Tag Archives: Dolly Parton

The Pixel Project Selection 2015: 16 Songs About Violence Against Women (and Staying Strong and Positive)

Posted on by

Girl-Playing-Piano-1-198x300Music can help us transcend our pain in a way that not many other art forms are able to.  Music makes us feel less alone in our struggles because it often expresses how we feel in ways we cannot articulate.  The Pixel Project believes in the power of music to heal, inspire, and send a strong message about violence against women. This is reflected in our ongoing Music For Pixels campaign through which we collaborate with various artistes around the world. This past summer, we held The Music For Pixels Summer Charity Concert, a 12-hour music marathon concert on Google Hangout which featured 23 artists from 5 countries.

This year’s 16 selections of Songs About Violence Against Women and Staying Strong and Positive, are from different genres and decades to ensure that everyone can find a track to be inspired by.  And if our list fails to inspire, it is our sincere hope that you find the soundtrack to your life none the less, as everyone needs a set of songs they can relate to in times of adversity.

It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.

Written and compiled by Samantha Carroll

Call To Action: Help us reach the $25,000 fundraising milestone for our Celebrity Male Role Model Pixel Reveal campaign this holiday season by giving generously to our “16 For 16” fundraiser (which also includes #GivingTuesday)! Find out more and donate to get awesome book and music goodies at http://is.gd/16DaysGT2015 

_________________________________________________________________________

Song Selection Number One: Anthem – Leonard Cohen

“There is a crack in everything / That’s how the light gets in.” Be unwavering in your conviction that everything will be all right and accept that perfection doesn’t exist – this is what Cohen is telling us with Anthem, a song that is as timeless as it is profound.

Song Selection Number 2: Black Eyes, Blue Tears – Shania Twain

With lyrics like “Definitely found my self-esteem / Finally I’m forever free to dream / No more cryin’ in the corner / No excuses no more bruises”, Canadian Country-Pop superstar Shania Twain’s Black Eyes, Blue Tears is a track that every survivor can rock out to, it’s a fierce and contains an authoritative NO! to abuse.

Song Selection Number 3: Extraordinary Machine – Fiona Apple

When Fiona Apple croons: “Be kind to me, or treat me mean / I’ll make the most of it, I’m an extraordinary machine”, she isn’t saying that she’ll take cruelty on the chin, she’s stating that she’s (to quote Marianne Williamson) powerful beyond measure.  It is only with an attitude of pure tenacity that we can rise up after a devastating fall.

Song Selection Number 4: Fight Song – Rachel Platten

We all have what Platten calls “wrecking balls” inside our heads.  This is especially true for anyone who has faced abuse and has had to deal with diminished self-esteem as a result.  Fight Song could be a metaphor for whatever it is that helps us recover and gives us hope and strength to bravely face another day.

Song Selection Number 5: His Daughter – Molly Kate Kestner

Kestner’s His Daughter is a heart-breaking ballad about a young girl who witnesses the unhealthy, abusive relationship of her parents and how it shapes the rest of her life. Children – particularly young girls – who have grown up in an environment where they have been subjected to domestic violence will relate to this song.

Song Selection Number 6: Just Because I’m a Woman – Dolly Parton

Country music isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but there’s no denying that it is a great genre for storytelling.  What Dolly Parton has given us with Just Because I’m a Woman is a relatable and candid understanding of what it is like to be a woman in an unequal, gender stereotyped society.  “My mistakes are no worse than yours / just because I’m a woman.”

Song Selection Number 7: Note to Self – Jake Bugg

Here’s an idea that many women may well be able to relate : as women, we sometimes forget how much we’re capable of, or we never learnt what we were capable of. Jake Bugg has a novel idea: write a note to yourself, say the things to yourself that you’ve always wanted to hear someone else say to or about you.  Bugg’s Note to Self reminds us that we need to be self-compassionate.

Song Selection Number 8: Salute – Little Mix

This track is a wonderful call to solidarity amongst women.  There is strength in supportive sisterhoods and Little Mix captures that perfectly when they sing: “Representing all the women, Salute!”  Little Mix’s audience is primarily young girls and what better a message to spread than one of female empowerment.

