Since the advent of pop music, female singers have been lifting up other women with catchy empowerment anthems, and Us Weekly is celebrating 10 of those songs in this video.
Beyoncé appears on the lineup twice, and she discussed female empowerment in a 2011 interview about her album 4 and its breakout hit, “Run the World (Girls).”
“My visit to Egypt was a really big inspiration for me,” she told Billboard at the time. “Once the sun went down, I saw not one woman; it was shocking and fascinating to me, because it was so extreme. I saw thousands of men walking down the street, socializing in bars, praying in mosques — and no women. I felt really proud when I performed and saw the strength that the women were getting through the music.”
She continued: “I remember being in Japan when Destiny’s Child put out ‘Independent Women,’ and women there were saying how proud they were to have their own jobs, their own independent thinking, their own goals. It made me feel so good, and I realized that one of my responsibilities was to inspire women in a deeper way.”
Watch the video above to see other jams celebrating the power of women, including hits from Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato and Aretha Franklin.
