Keith Urban's "Female," which was up for Song of the Year at the ACM's earlier this month, would win the superlative of trying too hard to be something it's not if it was a person in a yearbook. Despite trying to be the most feministy song in existence it cannot even manage to be a feminist song. Its attempt falls flat on its face.
"Female” attempts to empower women with a chorus that laundry lists a bunch of roles women inhabit such as "sister," "daughter," "lover," "Virgin Mary," and my personal favorite "Scarlet Letter." Some roles are even inanimate objects such as "suit of armor" or "Technicolor river wild." What does "technicolor river wild" even mean? It juxtaposes contrasting roles next to each other such as "Secret keeper, fortune teller" and "Virgin Mary, scarlet letter."
Instead of giving us a substance "Female" attempts to hit on every single role a woman could possibly have. So obviously we should include adulteress. And we should put adulteress right next to the mother of God. Making an explicit reference to one of the most famous American novels all about the way a town shames a woman who gives birth to another man's child does not seem feminist to me. Shame is not what feminism is about.
The verses have the same feeling of trying to cover everything in one foul swoop instead of focusing on one issue. They pose rhetorical questions like “When you hear a song that they play saying you run the world/Do you believe it?/Will you live to see it?” It also hits on sexual assault with “When somebody laughs and implies that she asked for it/Just because she was wearing a skirt,” and addresses language discrimination with “hits like a girl.”
While it's awesome to see someone bringing attention to these issues the way it is done wasn't correct. None of these issues are given enough time or development. They each get a couple of lines before moving on to the next one. It leaves the listener's head spinning as they try to keep up with the song.
And even though "Female" hits on important issues it just doesn't sit well. The song was written by two men and one woman and is sung by a man. It just doesn’t seem to make sense that a song about the struggles women face is sung by a man. Of course, women and men are needed to end gender inequality, but that does not mean men can testify to what it feels like to be a woman and that is what it feels like is going on in this song.
Not only does "Female" try and hit on too many things at once it manages a patronizing tone throughout. "Female" feels like mansplaining at its finest. It almost seems as if Urban believes he is doing something no female could manage to do themselves. He somehow manages to make a song about women all about how a man is needed to get the job done.
Overall the entire song feels like it is trying too hard to be woke when in reality it isn’t. So even though it may seem like a great song and a win for feminists everywhere, “Female” tends to leave a bad taste in the mouth.