Song Selection Number 9: Sister – Andrew Belle

Andrew Belle’s Sister is about the way a sibling tries to understand the abuse hia sister is going through.  “He tried to kill you / and you allow it.”  The sibling sees all sorts of amazing qualities in her sister and can’t quite wrap her head around why or how she ended up in such a hostile situation.  Many survivors of abuse feel at some point that everyone deems them ‘stupid’ for being with an abusive partner.  Sometimes we forget that there are people in our lives, like the sibling in Belle’s song, who hold us in high esteem.

 Song Selection Number 10: Til It Happens to You – Lady Gaga

[TRIGGER WARNING: May be distressing to survivors of rape and sexual assault] Written by Gaga and Diane Warren for the documentary The Hunting Ground, which turns the spotlight on rape on college campuses in the U.S., Til It Happen to You is a raw and emotionally charged ballad.  The music video – directed by Catherine Hardwicke – is harrowing and intentionally provocative but drives home the reality of young women being assaulted and intimidated in educational environments.

Song Selection Number 11: Unpretty – TLC

Through TLC’s anthem Unpretty, we get to understand how a boyfriend or spouse can coerce us into believing we have physical flaws that need correcting.  The pressure of it all can leave us with little to no self-esteem.  “My outsides look cool / My insides are blue / Every time I think I’m through / It’s because of you”.

Song Selection Number 12: Welcome to My Truth – Anastacia

“Through it all / I’ve hit about a million walls / Welcome to my truth, I still love” Compassion is how we heal and learning to love again is part of that process.  The love that powerhouse Pop artiste Anastacia refers to in this song isn’t one of a romantic nature, it is a love steeped in empathy and benevolence.  Don’t let your abuser sully all that is still beautiful and sacred to you.

Song Selection Number 13: What it feels like for a Girl – Madonna

Madonna addresses misogyny and the stereotypical roles women are meant to play in society and focuses on the skewed notion that femininity or possessing feminine qualities, makes a person weak.  What it feels like for a Girl opens with dialogue by the character Julie, from the film The Cement Garden: “Girls can wear jeans and cut their hair short, wear shirts and boots. ‘Cause it’s OK to be a boy. But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading. ‘Cause you think that being a girl is degrading. But secretly you’d love to know what it’s like… Wouldn’t you? What it feels like for a girl.”

Song Selection Number 14: Whole Damn Year – Mary J. Blige

What happens to your relationship with men when you have been violated by a man?  Can you enter into a romantic relationship with a man again and will you ever be able to trust that he won’t abuse you?  These are the themes of Mary J. Blige’s Whole Damn Year.  “Gon’ take a long, long year for me to trust somebody.”

Song Selection Number 15: Yesterday is Gone (My Dear Kay) – Lenny Kravitz 

In Yesterday is Gone, Kravitz addresses a woman named ‘Kay’.  While we, the listeners, may not know who Kay is or what predicament she is in, the encouragement and wisdom the lyrics express is inspiring. “You can’t get nowhere / Staying at home and crying / You can’t go on living in the past / The one thing constant is that there is always change”

Song Selection Number 16: Young Hearts Run Free – Candi Staton

In 1976, Staton delivered this message of autonomy, and we’re still dancing to it today.  This song was written after Staton come through an abusive relationship herself and is a bold anthem about free love and independence. “I’m gonna love me, for the rest of my days / Encourage the babies every time they say / “Self-preservation is what’s really going on today””

The Pixel Project Selection 2013: 16 Songs About Violence Against Women (and Staying Strong and Positive)

Posted on by

Girl Playing Piano 1As part of our ongoing efforts to celebrate and amplify the power of music to educate, enlighten and help with the social change needed to stop Violence Against Women (VAW), The Pixel Project presents our 2013 selection of 16 songs about or related to VAW and women’s empowerment. While there have always been songs that are very explicit about domestic violence, sexual violence and other forms of VAW, we have selected a mix of songs about VAW and songs that empower women because it is crucial to get a balance between the reality of violence and the message of hope for survival and healing.

This year, our selection includes a diverse range of artistes and musical styles – from feel-good anthems to haunting ballads to foot-stomping dance singles. Some of this year’s songs have been written and performed for anti-VAW nonprofits and movements, others are bona fide hit songs that have brought positive and empowering music for women to the attention of global audience.

Without further ado, here are this year’s selection of 16 songs presented in alphabetical order. We hope they inspire and move you as much as they have inspired and moved us.

