Thirty years ago, cartoonist Alison Bechdel published "The Rule" in her syndicated comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. Adapted from an anecdote one of her friends told her, Bechdel had unintentionally created the Gold Standard for indicating gender bias in film. It was even named after her: the Bechdel Test. About half of all films today still fail the simple three-part test:
- It has to have at least two women in it
- They have to talk to each other
- They have to talk about something other than a man
But it hasn’t been adapted to music (until now). Women may be fairly present on the Billboard charts these days but the sparse master list of songs from which to build a playlist like this—ones that fit the following parameters—indicates that there’s a way to go toward gender parity. Female voices and faces—Nicki Minaj, for example, who makes a worthy two appearances on this playlist—may dot the recent top 40 but they largely aren’t covering topics or themes besides men, for example. Minaj’s "Anaconda" doesn’t pass this Bechdel Test but "Starships", featured here, does.
It’s not a high bar. The following parameters are relatively easy to meet, yet so few songs actually do. But think of this playlist a decent place to start, and an example of how adaptable Bechdel's idea is 30 years on.
The following is a playlist of songs that:
- Have at least one female-identifying lead performer, performing as themselves or a female-identifying likeness
- Involve the female self, another woman, other women or otherwise an implied female audience in the song’s lyrics
- Have a central lyrical topic or theme that’s something or someone besides a man
Alicia Keys: "Girl on Fire"
This latter-day worldwide hit from Keys—the title track and lead single off her 2012 record Girl on Fire—passes because it’s a third-person celebration of the state of her own life as woman, balancing her at-the-time newly announced marriage, motherhood and the continuation of her successful career.
Au Revoir Simone: "Crazy"
The song passes in that its lyrics—written and performed by Erika Forster, Annie Hart and Heather D'Angelo off the band’s 2013 LP Move in Spectrums—seem to address platonic relationships, specifically directed at unnamed women (perhaps each other) with the bluesy refrain "Ooh, you girls, you drive me crazy."
Bikini Kill: "Rebel Girl"
This seminal Bikini Kill love song off the band’s 1994 record Pussy Whipped passes the test, with Kathleen Hanna’s frenetic mix of envy, friendship and a little lust directed toward her fellow rebel girl.
The Blow: "Bonjour Jeune Fille"
Khaela Maricich’s bilingual franglais lyrics (the title translates to "Hello Young Girl") on this manic funky cut off 2006’s Paper Television are, according to an interview with Maricich in the Believer, about women having good sex.
Britney Spears: "Me Against the Music" [ft. Madonna]
This 2003 hit off Spears’ In the Zone passes the test, featuring her and the pop legend in a two-woman duet—a rarity for songs breaking the U.S. top 40, much less worldwide hits like this one. Rarer still: Spears and Madonna aren’t singing about men but a still-all-too-rare topic for top 40: getting caught up in your love of music.
The Ditty Bops: "There's a Girl"
Jaunty roots-music duo Abby DeWald and Amanda Barrett pass the test, writing a song about same-sex love on the down low ("with buried secrets, the ground is heavy") on its 2004 self-titled LP. The jangly electric guitar melodies on the intro and outro is the cherry on top.
Icona Pop: "Girlfriend"
Borrowing the "me and my girlfriend" hook from 2Pac's "Me and My Girlfriend", Icona Pop passes the test extolling the virtues of female companionship doing what it does best on its 2013 record This Is... Icona Pop: anthemic and fun EDM pop hooks.
Janelle Monáe: "Electric Lady" [ft. Solange]
The radio-friendly title track from 2013’s The Electric Lady is a narrative excerpt of Monáe’s Metropolis concept series, passing the test because it’s about Cindi Mayweather, a time-traveling messianic female android.
M.I.A.: "Bad Girls"
Maya got her groove back on her 2010 mixtape Vicki Leekx, passing the Bechdel Test talking about rebellious women like her, all while showing she could still pull a killer pop hook out of her proverbial hat, all over that chattering squeaking Danja beat.
Marina and the Diamonds: "Hollywood"
This cautionary tale off 2010’s The Family Jewels passes the test easily, with Marina Diamandis singing about a "Polish girl in America" pursuing her ill-fated dreams in Tinseltown. The Welsh-born Diamandis writes as a detached observer, singing on the chorus, "I’m obsessed with the mess that’s America."
Nicki Minaj: "Starships"
Minaj’s big pop breakthrough passes this test for its self-love and crossover-rap braggadocio from a female rapper. The sky isn’t the limit for "bad bitches" like her, citing herself as Onika (her legal name) and Nicki. They’re in a rocket, ready for lift off.
Original Broadway Cast of ‘Rent’: "Take Me or Leave Me"
The tuneful breakup of the most dramatically fraught same-sex relationship in Rent (no, the other one) passes the test when Maureen and Joanne present each other with a soulful my-way-or-the-highway ultimatum.
Tegan and Sara: "I Know, I Know, I Know"
The lyrics are fairly ambiguous on this cut off the duo’s 2004 stateside debut So Jealous but it passes the test when read as two sisters’ post-argument truce song to one another, likely about the patience-testing rigors of touring. "House after house, just like car after car," they sing. "You see club after club and it all seems so far."
Willow Smith: "Fireball" [ft. Nicki Minaj]
This 2011 one-off single’s fierce lyrics pass the test as a vehicle for self-aggrandizement for Smith, with a nimble assist from Minaj. "Fireball" is an all-too-little-heard banger, with Willow upping her swag, saying she’s more than her hair (back and forth). She’s "the fireball of the party" on this track but much respect to Minaj for the "Street Fighter" reference. Hadouken!