Who doesn’t like a good female empowerment song? Regardless of gender, I think, empowerment songs are designed to pump you up. Sure there are dude empowerment songs but in the wake of #Me2 and all things mullets I’m not sure they hold the same weight. We’ve never had a female president but we’ve had an African-American president. Sure suffragette occurred in the arc of American History before the civil rights movement but in things gender, in these modern times, all things aren’t created equal. We may have achieved some semblance of equality but we aren’t quite there yet with equity by gender or race, are we?
There’s a Texas archetype of the empowered female. Think Kelly Clarkson, Molly Ivins, Anne Richards, and Sandra Day O’Connor just to name a few. We love them. We, each one of us, may not agree with their politics, may not get into their music, but the uniqueness of Texas and all things Texans rest squarely on the shoulders of these strong women & that archetype they represent.
Sure a post like this from a male mostly Caucasian ‘burb Dad dude could be seen as pandering and not so dude-like. Sure someone could very well say, dude, you douche, now you must hand in your dude-card. You are no longer a card carrying member as you have gone public as digging female empowerment songs. Well, I don’t care so much about that. The beauty of getting older and becoming more comfortable about who you are, being yourself, is that it becomes easier to practice the subtle art of not giving a flying F. And what could be more punk than that?
That girl thinks she’s the queen of the neighborhood
She’s got the hottest trike in town
That girl, she holds her head up so high
I think I wanna be her best friend, yeahRebel girl, rebel girl
Rebel girl you are the queen of my world
So go find your jam Lady Marmalade, Rebel Girl, or Kid Rock, you. Own who you are. Drive with the windows down and the volume turned up to 11. Listen to what makes you feel good about yourself. Be the queen of someone’s else’s world. Be your own queen or king. Before this veers off into Stuart Smalley self-affirmation self-help parody world, I’ll leave it here. Find your happiness and own it fiercely.
And I almost forgot this one. Sure, it can be viewed as a one hit wonder cashing in on Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill angsty jilted lover grunge alt Rock Fame… but it’s the perfect example of turning the tables. Taking a derogatory term and using it as a power word. Think of the use of the N’ word in rap & hip-hop. That’s kinda what Meredith did with this song & the B-word.
ZandMe's 999 Good Things 