Lady Gaga and Kesha: Feminists?

Lately everyone has been in a Lady Gaga craze. Her lyrics to "Bad Romance" and "Poker Face" are known by many in high schools and colleges alike. Yet her lyrics are amazingly different from the girl bands of the 90's. Similarly Kesha has skyrocketed as of late to top positions in the music world. Her songs "Tik Tok" and "Blah Blah Blah" (the latter of which is my favorite) are two of her songs which I, myself, am obsessed with. Actually, despite their very different music styles, Lady Gaga and Kesha have some similarities...in my book, at least.

Looking at Lady Gaga's song "Love Game," we hear lyrics such as "I want to take a ride on your disco stick" which is both amusing and, in my opinion at least, a sexual innuendo. In this sentence, Lady Gaga seems to be taking control of her sexuality, not much different from the sexual liberation aim of many feminists. Kesha, in "Blah Blah Blah" presents such a role reversal as well. Kesha sings "I don't really care where you live at/ Just turn around boy, let me hit that/ don't be a little bitch with your chit chat/ just show me where your dick is at." I find these lyrics both humorous (after all how often do you hear a girl in popular culture telling a boy to stop talking because she just wants to have sex?) and very sexually explicit in comparison with most of the cheesy songs female singers/musicians sing about love. Now don't get me wrong, I love those love songs, but I also love these new songs that are coming out, as well. Let's face it, not that long ago, Kesha would have been staked for such lyrics. Women are pure and do NOT want sex! How could they sing about such things!

Kesha does not only suggest that she just wants sex in her song, but she also uses traditionally masculine language to suggest it. When she says "turn around boy, let me hit that," she is ultimately using masculine sex language used almost exclusively by males for her cause. This word usage, however, also makes the song humorous. As I said previously, "how often do you hear a girl in popular culture telling a boy to stop talking because she want to have sex?" Unfortunately, by saying that this is a humorous thing to say, I am also unearthing the very real difference we see in society between men and women. If a man were to sing "don't be a little bitch with your chit chat/ turn around girl, let me hit that" we would not only find it offensive, but we would also find it more normal than when a woman, like Kesha says it.

Lady Gaga's song, "Telephone" uses the lyrics "Stop callin', stop callin'; I don't wanna think anymore" to show a very similar role reversal in which the man won't stop calling the woman; she is getting fed up with it and refuses to answer and will not leave the club to see him any faster. Lady Gaga's song, however, seems less humorous than Kesha's. Also, the music video of telephone pays homage to some popular culture images of feminism: the Pussy Wagon from Kill Bill, the ultimate female revenge story, Thelma and Louise, and Madonna to name a few. The video then ends with the female sign.

So the question: are Lady Gaga and Kesha feminists? Their music videos, song lyrics, and attitudes all have markers of feminist perspectives, yet I would not want to label them as feminists without them personally accepting those labels. So instead, I think my real question should be: what is the significance of these feminist markers within their music? To this I answer that there is a great deal of significance in these feminist markers. The primary significance, I would say, is the fact that both of these singers/musicians are extremely popular right now. With their popularity and with these song lyrics, it seems to at least suggest that we have become more accepting of these types of role reversals and feminist perspectives. I hope that one day they will not even be considered role reversals and feminist perspectives, but just normal parts of our society. Until then, I'll try to be content with my Lady Gaga and Kesha lyrics.