Proper, let’s speak concerning the songs that make you are feeling like you could possibly topple governments earlier than breakfast.
2024 and 2025 delivered some absolute bangers within the feminist anthem division. Some got here from surprising locations ( you, Chappell Roan), others from artists who’ve been doing this longer than most of us have been alive. What issues is all of them cross the take a look at: press play, really feel highly effective, repeat as wanted.
This isn’t some worthy playlist you’ll take heed to as soon as and overlook. These are the tracks you really need blasting whenever you’re preparing, driving to that troublesome assembly, or simply reminding your self you’re not taking anybody’s nonsense at present.
1. Good Luck, Babe! – Chappell Roan
For those who weren’t listening to Chappell Roan earlier than 2024, you undoubtedly had been after this. “Good Luck, Babe!” is the sort of track that stops you mid-scroll on TikTok as a result of wait, what is that this and why does it sound like each emotion I’ve ever had?
It’s about obligatory heterosexuality, however even when you’ve by no means heard that time period, you get it instantly. Watching somebody you care about deny who they’re to suit into what society expects.
That particular flavour of heartbreak when somebody chooses the “acceptable” path over the genuine one. Roan’s vocals construct from restrained to completely hovering over manufacturing that by some means sounds each retro and utterly now.
Kelly Clarkson and Miranda Lambert coated it. Sabrina Carpenter coated it. The VMAs efficiency concerned medieval costumes and have become an prompt cultural second.
That is the lesbian anthem 2024 wanted, delivered by an artist who wasn’t afraid to be messy, theatrical, and trustworthy suddenly.
2. Labour – Paris Paloma
This one went correctly viral for good purpose. Paris Paloma managed to bottle up about three centuries of feminine rage into 4 minutes of folk-pop.
“All day, every single day, therapist, mom, maid / Nymph then a virgin, nurse then a servant.” Take heed to that when and inform me it doesn’t precisely describe somebody . In all probability your self when you’re trustworthy.
What makes “Labour” particular isn’t simply the lyrics documenting each invisible job girls do. It’s the way it related.
TikTok stuffed with movies of girls sharing their very own tales, historic figures who had been forgotten, relationships the place they carried all the things while their companions contributed nothing.
A whole lot of girls despatched in recordings of themselves singing it, which Paloma compiled into “Labour (The Cacophony)” in 2024.
Listening to all these voices collectively, completely different ages and backgrounds, hammers dwelling that this isn’t particular person complaints. It’s a sample so outdated it feels ancestral.
The stripped-back manufacturing lets each phrase land. No hiding behind large beats or intelligent manufacturing methods. Simply voice, guitar, and years of accrued resentment lastly getting phrases.
3. Flowers – Miley Cyrus
Self-love anthems normally sound cloying. This doesn’t. Miley Cyrus discovered the best way to make shopping for your self flowers and writing your title within the sand sound like essentially the most highly effective factor you could possibly do.
The track spent weeks at primary, received File of the 12 months on the Grammys, and have become the soundtrack to each “doing higher with out him” video on social media. That disco-pop shimmer provides it sufficient raise that singing alongside looks like celebrating slightly than compensating.
“I should buy myself flowers” shouldn’t be revolutionary, however in a tradition that also tells girls their worth comes from relationships, it sort of is.
4. Run the World (Ladies) – Beyoncé
13 years outdated and nonetheless the blueprint. This doesn’t ask properly. It doesn’t clarify itself. It simply states information over a beat that seems like a navy march crossed with a membership banger.
The genius of “Run the World (Ladies)” is how unapologetic it’s. Beyoncé isn’t making a case for feminine empowerment or asking for a seat on the desk. She’s telling you girls already run all the things, and when you haven’t observed, that’s your failing. The aggressiveness works as a result of it refuses to tone itself down for consolation.
Will get performed at protests, sporting occasions, principally anyplace girls collect and keep in mind they’re sensible. Nonetheless hits.
5. WAP – Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion
The quantity of rage this track impressed from individuals who undoubtedly shouldn’t have been listening to it within the first place stays humorous. Conservative commentators misplaced their absolute minds while the observe topped charts globally.
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion created the specific anthem about feminine pleasure that pop music wanted. No metaphors, no coyness, simply two girls being extraordinarily clear about what they need.
The truth that this induced ethical panic while male rappers have been doing related for many years proves precisely why it issues.
