When I noticed that we had yet to write about a release from a female artist or an entirely female group, I knew I had to do something. Because while this is purely coincidental, I still think women, and music written by women FOR women, is underrated and even underrepresented in the music world.
Photo: Nadia Grapes / Shutterstock.com
We constantly see men receive one award after another, and have multiple songs hit #1, while the women don't get enough credit and aren't necessarily met with the same responses as the boys. Yes, there are major artists such as Beyoncé and Taylor Swift, but the overall picture is that men are more represented in the industry than women. Studies have even shown that men are signed to music labels more often, and that men generally release more music than women (which you can read more about here and here).
The tolerance for what male versus female artists can do and how they can express themselves are also uneven. For example, we see male artists performing shirtless, etc. all the time, with female artists getting plenty of hate for doing the same things. (You can read about one example here.)
Therefore, I have made a list of 15 songs by female artists/groups, written for women to enjoy <3 (Not listed in any particular order.)
1. I Don't Need A Man - The Pussycat Dolls
2. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
The Miley Cyrus cover is pretty damn good too, check it out below.
3. 5 fine frøkner - Gabrielle
If you've seen the 3rd season of SKAM, you gotta know this one.
4. Good as Hell - Lizzo ft. Ariana Grande
5. BGE - Riley
6. Girl Power - The Cheetah Girls
7. yes girl - Bea Miller
8. Woman's World - Little Mix
This song actually makes me so emotional. Little Mix has so many good songs about female empowerment, you should definitely check out "Strip", "Power", "Joan of Arc", "Salute" and "Woman Like Me" too.
9. Don't Kill My Vibe - Sigrid
10. Born This Way - Lady Gaga
11. Raise Your Glass - P!nk
12. Miss Independent - Kelly Clarkson
13. Express Yourself - Madonna
14. Don't Call Me Angel - Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus & Lana Del Rey
15. Ready or Not - Bridgit Mendler
Honestly, this song is such a bop, I had to include it.
I decided to make this list a mix of both older and newer songs, and include all different artists. (And I didn't bother to add "Run the World (Girls)" by Beyoncé, because we all know and love that one already.) When writing this list I also realized that I don't have much knowledge of Asian and African women in music, so if you have any recommendations for me, I'd love to check them out!
Hopefully you'll find some new favorites to add to your playlists <3
Written by Nathalie S. Knudsen