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So I need you
to repeat after me.

We are here.

We are here!

Women have used
their music

as a form of resistance
for decades.

Taking risks.

Singing the truth,
even when the world

is telling you to shut up.

I think music is one
of the most powerful ways

to put a message out there.

♪ This girl is on fire ♪

♪ This girl is on fire ♪

♪ We're walking on fire ♪

Music has
the ability to bypass...

this, this brain.

Music goes straight here.

And when something
says the things

that you may not be able
to articulate yourself,

it becomes like part of you.

Music is
more powerful now than ever

because it's an example
where people come together.

We have
an opportunity today

that a lot of women before us

paved the way to do,

and that's to be as loud
and proud as possible.

On three.

One, two, three.

Fuck the Supreme Court!

Silence is sometimes
its own protest,

but it's born of not believing
that your words matter.

And that's where protest music,
where the songs

and the lyricism
becomes so important.

God put you here

because you have
something to offer.

Whether they like it or not,
you owe it.

If you're passionate
about something,

show up. It's important.

...that silence is our enemy,
but sound is our weapon.

Chill!

When everything
is so desperate,

when every day
is a matter of survival,

I don't think you can help
but be involved.

State by state,
with a growing number

pushing near-total bans.

We will shape
and mold this country.

I will not be molded and shaped
at all anymore.

So I don't think you have
a choice.

How can you be an artist
and not reflect the times?

Okay.

♪ I shall not ♪

♪ I shall not be moved ♪

♪ I shall not ♪

♪ I shall not be moved ♪

♪ Like a tree
Planted by the water ♪

♪ I shall not be moved ♪

Music itself is a great way

to broach this topic

of what is the story
we've been told about America

in a way that people can hear.

When I first started thinking
about doing music as a career,

I didn't start out thinking,
"I'm going to be an activist."

I went to school
for classical music

and learned how to be
a soprano,

and I felt a little hollow.

I was like, "What am I doing?"

What am I doing in this

that a million other sopranos
can't do?

So I went back home
to North Carolina,

and then I started to hear
the banjo,

the big discovery which
set me off on this-this thing

of how these activism, history,
and music kind of combine.

I was finding out that the banjo
was invented by people

of the African diaspora.

And I was like, "What?"

That was the moment
where I was like,

"If I don't know
this massive thing,

what else don't I know?"

I'm of a long line of women
who starts somewhere there.

I'm sitting here having had
a pretty darn good life.

And what do I owe my ancestors?

What do I owe the women
who came before me?

I think we have
a responsibility.

We can't write the laws,

but maybe we can inspire
the people who do.

Not the church,
not the state!

Women must decide their fate!

A sweeping,
deeply consequential decision

from the nation's
highest court,

ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

I don't think anyone thought
that could happen.

I don't think we still
have fully processed

that it can happen,
and that it's happening.

And I think the reason
we had so many big artists

being willing to talk
about reproductive rights

was because it was such
a shocking moment.

Now y'all know it wouldn't be me

if I ain't take a second

to call out
these stupid ass men.

I need everybody in the audience
right now to say,

"My body,
my motherfucking choice!"

My body,
my motherfucking choice!

One more time! My body,
my motherfucking choice!

My body,
my motherfucking choice!

Drop that shit, Jay Bone.

I am so...

sick and tired

of old men.

It's been really heartening
to see a lot of Gen Z pop stars

be so outspoken...

So many women and so many girls

are going to die
because of this.

...against this really
regressive wave

of patriarchy.

It's never giving
a man policing my body.

It's just crazy to me.

I-I can't imagine anyone

making a decision for a woman
that's not her.

I-- That's like we've gone
back in time.

I don't think that's something
I can sit back and just go,

"Oh, well, hmm,
I won't say anything."

I had to find my ways
to-to be a part of it

while not having people

down my throat saying,
"What do you know?"

And it's like,
"Actually, I'm a woman.

I know a lot more
than you think."

Selena!

I think I started to recognize
my platform meant something

when I was around 16.

I had a single mother
come up to me.

They were Latin,
and she was in tears saying,

"Thank you so much
for being someone

my daughter can look up to
that looks like her."

That kind of put a little bit
of responsibility on me.

And then in 2020,

I felt like I should get
politically involved.

