Feminist Playlist Week 3

Welcome to week 3!

We are continuing into week 3 of the women's history month playlist (Week 1 and Week 2 if you're new here).

This week has no theme. I tried to actually make each week have a theme but this one is more a hodgepodge. I feel like week 1 was sort of a feminism 101, week 2 expanded on that with power anthems and now we move into week 3, where there's a bit more intersectional thoughts.

Day 15 - ENNY ft Jorja Smith - Peng Black Girls Remix

A song about a Black girl experience, especially how Blackness is a cultural cachet, at times (remember Ariana Grande and her spray tan, and now she's less tan?) and how Black Girl Magic used by white culture is stripped of any power outside of supporting ideological state apparatus.

"I was black when it wasn’t even in style" she sings about how power shifts and how it never seems to be in the hands of Black women. It sounds heavy, and dense, and it is, but its in a wonderful beat and beautiful vocals. It's a question and an answer in R&B.

Day 16 - Hayley Kiyoko - Girls like Girls

A sapphic celebration. (I find it fun to sing). I think it appeared in a movie trailer recently but its a song arguing for the normalization of queer love. It's also about how a girl stealing in a guy's girl and I find that amusing since music, and culture, has normalized forbidden love, but doesn't consider this and the song tells that kind of story with a sapphic ending.

Day 17 - Dumb Blonde - Dolly Parton

The next couple of songs are break up songs, which I said that I wasn't going to do, but they are taking a different tack (I hope). In the US, dumb blonde jokes are pretty common. In this song, the man thinks he can cheat Dolly, both romantically and financially, because she's a woman, and she's a dumb blonde, but that's just a front because she can see right through him. Its a celebration of the trickster character.

Day 18 - Dinah Washington - Baby Get Lost

I am biased toward Dinah Washington. I love her voice. This song is also covered by Billie Holiday and Queen Latifah. A jazzy little song about how a relationship requires compromise and equality and she's not willing to be his doormat. That being a woman doesn't mean being lesser than.

Day 19 - Kaiit - Miss Shiny

Another R&B jam. A straight up song that is both a reflection of where the narrator is going wrong, but where they are going right. I believe Kaiit is a non-binary Australian creator and I recc checking out the rest of their set list. I wouldn't call this a power ballad, but it's definitely a motivational piece, about how one makes it through the hard times, by relying on their self and the people in their life.

Day 20 - Marina and The Diamonds - Can't Hold Me Down

This was when Marina was in the band, before she became just Marina. This one is a rock song (glam rock!) and more of a typical power ballad. The lyrics are also feminism 101 - this idea that feminism means women have a choice. Want a career? You can. Never want to get married? That's cool too. Want kids or don't? That's fine too. Want to be a stay at home wife? That's your choice.

This is a song about how choices belong to the person and should never be curtailed by power.

It's also a bop.

Day 21- Olivia Rodrigo - Vampire

Carve me up, sell my parts. I only exist for what I can do for you. A woman exists as an ancillary being to what? A man? The world? Olivia suggests that men, and those in power, prey on young ingenues, taking dreams and using it as a method of cannibalization.

It's also about a young woman's journey at realizing these horrors. We all are fed these ideals, these images, and crawling out of them is a journey. No one is born a perfect feminist (What is a perfect feminist anyways? Feels like another one of Plato's forms or an ISA to depress us)

I used to think I was smart but u made me look so naive “

“ and every girl I talked to told me you were bad bad news you called them crazy god I hate the way I called them crazy too"

the ways in which we are taught to privilege male desire over female friendships and how we destroy ourselves to please a power that will be happy until we are nothing but a corpse is a central theme to this song.

But Olivia does it with style

Wow, one and a half more weeks left! I need to clean up next week. The flow isn't 100% there.

I hope you're enjoying the playlist.

Other Thoughts

Tomorrow night (Sunday, the Ides of March) is Oscar night. I truly enjoyed Sinners the film. Every now and then I find myself thinking about it and I realize something else about the film. Every character is in their own different genre until those vampires show up and then everyone is thrust into a horror movie. I love the long slow build up. I love the baptism in the river. I love the weaving of the stories and the consequence of memory and how I Lied to You isn't just a song, but a motif throughout the entire film with each character lying to one another, and themselves.

(Golden will win Best Song, I'm sorry)

However, while Sinners has been doing well with their peers--taking home Screen Actors Guild Awards and Director Guild Awards and Writers Guild Awards--I suspect it will not do so well at the Oscars. We know the Oscars doesn't award Black artists very often. Five Best Black actors and One (One!!) Best Black actress in its history doesn't bode well. The film is also a horror movie and the Academy doesn't like that.

My predictions:

Ryan Coogler takes home Best Original Screenplay and Best Director

One Battle After Another takes Best Movie

Timothy Chamalalama wins Best Actor over Michael B Jordan (which is sad)

I do think Teyanna Taylor eeks out over Wunmi Mosaku

I would love, love, love if Delroy Lindo wins for Best Supporting Actor but I don't know who gets that one. Jacob Elordi and Stellan Skarsgaard have won in the past.

I feel like K Pop Demon Hunters should win Best Animated Feature but Elio might just eek it out with all the Pixar lovers. I also believe they are not doing a performance of every best song nominee this year, which is unusual. I know "Golden" and "I Lied to You" are being performed. The song performances are usually some of the best parts of the entire tedious show.

Be interesting to see how much I get right and wrong.

Thanks for reading.