Typically feminist empowerment seems like demanding to be heard in boardrooms. Typically it seems like “WAP.” Each are legitimate.
6. The Man – Taylor Swift
Swift spent years getting criticised for having boyfriends, not having boyfriends, writing about having boyfriends, principally present as a profitable lady with opinions. “The Man” is her responding by asking: would any of this be an issue if I weren’t feminine?
The reply is clearly no. The bridge itemizing all the things she’d “get away with” as a person lands as a result of it’s not hypothetical. We’ve all watched male artists do precisely these issues to applause while girls get scrutinised for much less.
Swift directed the video herself, showing in prosthetics as a stereotypical profitable businessman. Delicate? No. Efficient? Completely.
7. 360 – Charli xcx
Right here’s the factor about “360”: it really works as a result of it doesn’t attempt to be inspirational. Charli xcx isn’t making grand statements about feminism or writing manifestos about feminine empowerment. She’s simply being wonderful and surrounding herself with wonderful girls.
The BRAT album aesthetic grew to become all over the place in 2024. That particular lime inexperienced, the assured assertion that Charli and her circle outline cool, the entire vibe of girls being highly effective with out explaining themselves. Examine this to Katy Perry’s “Lady’s World,” which tried so arduous to be a feminist anthem it forgot to be good. “360” succeeds by not caring whether or not you get it.
8. Only a Lady – No Doubt
Gwen Stefani’s sarcastic masterpiece from 1995. The title sounds cute. The ska-punk power says in any other case.
“Only a Lady” makes use of that hole between what society expects (“candy little woman”) and what’s really taking place (fury at fixed underestimation) to sensible impact. Stefani sings about being informed she’s weak, having her independence questioned, being handled like she will’t deal with fundamental duties.
The anger beneath that bouncy manufacturing captures one thing particular: being consistently underestimated while concurrently held to unattainable requirements. Practically 30 years later, nonetheless related. That’s miserable but additionally proves the track acquired one thing proper.
9. Dangerous Concept Proper? – Olivia Rodrigo
Feminist anthems don’t must be about making good selections. Typically they’re about having autonomy to make questionable ones.
Rodrigo is aware of going to see her ex might be silly. She lists all of the the explanation why. Then goes anyway as a result of she desires to. The punk-rock power and cheeky supply flip feminine need and decision-making into one thing highly effective slightly than shameful.
Not each empowering track must be about energy and resilience. Typically it’s nearly proudly owning your selections even once they’re messy. That’s feminism too.
10. Respect – Aretha Franklin
For those who don’t have this on a feminist playlist in 2025, what are you doing? Practically 60 years outdated and nonetheless the usual.
Aretha Franklin took Otis Redding’s track and reworked it into one thing that grew to become an anthem for each civil rights and ladies’s liberation. That bit the place she spells out R-E-S-P-E-C-T stays one of the crucial iconic moments in music historical past for good purpose. She wasn’t asking. She was demanding.
Covers get accomplished frequently. None of them enhance on the unique. That’s how it’s good.
11. Man’s World – Marina
Marina stripped away all of the digital manufacturing from her earlier work for this acoustic observe imagining what society would possibly appear to be if girls had designed it.
Launched in 2020, it combines light guitar with the fury of residing in a patriarchy that positions itself as pure slightly than constructed.
“For those who had been a lady, you then’d perceive” lands arduous as a result of it captures each dialog the place you’ve tried explaining gendered experiences to somebody who refuses to get it.
12. Born This Means – Woman Gaga
Woman Gaga’s 2011 anthem doesn’t restrict itself to 1 sort of empowerment. “Born This Means” creates house for everybody society marginalises, together with girls who don’t carry out femininity the best way tradition calls for.
The gospel manufacturing lifts the self-acceptance message into one thing that genuinely sounds triumphant slightly than defensive. Will get performed at Pleasure reliably as a result of it captures that particular feeling of refusing to apologise for present.
13. Formation – Beyoncé
“Formation” doesn’t ask for acceptance. It states information about Black girls’s energy and dares you to have an issue with it.
The 2016 observe samples New Orleans bounce music while addressing police brutality, cultural appropriation and Black excellence. Beyoncé carried out it on the Tremendous Bowl with dancers dressed as Black Panthers, making her politics unattainable to disregard. Conservative commentators predictably misplaced it. Everybody else recognised it as sensible.
That is what unapologetic appears to be like like in musical kind.
