Article written by Lauren Johnston.
That’s right, we may have a trigger warning for the music section this week!! This week, we are going to talk about songs that have made the world stop and listen. Music isn’t just the thing we create because it sounds good, music is a platform, a platform in which artists use to make people listen and to make them hear what is happening or what is wrong with the world.
There’re a million songs out there that have made headlines or been the main focus in a news article or an online forum. Some have been in the news for the right reasons and some have just been named and shamed for sexualizing women, promoting rape culture and so on.
'Blurred Lines' by Robin Thicke was probably one of the most memorable songs that made the news for all the wrong reasons. Portraying misogyny, rape culture, sexism, drug use, racism and objectifying women in his music video. BUT there’s more… Thicke was also accused of stealing the beat of the song from Marvin Gaye’s 'Got to Give it Up.' I remember hearing this on the news a few years back now and wondering how many other songs there are like this. The world is full of problems and we are constantly complaining about it, but never actually making a change. To this day, 'Blurred Lines' is still being played. Thankfully, this song is only one of a few that was made controversial for all the wrong reasons.
If you haven’t heard of this next song, I would highly suggest going and giving it a good listen. P!nk has always been an exceptional singer/song-writer. In her career, she has showed the world she is capable of many things, such as: singing upside down from a roof, performing shortly after having kids, producing album after album; but, the one thing she has done is getting our attention. When I say she gets our attention, she makes us look at the world and what’s wrong with it. 'Dear Mr. President' was released in 2006, featuring the Indio Girls. This song has made the top of the charts since being produced. 'Dear Mr. President' is directly aimed at the President at the current time, with lyrics such as “Dear Mr. President, how do you sleep while the rest of us cry, how do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye, how do you walk with your head held high, can you even look me in the eye, and tell me why.” P!nk focuses on the world that’s crumbling down, pointing out the children he left behind, and homelessness, hardworking people who still make nothing and live off nothing
That’s not the only song she has targeted at the political figures of America. The lead single from P!nk’s seventh album, Beautiful Trauma, paints a horrid picture of a broken America. The lyrics are just vague enough to be a pop anthem that can apply to any sort of injustice. But then New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s keynote speech at the Republican National Convention plays at the beginning of the music video, and the song's rallying cry against “broken promises” seems to zero in on the current admin.
Queen B also has had her fair share of making controversial songs, with her debut hit ‘Formation’. Beyoncé debuted 'Formation' at the Super Bowl out of all places, possibly the most public forum that anyone could think of. This song wasn't like 'Bills, Bills, Bills' or 'Crazy in Love.' The video refers to Hurricane Katrina, police brutality and racism; featured in her music video is Beyoncé lying on top of a police car in a flooded street, and ends with images of Martin Luther King, and a graffiti wall with the words "stop shooting us." At a first listen to this song, 'Formation' may not feel like it fits the standard definition of "protest song," but look a little closer and you'll see it hits all the right notes: 1) It identifies a major societal issue, 2) It advocates for social change, and 3) It kicks just a whole bunch of ass.
Beyoncé uses her family background as a jumping off point to address what it means to be an empowered Black woman in today's world. She's worked hard to get where she is, and now that she's "on top" she's not going to forget her roots. Just like the sassy Queen we all love and adore, she doesn't care if you don't like that part of her. But the song isn't just about her, obviously. It's about every Black woman who's been expected to change crucial aspects of her personality to be accepted by White America.
Kendrick Lamar also had his turn at showing the world that there is a war on black people with his song 'Alright.' This song is about how black lives do matter, and that black people are the same as white people. The lyrics which I think personally think show the true feelings of how black people feel are, "We been hurt, we been down before, N*gga, when our pride was low, lookin' at the world like 'where do we go?'” Through no will of his own, Kendrick Lamar's 'Alright' became an important part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Fun fact, he didn't even pen the track as a protest song, but a grand swell of protestors chanting the chorus of "We gonna be alright!" created a natural link between the movement and the song. What many people fail to see, is that there’s nothing that changes why you should be classed worthier of something than someone with darker skin than you.
The rap side of music has probably more politically directed songs, protest songs, and controversial songs then most other genres. Logic feat. Black Thought, Chuck D, Big Lenbo, No I.D wrote a song titled 'America.' Logic stated that he knew what he was getting into when he made his direct political remarks. In the first verse, he uses the highly loaded catchphrase of the 2016 election, “Make America great again/ Make it hate again/ Make it white/ Make everybody fight/ f--- that.”
Black Thought is the first to name-drop the President in the second verse, noting, “It is not love, up at TrumpThugs, dot gov,” and Chuck D calls upon another Trump-era catchphrase, “Alternative facts mean to lie and steal.” And that’s only the beginning. The entire track is a call to action against a very specific blonde-haired, tan man, but responsibly rebelling against a violent narrative some have tried to sell in the past.
As you can see with just these few songs, there are a number of songs and more that I haven’t named that you can see are focusing on major social issues. It’s not just the 21st century that has been writing songs that pack a punch. Ever since writing music was a thing, people have been writing and singing about it in hopes to make a change and get people to listen.
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