Influences: Fierce Females

Welcome to this week's Influenca installment! I usually focus on the male-dominated hip-hop/rap genre, so I'm switching it up this week to focus on the laydeez.

My influences for making this playlist:

-Rihanna's legendary week releasing a SS18 FentyxPuma collection and starting her Fenty Beauty line.

-Broad City Season 4 premier on September 13 (this Wednesday!!!!)

-This incredible New York Times piece about how today's best rock music is coming from women

-Life in general

Not only is this week's playlist exclusively female voices, but each song (in its own special way) focuses on female empowerment. All tracks showcase fierce, independent, emotionally-charged lyrics.

Without further ado, let's get into this week's Influenca Playlist: Fierce Females.

Some notable tracks:

Track 1: "Dancing On My Own" by Robyn

Robyn is timeless to me. "Dancing On My Own" has inspired countless covers (Callum Scott's is my fave but he's a dude so he's not on the official playlist), but Robyn's still beats them all out. She has a history of empowering songs and music videos. I put on the "Call Your Girlfriend" video to dance to when I need a quick dance break.

Track 8: "Goodbye Earl" by the Dixie Chicks

Nobody does female empowerment like the Dixie Chicks. Remember the feud with former President GWB? Lead singer Natalie is a firecracker, and she brings that energy to "Goodbye Earl." The next time my sister and I do karaoke together, "Goodbye Earl" will absolutely be our opening song.

Track 13: "Feeling Good" by Nina Simone

I heard an alternative cover of this song at a music festival this weekend. The cover was okay, but it reminded me how amazing the original song is. The drippy brass (you like brass? check this out) accompanying Simone's strong voice can't be matched.

Track 16: "Expect the Bayonet" by Sheer Mag

I found this track from the NYT piece, and I haven't stopped listening since. Although it's probably the least known track on the playlist, it may be my favorite. There's nothing like a female-led punk song to pump you up. The song is clearly more political commentary than a break-up song ("If you don't give us the ballot/Expect the bayonet"), which is a main point of the article.

Follow this playlist (and a few others) through my Spotify, or listen through the webplayer below. And don't forget to subscribe to get these playlists in your inbox weekly.