14. Fairly Hurts – Beyoncé
Totally different Beyoncé power fully. “Fairly Hurts” dismantles magnificence requirements by displaying a pageant contestant breaking beneath strain to be bodily good.
“Perfection is a illness of a nation” cuts by way of as a result of it’s true. The vulnerability in Beyoncé’s vocal efficiency contrasts along with her standard energy stance, making the message about magnificence tradition’s injury land more durable.
Value noting this got here out in 2013 and we’re nonetheless having the very same conversations about unrealistic requirements. Progress strikes slowly.
15. You Don’t Personal Me – Lesley Gore
Recorded in 1964 when Gore was 17 years outdated. Take into consideration that. A teenage woman singing about refusing to be managed, modified or placed on show by a accomplice, in an period when girls had been anticipated to be compliant.
The track predated second-wave feminism however captured all the things it will struggle for. Dusty Springfield coated it. Grace coated it. Retains getting found by new generations as a result of the message doesn’t age.
16. I Am Lady – Helen Reddy
The 1972 anthem that grew to become second-wave feminism’s unofficial theme track. Helen Reddy singing “I’m robust, I’m invincible, I’m lady” while reaching primary on the Billboard Sizzling 100.
The Grammy acceptance speech the place she thanked God “as a result of She makes all the things attainable” made the track legendary. That second alone assured its place in feminist historical past.
Each anthem since owes one thing to this observe’s unapologetic celebration of feminine energy.
17. Survivor – Future’s Youngster
Future’s Youngster launched this in 2001 after lineup drama that tabloids handled like scandal. As an alternative of enjoying sufferer, they flipped it by celebrating resilience.
The martial beat and defiant lyrics turned private mess into an anthem about popping out stronger. “I’m a survivor, I’m not gonna surrender, I’m not gonna cease, I’m gonna work more durable” grew to become mantras for anybody dealing with adversity.
Proves girls don’t have to collapse gracefully. Loud combating again works too.
18. Battle Tune – Rachel Platten
Critics dismissed this as too earnest when it got here out in 2014. Hundreds of thousands of girls adopted it anyway throughout troublesome transitions.
“Battle Tune” speaks to anybody feeling ignored or defeated. The gradual construct from quiet to explosive mirrors discovering your voice after silence. Typically earnestness is strictly what’s wanted.
19. Lady on Hearth – Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys evaluating a lady realising her energy to being actually on fireplace, with everybody stopping to observe her burn shiny. The 2012 observe builds from piano to full orchestration, matching lyrics about somebody no one can cease.
Keys wrote it serious about her personal journey and different girls refusing to dim their mild for anybody’s consolation. That specificity makes it work.
20. Don’t Contact My Hair – Solange
Solange’s 2016 observe from “A Seat on the Desk” addresses Black girls coping with boundary violations and microaggressions. The track reclaims bodily autonomy by way of deceptively light manufacturing that mixes soul, R&B and experimental sounds.
Works on a number of ranges. Literal boundary crossing. Deeper violations of personhood. The way in which society treats Black girls’s our bodies as public property. All of it wrapped in one thing that sounds intimate and highly effective concurrently.
Look, feminist anthems aren’t going to repair systemic inequality or topple patriarchal constructions in a single day. If solely it had been that easy.
However they do one thing essential: they create moments the place you keep in mind you’re not alone in no matter battle you’re combating.
Whether or not that’s negotiating a pay rise, leaving a relationship that’s draining you, or simply making it by way of one other day of refined microaggressions that no one else appears to note.
These 20 tracks cowl completely different floor as a result of feminism isn’t one expertise. Chappell Roan’s queer heartbreak sounds nothing like Aretha Franklin’s civil rights anthem, which sounds nothing like Paris Paloma’s folk-pop rage about home labour. That’s the purpose. There’s no single sound of feminine empowerment as a result of there’s no single technique to be a lady.
What they share is refusal. Refusing to be quiet, small, compliant, grateful for scraps. Refusing to faux that present methods work effective once they demonstrably don’t. Refusing to just accept that being feminine means accepting much less.
A few of these songs are indignant. Some are joyful. Some are unhappy. Most are a little bit of all the things as a result of that’s what being human is. Those that final are those that provide you with language for experiences you thought had been simply yours. Seems they’re everybody’s. That’s the place the facility comes from.
Subsequent time you want reminding of your price, queue these up. Allow them to do their job. They’re good at it.