It was around election year,

and I remember
I wanted to give my platform

to other people.

And then I ended up
interviewing Stacey.

Stacey.

Hello.

I instantly felt like
she was a friend for life.

And I believe that we, you know,
believe in the same things.

Please grab some friends
and vote early.

Go to StaceyAbrams.com
to learn more.

My mission, my work
is to amplify voices

that are marginalized

and empower people to organize
around their beliefs.

Music can do the same thing.

The fights that we're in,

they can be overwhelming

and we lose the thread.

Music lets us find it again.

If we work, if we fight,

if we resist, we can have more.

And this music reminds women
that we have been here before,

we have pushed through,
and we will do so again.

Free our sisters,
free ourselves!

The status quo
is being challenged

by the women's
liberation movement.

Today, it's still
a man's world.

And just look at it.

Women were
paid an average of 59 cents

for every dollar a man earned.

In some states,
women

cannot own property
in their own name.

Most women
are raised to believe

their true role is that
of wife and mother.

But some women are questioning
whether this is so.

Loretta Lynn was this
well-loved popular musician.

She had won multiple awards,
had number one hits,

and I mean, at the time,

country music was largely known

to be a little more
conservative.

She released a song praising
the birth control pill.

This was a really scandalous
thing to do.

♪ There's a-gonna be
Some changes made ♪

♪ Right here on Nursery Hill ♪

♪ You set this chicken
Your last time ♪

♪ 'Cause now I've got
The pill ♪

It was this anthem
of a woman taking control

not only of her body,
but her future too.

And the song started getting
banned from country radio.

What about women, Loretta?
Have they said,

"Boy, it's about time
somebody said something"?

On radio stations,
on television,

"The Pill" was a huge hit.

It's still shocking to me
that she was able to do that.

With that one song,
Loretta just blew up

what was acceptable
for women to sing about.

And she did it
so unapologetically

that she opened doors
for other women in music.

Thank you.

Liberation is here.

No area of male-dominated
American culture is spared.

Women wanted to
equally participate in society.

Not gonna sit quietly
any longer!

And a big part
of that meant changing

what a woman's role was
and how she was perceived.

A coalition
of liberation groups

invaded the offices
of the Ladies' Home Journal.

We demand that the magazine
ceased publishing advertisements

that degrade women.

- Here's one!
- Here's one!

"Made for a woman's
extra feelings."

Secret deodorant.

Oh!

♪ I am woman, hear me roar ♪

♪ In numbers too big
To ignore ♪

♪ And I know too much
To go back and pretend ♪

Women are told so much,

and it gets thrown at them

in the form of advertising
and just the general attitudes

of family and friends
and society.

In general, you are weak.
You are inferior.

What are the main
things you want equality in?

Probably the basic
underlying things.

Just a general change
of attitude toward women

in general, and on the part
of women themselves.

Hmm. Well,
your song, "I Am Woman,"

it suggests a toughness,
almost an aggressiveness.

Uh, "I am strong,
I am invincible..."

It's a positive statement, okay?
Positive.

- ♪ I am strong ♪
- ♪ Strong ♪

- ♪ I am invincible ♪
- ♪ Invincible ♪

♪ I am woman ♪

Songs like
"I Am Woman" resonate

because they're simply
celebrating being female.

And it's this moment
where she's inviting

other women to own their power.

This idea gets carried forward

into the next generation
of women artists,

who are bigger and bolder

about saying who they are
and what they want.

The music industry
is designed to be reductive.

And so women have to work
really hard

to kind of break out of that.

And part of that is eagerness

to kind of express that women
have-- contain multitudes.

It took some effort
and some revolution

and radical thinking

to present this reality,
or truth,

that we are not one thing

and we're not even
like two things.

We're like a million things.

I am very... meticulous

about my self-expression
and my art.

I'll go to great lengths
to make sure

that everything turns out pure
for me.

I was living in New York.
This is in the '80s.

And Valerie Simpson
and Nick Ashford said,

"We're gonna write songs
for you." So they did.

And I think probably
the first song they wrote for me

was "I'm Every Woman."

♪ I'm every woman ♪

♪ It's all in me ♪

♪ Anything you want done, baby,
I'll do it naturally ♪

When I...
I listened to the lyrics,

I said, "Oh dear."

