Sometimes misogyny seems to seep in from every corner of the world. Especially now with the tragedies surfacing the media, sometimes I just need a break from men and their voices. This is when I turn to female artists.
Some female musicians, like Fiona Apple and Hole, give me space to be angry with the world and the way women are treated. Other female artists, like Lorde, capture the multitude of feelings that come with being a woman, or girl in this world.
There’s something so special and touching about hearing your own thoughts and emotions manifest in a song written by a woman. It’s healing, it’s uplifting, it’s empowering, and it recenters women and our stories in the realm of music.
I’ve made a list of albums by women that I turn to when I’m feeling low, high, or any of the other beautiful emotions we experience.
Here are 10 albums, of genres varying from R&B to punk rock, all by women, to listen to this fall.
1. For when you are sick and tired of men:
When The Pawn by Fiona Apple
2. For when you’ve lost someone or you just feel so much and you need someone who gets it:
Melodrama by Lorde
3. For when you’re walking around campus and need a strong woman, to help you keep your head up:
The Ex-Factor by Lauren Hill
4. For positivity and hope:
Diary of Alicia Keys by Alicia keys
5. For when you feel so angry and used and want to scream and jump up and down:
Live Through This by Hole
6. For when you feel a little broken:
Manic by Halsey
7. For when nostalgia hits you hard:
Speak Now by Taylor Swift (Taylor’s version of course)
8. For when you’re getting ready to go out (that doesn’t involve a man objectifying a woman):
Renaissance I by Beyonce
9. For when you wanna dance with your friends:
Tragic Kingdom by No Doubt
10. For when you feel alone and need to hear that you aren’t (you have Hayley Kiyoko at the VERY LEAST):
Expectations by Hayley Kiyoko
At the start of this year I was in need of someone to guide me through the all encompassing and overwhelming feelings that came with change.
Starting my freshman year here this fall meant I left my best friend (my sister) at home, broke up with my boyfriend, and was torn apart from my friends. It’s an exciting time but one full of transitions and complex emotions and no one could voice what I felt better than a woman who had felt the same deep beautiful things.
There’s a particular lyric in Supercut, a song from Melodrama by Lorde, that describes the way we cling to the past by using the metaphor of a supercut. Lorde sings “in my head, the visions never stop, these ribbons wrap me up, but when I reach for you, there’s just a supercut.”
Lorde astounds me with her lyricism, I feel it deep within me. In describing memories as ribbons that wrap us up, she encapsulates the way that I miss my sister. The memories of me and her when we were laughing on the drive home truly “wraps me up”.
I truly don’t think I could have articulated my feelings during the evolving adventure of going off to college, without my girls; Lorde, Fiona Apple and Halsey in particular. What I needed this semester was someone who knew what it felt like. I hope you find what you need to hear, or maybe what you didn’t know you needed.