Saturday 26 May 2007

Forget "respect": women get even

Carrie Underwoord
Watch out, boys. The new women of pop, rock and country don't bother with getting mad. They skip to getting even. Years ago, when female vocalists across genres tapped into lost love or unfaithful men, they usually crooned over broken hearts and the inability to move on. Billie Holiday. Dolly Parton. Trisha Yearwood. Mariah Carey. Even Britney Spears confessed that the loneliness was killing her.

Sure, there were beacons of strength. Nancy Sinatra showed us the purpose of those boots. And Aretha Franklin taught us how to spell respect. But, when it came to breakups, there was no shortage of women singing about wonderful men who walked out the door, and how they'd never be the same again.

Until now. Music's new seven-letter word is revenge. Country star and Grammy-winner Carrie Underwood calculates hers in her recent single, "Before He Cheats". In the video, Underwood digs a key into her unfaithful boyfriend's truck, slashes the tires, smashes the headlights with a Louisville Slugger and carves her name into the leather seats before declaring: "Maybe next time he'll think before he cheats."

And then there's Beyonce. In "Irreplaceable", her biggest single, she owns the house. She owns the Jag. And she's throwing her man out for running around with another woman. She's not falling apart; rather, she's self-possessed and rejoicing: "You must not know about me," Beyonce proclaims. "I could have another you in a minute. Matter of fact he'll be here in a minute."

These current chart-toppers are not the first of their kind, says Oakland native Danyel Smith, the editor of Vibe. The genre, which Smith defines as varying degrees of "revenge fantasy", started about a decade ago, shortly after the release of Toni Braxton's hit "Breathe Again". In the video, Braxton crumbles in a hallway, warning "If you walk right out of my life, God knows I'd surely die."

"I think there's been somewhat of a backlash against those kinds of songs," Smith says. "Women in the late 1990s were just getting over it." Nancy Einhart, editor of the entertainment Web site Buzzsugar.com, believes that similar female breakup songs have always existed in punk rock and underground circles. They are simply bigger pop hits now, Einhart says, and they tend to focus on freedom.

Nearly a decade after Braxton was losing her breath, Kelly Clarkson found hers in 2004's runaway hit: "Since - Been Gone". Einhart believes the songs are a reflection of trends. "We have a lot of examples of famous women who have ended relationships - Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon, Mary Louise Parker," she says. "And the treatment of them in the media hasn't been negative, but rather, their careers seem to be taking off and they look better than ever." It's also how society - and the songwriters - are viewing women, Einhart says.

Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds liked making Braxton and his other muses suffer, but a new wave of young male writers are tapping into the modern, independent woman's psyche. Still, for every breakup song written by a man, there's one written by a woman, says Andi Zeisler, editor of Bitch magazine, a pop culture 'zine.

Zeisler recalls the Dixie Chicks' "Goodbye Earl", in which Mary Ann helps Wanda kill her abusive husband out of self-defense. It's dark, yes, but it sends a better message than songs of yesteryear, Zeisler says. "At least women today aren't growing up listening to songs like 'He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)', and the '50s idea of standing by the bad boy because that's who he is," Zeisler says. "They're definitely growing up with a more empowered sense."

(PopStar)



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