beyoncé’s pivotal 2016 album LEMONADE, or Noname’s 2018 song “Self”, or
Courtney Barnett’s 2018 song “I’m Not Your Bother, I’m Not Your Bitch”, or any number of
other great cases. But these three songs together offer personal, vulnerable, and encompassing
looks at various women reclaiming their respective narratives, and because of that, they’re
wonderful pieces of art that can be endlessly analyzed and discussed.

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Alex Johnson

Feminism in Popular Music

what it means to be a woman through discussing relationship dynamics at a level of vulnerability

least part of what feminism hopes to achieve.

empathizes with Mary Magdalene in that way.

many around Hill were encouraging her not to have Zion.

wonderful pieces of art that can be endlessly analyzed and discussed.

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