I was all self-conscious
and shit, and I was like,

"I'm not every woman.

How dare I say
I'm every freaking woman.

I'm not."

I felt uncomfortable for many,
many years singing that song,

but I had a feeling that it was
something bigger than me.

Chaka Khan, she set the scene.

She was... she was
the blueprint.

And you saw that confidence,

not just in the music,

but in the performances
from that era.

So, like Tina Turner with
"You Better Be Good to Me."

♪ Oh, you better be good
To me ♪

Diana Ross,
"I'm Coming Out."

♪ I'm coming out ♪

♪ I want the world... ♪

And Donna Summer.

She really moved the needle

with videos like
"She Works Hard for the Money."

♪ She works hard
For the money ♪

♪ So you better
Treat her right ♪

I really believe that music
is the purest form

of identity expression
that exists.

And these self-ownership
anthems were celebrating

what had been won by women

while also demanding
so much more.

A lot of that fight for more
was happening in the workplace.

♪ Tumble out of bed
And stumble to the kitchen ♪

♪ Pour myself
A cup of ambition ♪

♪ And yawn and stretch
And try to come to life ♪

Dolly wrote "9 to 5"

as a theme song
for a movie by the same name,

which was this satire
about these three secretaries

who plotted revenge
on their super sexist boss.

...Rhodes,
she's gonna try and rope this--

She's already got him down.

If I wasn't in the scene,
I was there every day

and I would just be like,
you know,

'cause I couldn't get
a guitar out on the set.

So I would just kind of...

You gotta have acrylic nails

to make
that real percussive sound.

But I would just-- I thought
it sounded like a typewriter.

Can you hear that?

- Yeah.
- ♪ Working 9 to 5 ♪

♪ What a way to make a living ♪

♪ Working 9 to 5 ♪

♪ What a way to make a living ♪

♪ Barely gettin' by ♪

♪ It's all takin'
And no givin' ♪

♪ They just use your mind... ♪

With "9 to 5,"
what Dolly did was take

a very real subject

and make it light
and approachable and fun,

which is kind of how
she approached a lot of things.

I'd like to know.
Do you sing in the shower?

Do I sing
in the shower?

No, but I don't wash
on stage either.

Dolly Parton is
herself an act of revolution.

I don't want to meet
a lot of famous people.

I'm not interested.

She's one I would want to meet.

Just to say, "Good God, you go."

The way that she came
from nothing.

And the way
that she has written

so many incredible songs.

♪ And if you don't love me,
Leave me ♪

♪ And don't let it trouble
Your mind ♪

"Don't let it trouble
your mind."

When I'm out the door,
don't let it trouble your mind.

I'm gonna be fine.

She stood up for herself.

And she looks the way she looks

'cause that's the way
she wants to look.

And she's very clear about that.

I enjoy the big hair
and the gaudy clothes.

And it's-it's a costume.

It's part of what people
have come to know me as.

And I don't like to be ordinary.
I don't like to be stylish.

It's far too easy to be stylish.

I just loved her
as a businesswoman.

She had big boobs.
Everybody talked about it.

They looked down on her for it,
and she was just like,

"This is me,
and I'm gonna love myself."

I'm sure of myself
as a person.

I'm sure of my talent.

I like the kind of person
that I am.

Dolly had plenty of reason

to be sure of herself
and her talent.

She was part of a league
of female musicians

that were breaking new ground

and shattering expectations
left and right.

My whole life, I've only done
the stuff that I admired,

and if I admired it,
I tried to emulate it.

And I admired Dolly Parton,

and I admired Emmylou Harris
tremendously.

One day Emmy called me up
and said,

"Dolly Parton's at my house.
Why don't you come over?"

It was a 45-minute drive,
but I got there in about 20.

We did a Carter song,
"Bury Me Beneath the Willow,"

and we went, "Wow."

♪ So bury me
Beneath the willow ♪

♪ Under the weeping
Willow tree ♪

I jam with other
singers all the time, you know.

But this sounded different.

If you're singing a song
or listening to a song,

and you suddenly have a feeling
you didn't realize you had,

that's when music
is doing its job.

And it was
very musically satisfying

to sing with those two girls.