Compiled by a Pixel Project Volunteer; Curated and edited by Regina Yau and Carol Olson
_________________________________________________________________________

Song Number 1: Brave Sara- Bareilles

Bareilles discussed this song in many interviews, revealing that she thinks “there’s so much honor and integrity and beauty in being able to be who you are, [and] it’s important to be brave because by doing that you also give others permission to do the same”

Song Number 2: Break the Chain/One Billion Rising Song- Tena Clark

Break the Chain was the One Billion Rising theme song heard around the world. Many people from around the world danced and created flash mobs out of this song while participating in One Billion Rising events.

Song Number 3: Eagle when she flies – Dolly Parton

In this 1991 song, Country Music legend Dolly Parton sings this uplifting song about the strength of women when facing adversity in their lives, as well as the various important roles the women have in the family and community.

Song Number 4: Freedom Song- Jason Mraz

In 2010, Jason traveled to Ghana to accompany Free the Slaves on a child slavery rescue mission. To his surprise, he was greeted by 20 former child slaves singing the Freedom Song. Jason’s tearful account of meeting slavery survivors was captured in the FTS video “The Journey of The Freedom Song . He also sang this song at at MTV Exit’s unprecedented anti-trafficking concert in Myanmar.

Song Number 5: Good Woman Down- Mary J. Blige

Mary J Blige shares her experiences and challenges and urges women not to give up on life. She also speaks of abusive relationships and urges women to realize they deserve better. She hopes that this song will be a remedy for other’s going through what she had to go through and encourages them to breakthrough.

Song Number 6: Greatest Love Of All – Whitney Houston

The late, great Whitney Houston, a survivor of domestic violence herself, came to prominence in the 1980s with a flurry of best-selling hits that became evergreen Pop anthems. One of them is “Greatest Love Of All” – a song with an enduring message about learning to love yourself as part of self-empowerment which became one of her signature songs.

Song Number 7: I’m Okay – Christina Aguilera

In this powerful and beautiful ballad, global Pop superstar Christina Aguilera sings about surviving her childhood with her abusive father. Parts of this song may be triggering for some survivors of domestic violence.

Song Number 8: Little Black Sandals- Sia

Sia sings about freedom and strength to listen to your heart and obey it. This song is about an abusive relationship and deciding to leave it.

Song Number 9: Little Things – One Direction

Written by fast-rising singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, this song is sung from the point of view of a husband/partner/boyfriend telling his wife/partner/girlfriend that he loves everything about her, even what she sees as her faults. A great positive anthem encouraging women and girls to love themselves.

Song Number 10: Nobody Ever Told You – Carrie Underwood

This breezy engaging melody is a self empowerment song. Carrie said of the song “People need to hear compliments more,” she says of the song’s life-affirming lyric. “People need to hear ‘I love you’ more. People need to hear ‘You are beautiful’ more.”

Song Number 11: Perfect- P!nk

P!nk’s hit song urges us to change the negative dialogue about ourselves that we can have in a world that can be very challenging and difficult. This song is believing in ourselves and allowing other to believe in ourselves as well.

Song Number 12: Roar – Katy Perry

Kary’s song represents overcoming the complex struggles of an abusive relationship and championing herself. She is fighting to take her life back from her abuser and has had enough of the abuse and realises she deserves so much more.

Song Number 13: Tere Bina – Avina Shah

Tere Bina is a positive song all about girl power. It tells the story of a young girl who finally decides to walk away from a really violent and abusive relationship. Her aim for this song is to create awareness about Domestic Violence and all proceeds from the single were donated to West London based charity the Southall Black Sisters.

Song Number 14: The Thing About Love – Alicia Keys

This song is about the many emotions of love and that it can be a very painful experience. However, Alicia reminds that healthy love is out there for everyone and those loving relationships can be incredibly healing and supportive.

Song Number 15: Skyscraper- Demi Lovato

Musically, “Skyscraper” is a ballad and the lyrics speak of staying strong and believing in oneself. Lovato wrote this song during a time in her life facing her own personal struggles and this has become an empowerment anthem that has virally spread throughout YouTube as people worldwide recorded their covers of this song.

Song Number 16: You Are Royalty To Me – Ellis

Modern Folk singer-songwriter Ellis wrote this poignant song in tribute to her grandmother who helped raise her and build her confidence during her growing-up years. In her music video, she features pictures from fans and listeners with their grandmothers.