Welcome to another edition of Feminist Friday, that day of the week where we share a handful of videos we are loving right now! While most of the videos have a message or theme that ties in with the definition of intersectional feminism, sometimes we take a more light-hearted approach, like we’re doing this week!
We’re all about the female artists and female anthems, and right now as we’re in the second year of the #Resistance, we need some damn good lady jams to rock out to and keep us motivated. First up, check out the music video for Venezuelan-born singer Dhanya, whose self-titled debut LP was released on Feb 2nd.
A quick introduction to this soulful goddess – she is the daughter of 2 X Latin Grammy winner Ilan Chester, and spent time living in West Bengal, India, where a lot of her Eastern-influence sounds originate from. After studying literature and traditional devotional music of Bakti, Dhanya traveled and performed all over the world with the Mayapuris, an acclaimed kirtan group.
She is being described as the “female voice of the global, conscious music scene we’ve been waiting for”, and in this predominantly male conscious genre, Dhanya’s radiant voice, bold lyrics and innovative sound clear the way for her strong feminine perspective. At a time in our culture where we see the matriarchy rising and claiming power, we can’t help but get a little spiritual and be drawn to music that feeds our soul! Be mesmerized and hypnotized by her music video ‘Fire’ below:
The second video is from singer/songwriter Terra Naomi, whose song ‘Machine Age’ was released on January 19 as a reflection marking one year since the Trump administration took office. ‘Machine Age’ is a meditation on the culture shock of post-election America and is the first glimpse at her upcoming album due to be released this summer.
She wrote the song in under an hour drawing on her year of anger, outrage, fear, depression, anxiety resulting not just from the election but also something closer to home. Upon the announcement of the wedding, her husband’s family decided they could not partake because her husband is a trans man. They believe he is “really a girl” and their religion does not support “two girls getting married”.
If the name Terra Naomi sounds familiar, if you’re an early Youtuber, you will recognize her viral hit from 2006 titled ‘Say It’s Possible‘ which has over 4.8 million views. Watch ‘Machine Age’ below which contains iconic Americana imagery juxtaposed with lyrics that question the current state of American culture.
Our final video this week is from NY-based hip hop artist Latasha Alcindor, whose song ‘Glo Up’ is certainly going to give you feel-good vibes going into the weekend. Refinery29 calls this track the “anti-f**kboy anthem of 2018“. Latasha says this song is a reflection of a period in her life where she stepped away from music for a while, journeyed through an identity crisis, depression, a short career change, and a return to music where she has seen some pretty incredible success, opening for artists like Kanye West.
“This song ‘Glo Up’ is dedicated to the time where I was dealing with depression, had just gotten out of a relationship with a man who was really mean to me, and was trying to find my identity as an artist during a period where the only other major female rapper was Nicki Minaj. So the glow up is about coming out of that, but also accepting who I am. And I think any woman can relate to that,” she told R29.
Watch ‘Glo Up’ below, which she says is “for the around the way weirdo girls from the hood”, to see what the hype is all about.
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