The trio was this
powerhouse supergroup of women

who had really taken control
over their music and careers.

And Linda Ronstadt
was not someone

who was gonna be defined

by the conventions
of the industry.

♪ I'm going back someday ♪

♪ Come what may ♪

♪ To Blue Bayou ♪

And I remember hearing
"Blue Bayou."

I think I was probably 17.

My mom told me that
I looked like Linda Ronstadt,

and she goes, "You should
listen to her music."

She has an incredible voice,
like, "You're No Good."

♪ You're no good,
You're no good ♪

♪ You're no good ♪

♪ Baby, you're no good ♪

Completely fell in love.

Those songs to me are so...

They're like, um,
the Taylor Swift of that time,

you know,
that-that powerful, like,

"Oh, yes, I deserve the best.

And I know exactly where I want
to stand and who I am."

And that's vulnerability
and strength.

And I think that every girl
can relate.

"When Will I Be Loved,"

it's kind of an upbeat song,
but it makes me emotional.

♪ When will I be loved? ♪

She was powerful.

She was a huge part of music.

She was with the Stones,
Dolly Parton,

and she was the first woman
to headline full arena tours.

She was her own trailblazer,

and she knew deep down
that it was important for her

to get in touch with her roots

and to do something
that was daring.

I think everybody did not want
her doing a Spanish album.

She ended up
winning a Grammy,

and the album is still
the biggest selling

non-English-language record
in American history.

Women like Linda Ronstadt,

who pushed to embody
their heritage, set the stage

for non-English-speaking
artists of today.

There is a direct line
to Gloria Estefan,

Selena Quintanilla, J.Lo,

and full circle with artists
like Rosalia and Karol G today

who are dominating the charts

without making albums
in English.

There's a lot
to be said about women taking

what is considered normal
and turning it on its head.

When did you decide
to be larger than life?

When did I decide
to be myself, really?

I think that's what
it comes down to.

You have to fearlessly go
into this madness,

and you have to find your walk

and you stick to it.

If you stick to it

and are true
to that and yourself...

I can't think of
much else that really matters.

The '90s are gonna make
the '60s look like the '50s.

It was awesome
to be a little girl in the '90s

in a time when so many
powerful women were coming up.

We had the first female
attorney general,

secretary of state,

and the number of women
in the Senate

had gone from two to twelve.

I can be anything I want to be.
It's the '90s.

Women were given these platforms

that they may not have had
before.

But, you know,
at the same time,

you would see like
Girls Gone Wild ads on

late at night.

We saw this dichotomy
in popular culture

and outright hostility
in the media towards women.

Monica also said
that, uh, President Clinton

would often compliment her
on her figure.

If you didn't think this guy

was the biggest liar
in the world before...

You know, the last time
I saw you,

were you this weight
or a different weight?

I was a little skinnier then.

- What's your name?
- Heather.

Well, buddy. Heather, she's got
a fresh little crumpet.

Are you guys ready
for your foxy boxers?

If I don't get you to show
your breasts, I will get fired.

Bands like Bikini Kill

were not here for that.

This is for all those fuckers!

Well, it was really hard
in the '90s

to be a woman
in a feminist band.

There were always feminists
in punk. Always.

From the very beginning.

But it had changed.

Punk started as the soundtrack
to class warfare,

and then it became about guys
who were, like, mad

their mom wouldn't make them
a sandwich.

As someone who was going
to shows, putting on shows,

very involved
in the punk community,

and I'm like, "Seriously?"

I worked at a domestic violence
and rape relief crisis center

when I was from 19 to about 24,

and that really informed
the way I wrote lyrics

and what I wrote about.

I was so full of all of
this crisis and rage and pain,

and like, how could I process
that without music?

Girls always get pushed to the
back, and it's all this, like,

sweaty boy, long hair,
beer belly thing in the front.

Girls need to reclaim the scene
for themselves, I think.

It did feel radical

and it did feel
really dangerous.

Men were standing up
and yelling,

"Shut up and play the song.
Take it off."

We really needed
to create community.

So we started getting names

of girls and women
who came to our shows

and then inviting them
to come to our next gig.

Eventually, me and my friend
Allison Wolfe from Bratmobile,

we were like, "We're gonna have
a meeting with girl punks."

