An infinite number of tracks can each be THE greatest record ever made, as long as they take turns. Today, this is THE GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!
HAYLEY MARY: Like A Woman Should
Written by Hayley McGlone and John Took
Produced by Scott Horscroft
Single, I Oh You, 2020
What should a woman do? If that's not a loaded question, it is at least rhetorical. This song doesn't ask that question. It merely answers it.
Australian singer Hayley Mary was a member of the Jezabels, an indie group from Sydney that (per Wikipedia) released three albums and a stack of singles from 2009-2017. The group hit the pause button in '17, and Mary embarked on a solo career. Her first single was "The Piss, The Perfume" in 2019.
Her third single was "Like A Woman Should." If ever a song could be described as a defiant shrug, "Like A Woman Should" would be that song. Its lyrics are...well, maybe not quite wistful, but fueled by a longing for something better.
Specifically: It longs for something better for women. Specifically, the singer wishes she could be born in the future, to see her daughters born in a world where they could walk the street safely. Like a woman should. And not like the world we live in now.
Yet it's not a dark song. Mary plants her feet and delivers a confident performance, a hopeful performance, a commanding performance that takes back the night, if only for the four minutes of its spin time. Empowerment for the 21st century? I suppose it is, even though I keep dreaming we're past the need for such empowerment. Sadly, we are not past the need. We don't even seem to be close.
But what should a woman do? What can a woman do? What can a woman be? There is only one acceptable answer:
Anything she wants.
Butcher, baker, candlestick maker. Doctor, lawyer, district attorney. Senator. Vice-President. President. She should for damned sure be able to walk without fear, right now, and then forever after in the future.
I'm gonna screw up the quote, but I believe Syracuse's own Karen DeCrow once defined feminism as the radical idea that a woman is a person, an individual. For too many, that simple truth remains a dangerously subversive notion. The naysayers are on the wrong side of history...but the future ain't quite here yet.
For now, we're left with a determination to make that future happen faster. Hayley Mary models her own determination with a defiant shrug, and with a compelling song that inspires belief. "Like A Woman Should" is a pop record, not a polemic. It offers hooks and beauty, stirring melody, and the palpable thrill of something irresistible we can all sing together.
As we should. Fists raised, ballots cast, eyes fixed on the prize. We're not going back.
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