Late folk singer Pete Seeger once said, '' the right song at the right moment could change history.' In the past, the quote has been undeniably true. In 1939, Billie Holliday's powerful rendition of 'Strange Fruit' planted the seeds for a counter-racism movement within the United States during a time of violent, racial unrest. In 1963, Bob Dylan released the protest song, 'Masters of War', which captured and intensified the public's growing discontentment with the Vietnam War as well as the preceding Cold War conflict. In 2016, the world is seeing yet another social upheaval: the feminist movement. Though feminism has already weaved in and out of history, the social movement which vies for gender equality did not find an international audience of willing listeners until Beyonc'' Knowles's anthology of female-empowering songs began releasing two decades ago.
It is no surprise that the world as it stands operates under the masculine patriarchy. Men hold, and historically have held, all the power over women. This systematic oppression is blatantly obvious in the sexist standards of today. Statistics provided by the Institute for Women's Policy Research suggest that women only receive a fraction of the salary of men in the same positions. Double standards in body image exist, with women being overly sexualized as compared to men. Of course gender inequality exists, but how did Beyonc'' Knowles alter the landscape of gender in the world today? The answer lies in her music.
As a member of R&B group Destiny's Child, Knowles released the chart-topping track 'Independent Women' in 2000. Solely judging by its title, one can see the song's palpable ties to feminism. The track, focusing on financial independence from men in relationships, is a stellar example of female empowerment. In this anthem for independence, Beyonc'' sings:
Question: Tell me how you feel about this
Try to control me boy you get dismissed
Pay my own fun, oh and I pay my own bills
Always 50/50 in relationships.
Conjuring an image starkly contrast to the money-borrowing, dependent girlfriends portrayed in media, 'Independent Women' directly addressed the issue of gender inequality. With an anything-but-subtle message, Destiny's Child put forth the concept of women in a position of power and co-dominance. Though a powerful song in its own right, 'Independent Women' serves as a precursor to Beyonc's more recent work which has further pushed feminism into the spotlight.
Following a decade of more empowering hit songs, Knowles released her self-titled album Beyonc'' in 2014. Featured on the album was the prevailingly argumentative song 'Flawless'. Broken into two halves separated by a speech by Nigerian author and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie , 'Flawless' first examines Beyonc's frustration rising from being seen as 'just [Jay-Z]'s little wife'. The first half is extensively marked by Beyonc'' demanding listeners to 'bow down'. The purpose of such a line is to suggest that Knowles has her own impressive career, independent of her husband. Highlighting the common sexist notion that a wife lives in the shadow of her husband, 'Flawless' tears the idea apart. The speech, which interrupts Beyonc's own lyricism, is an excerpt from Chimamanda Adichie's 2013 reading of 'We Should All Be Feminists', her own novel on the subject. Solidarity among women, or a lack thereof, is present in the following excerpt of Adichie's speech:
We raise girls to see each other as competitors
Not for jobs or for accomplishments
Which I think can be a good thing
But for the attention of men.
Solidarity and mutual praise among women are central tenants of feminism, tenants that serve as overlying themes for the second half of Beyonc's track. Asserting that women are inherently beautiful, Beyonc'' sings, 'I woke up like this / We flawless, ladies tell 'em.' Throughout this second half, Knowles continually praises women, again following the feminist overtones of the music. As a whole, 'Flawless' can be listened to less as a song and more as a feminist manifesto.
With both 'Independent Women' and 'Flawless', Beyonc'' Knowles arguably brought feminism to the forefront of societal issues. Alongside critical acclaim, the songs received high volumes of radio traffic internationally, creating a large audience for the feminist message. According to statistics on YouTube of footage of the 'We Should All Be Feminists' speech by Chimamanda Adichie, the number of viewers increased by nearly 60,000 directly following the release of 'Flawless'. In a 2014 performance of the song, Beyonc'' even stood in front of a backdrop brandished with the word 'FEMINIST', further sparking global interest in the crusade for equality. Using powerful lyricism, Beyonc'' has effectively and undeniably created a new movement of feminists intent on bringing about social change.