But everyone had
horror stories.

It started feeling like, "Hey,

you know what people want?
They want support."

People started skill-sharing.

"Do you want to start a band?

Do you want to start a press

where we put out
a bunch of fan zines?"

Like, "What do you want to do?"

Eventually, the meetings became
known as riot grrrl meetings.

Riot grrrl was not just
a genre of music.

It was a movement.

If you're a racist,
homophobic, sexist,

or just a plain
fucking asshole,

you will be asked to leave.

I started saying
"girls to the front" at shows

because why were we printing up
lyric sheets

with our words on them

to hand them out to dudes?

That's not who I made them for.

So I needed them to see

Kathi's hands on the bass
and how easy it was.

How are they gonna start bands
if they're stuck in the back

where they can't even see?

We wanted to have
that physical connection

because connection is joy.

Their movement
was about raising up women,

and "Rebel Girl"
is this rallying cry

for what this movement is.

When I wrote "Rebel Girl,"

I was really working
with what it was like

when I was a kid,

before I sort of
got tamped down

and made to feel less than.

I remember watching my sister
ride around on her big wheel,

and I just thought
she was the coolest,

and all the girls
I had crushes on

in junior high and high school.

I was just thinking about all
these amazing women I knew.

And it just sort of came out.

♪ Rebel girl ♪

This whole movement set
the tone for what would come.

♪ Rebel girl ♪

♪ Rebel girl ♪

♪ I really like you ♪

♪ I really wanna be
Your best friend ♪

♪ Be my rebel girl ♪

In the '90s,
there was this really angry,

subversive, forceful thing
happening with punk rock.

At the same time,
there were these parallel waves

of feminism happening
in other genres,

and this was especially notable
in women's hip hop.

In the '90s, you kind of
saw a lot of gangsta rap

being more in the forefront,

and women in gangsta rap

were not
multi-dimensional figures.

You had songs like
"A Bitch Iz a Bitch."

During my teenage years, I was
kinda like bopping along to it.

Kind of like...

this is not quite right.

There had to be, at some point,
women breaking through

and challenging the system.

That's where we get women
like MC Lyte,

Queen Latifah, Salt-N-Pepa,

sort of pushing back
against this dominant archetype.

♪ Who you callin' a bitch? ♪

♪ Yeah,
You gotta let them know ♪

♪ U-N-I-T-Y ♪

I was very lucky
that I had friends

who turned me on to lots
of different kinds of music.

And when I heard "U.N.I.T.Y.,"

I was like, "This is different."

To be talking
about street harassment

in a song that's on the radio,

that everyone's listening to,

was absolutely out of control.

♪ I walked past these dudes,
When they passed me ♪

♪ One of em' felt my booty,
He was nasty ♪

She put on paper
an experience

that women could relate to,

and that hadn't been done
in that way before,

on a rap song.

It opens the lane
for this expression of anti.

You know, I think a great way
to spread a message

is for it to come across
as authentic.

But it's kind of where
the authenticity feels

shocking in a way
when we see it.

With the '90s, what we saw

was this reclamation of sex

with artists like Lil' Kim

and Foxy Brown
and Missy Elliott.

♪ We got sex appeal,
I'ma keep it real ♪

♪ If I didn't have a deal,
I'd still be worth a mill' ♪

They were showing
that women

and particularly,
you know, Black women

can own sexuality.

There's some subversion
at play.

And "subversion"
actually is the word

that I would most apply
to artists like Salt-N-Pepa

who flipped the script
a lot of times.

♪ Let's talk about sex, baby ♪

♪ Let's talk about you and me ♪

There's a way
that musicians

can, like, sneak a message in,

and "Let's Talk About Sex"
is the opposite.

♪ I won't get got,
I'm on the pill ♪

♪ Until the sores, spores ♪

♪ And stuff pour
Down your drawers ♪

♪ He gave it to you ♪

♪ And now it's all yours ♪

I think that we need to
really think about how artists

are not just building
their own careers,

but really building out culture.

It's not just about making
the music.

It's about engaging
with the community

that the music is about.

We come in contact
with a lot of people

that we became close with

as far as AIDS,
you know, HIV positive.

That's what really made us open
our eyes and be like,

"Wow, you know,
this can happen to anybody."

- Anybody.
- We feel, as rap artists,

we have a responsibility to
the teenagers that listen to us,

to let them know
it can happen to you too.

Early hip hop
movement was really rooted

in poor Black and Brown
communities.

And all of these folks
that are talking

about really important things
that are also in schools,

they're singing verses that
young people needed to hear.

♪ Girls, you know
You'd better watch out ♪

Being a kid, I fell asleep

to The Miseducation
of Lauryn Hill.

And I loved that album.

Her voice was so powerful

and just how she observed
the world.

That album is structured
through the lens of a classroom.

She's using that framing

as a way to talk
about the importance

of talking to kids
about the ideas on the album.

She's talking
about motherhood,

she's talking about career,

she's talking about
an extremely emotional breakup.

But Miss Hill
was sort of saying to women,

"Think twice, be careful,
protect yourself."

Her album was very much
speaking about culture

and the experience as a woman,
as a Black woman,

and I feel like it's not
really easy to put into words

what that does for you.

But the representation
was everything.

Since Miseducation,
everybody's been begging you,

"Come on, Lauryn,
give us something!"

There's a lot that could force
an individual to compromise,

and to me, for me to make music,

it doesn't really make sense
for me to make music

if I can't make something
that has a purpose.

Lauryn is notorious,
obviously,

because she's sort of retreated
from the spotlight.

The costs
have been really high, like,

this is the toll
of this business.

I feel really moved by her
unwillingness to compromise.

I'm still impressed by it.

It's not always
the exact same contour of fight.

But there's always
something more to be done.

We have a common bond
that should help us transcend

the next hard thing we do.

No justice, no peace!

There are certain moments
of rupture that are important.

Demonstrations erupting today

in the name of George Floyd.

Protestors flooding the streets
and calling for justice.

Floyd, an unarmed Black man,

died after being cuffed
and pinned to the ground

by an officer's knee.

Stop killing Black people!

Activism, a lot of times,
is just like what's going on

in your community that
kind of forces you to activate.

The shock and horror
of what happened in 2020

was so much
for everyone to bear.

A moment that big
wakes people up.

It means you have
to be present,

you have to be listening,

you have to be learning,

and you have to be speaking
about it.

Shut it down!

I can't breathe!

I can't breathe!

I was in the Bay Area,
at my mom's house,

and I was seeing people
marching outside and, you know,

on the news and on social media.

I had to turn it off because
you're just watching that video

over and over again,
and it's really, um, painful.

And I had this old guitar
that I've had

since I was like nine years old
and I just picked it up.

I started playing those chords
and singing that chorus.

♪ I can't breathe ♪

♪ You're taking my life
From me ♪

It is a painful thing
to tell a dark story.

When a musician is vulnerable,

we have space
to process our grief.

All right, I'm not gonna lie,
I'm gonna cry.

I was teared up, I got chills.

People were telling me,
"This made my 70-year-old dad

think differently."
People were telling me that.

I was like,
"Wow, that's insane."

Another man was like,
"I marched from Harlem

to Brooklyn with a bunch
of people to this song."

I think when we create music,
it can be more selfish

and then it turns
into something else.

I'm not thinking about
millions of people

are going to hear this.

Music is a universal language
and it-it allows somebody

to help get out
what they're feeling.

And that's vulnerability
and strength.

You know,
people talk about stress.

When you look at what
the legacy of that is,

the inheritance of that,

the ancestral bequeathing
of that,

I'm living with that stress.

It's in my bones.
It's in my DNA.

But singing helps to release
some of that.

When I went back home
to North Carolina,

I started reading
enslaved people's narratives.

It's an amazing experience
to sit in a library

looking at somebody's diary

or a letter
that they've written.

"Oh, I'm sorry it took me
so long to write."

I mean, some things
are universal.

"I was sick." You know,

"I'm sorry it took me
so long to write you.

And the weather's been
really crap.

And the crops are...
You know, they're doing okay.

And we sold Sally last week,
and I bought a new dress."

It's like that.

It's like that.

I didn't know what to do
with these emotions,

thinking about these women

and the lives
that they had to lead.

So I started writing songs.

Probably my most well known one
of these is called

"At The Purchaser's Option."

So I found an ad,

and it was for a young woman
who was for sale.

At the end of the ad,
it says she has with her

a nine-month-old baby

who is at
the purchaser's option.

She has with her a baby.
You can buy it or not.

And I thought about
that young woman.

I imagine her lying on the bed,

her little nine-month-old baby
next to her.

She opens up her eyes,

not knowing
how that day is gonna end.

Is she gonna be
with that little baby?

Do you love them the less
because you never know

if they're gonna stay with you?
Of course you don't.

So all of these questions
go into that song.

♪ You can take my body ♪

♪ You can take my bones ♪

♪ You can take my blood ♪

♪ But not my soul ♪

♪ You can take my body ♪

It's heavy.

But I feel like
it's what I'm here to do.

Even as music
helps us process pain,

it also unites us in joy.

From the beginning of the fight
for civil rights,

there was always the music.

From the churches

to the streets

to the nation's capital.

Music has given people
the strength to keep going.

Lena.

Odetta.

Mavis. Marian.

They showed us
that the more you speak out,

the more you can change
the world.

But we've also learned
that the louder you are,

the more the forces
of oppression

will try to silence you.

Dynamite exploded
on a Sunday morning,

killed four little girls
in Sunday school.

When the kids
got killed in that church,

first you get depressed,
and after that, you get mad.

And when these kids got bombed,

I just sat down
and wrote this song.

She saw the 16th Street
Baptist Church bombing,

and she was fed up with it,

and she wrote
"Mississippi Goddam."

♪ Alabama's got me so upset ♪

♪ Tennessee made me
Lose my rest ♪

♪ And everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam ♪

She's just channeling

so much ancestral emotion,
grief.

♪ I can't stand the pressure
Much longer ♪

♪ Somebody say a prayer ♪

She's performing
to largely white audiences,

performing to people
who might not want to hear it.

...telling me that it was
in bad taste.

And, you know, how could I stoop
to this? Et cetera.

They missed the whole point.

I think she saw
that all she could do

was make art

and try to speak
on behalf of others.

♪ Alabama's got me so upset ♪

♪ And Governor Wallace
Has made me lose my rest ♪

♪ Everybody knows about
Mississippi Goddam ♪

That's it!

And then she's done,
and she bows,

you know, gracefully.

And I love that.
That just shows everything.

She's a genius.

She was good friends
with James Baldwin

and other artists of the time.

They were part
of a greater community

of artists, writers, activists

that were coming together
for a common cause,

equality.

It's important to know
how much power you have

and utilize it in ways
that will outlive you.

When I'm finished
working, as tired as I am,

when there are kids
who come backstage afterwards

who want to talk,
or who are moved to the point,

sometimes they're moved
to tears,

I find the time to do so
as much as I can.

They are our future.

I never intend for my children
to look at me and be ashamed

and say, "Mama,
why didn't you do something?"

I will have done mine.

We continue to benefit
from the stand that Nina took,

though I would imagine
she'd still have a lot to say

if she saw the division
that's in music today.

Hope y'all feeling good.

Give it up for the Dixie Chicks.

I remember
the uproar over Beyoncé

at the Country Music Awards,

performing
with the Dixie Chicks.

Dixie Chicks got
in a lot of trouble

standing up
against the war in Iraq.

♪ Daddy made a soldier
Out of me ♪

There were a lot
of sour faces in that audience.

What she walked away with
was the impression

that she wasn't welcome.

I think that people painting

country music
as this, like, white utopia,

it's... pure fabrication.

For Beyoncé,
she grew up in Texas.

You know, this is
her culture too.

Like, she's gonna claim it.

Global superstar Beyoncé

reveals the cover art

for her next album,
Cowboy Carter.

♪ This ain't Texas ♪

- ♪ Woo ♪
- ♪ Ain't no hold 'em ♪

"Texas Hold 'Em," which made her

the first Black female artist
to reach the top

of the Billboard
Hot Country Songs chart.

Her Instagram reading...

Rhiannon Giddens. Her banjo

is the first thing you hear
on "Texas Hold 'Em."

The "Stay in your lane,"

the "Well,
that's not real country,"

that's just racism.

Americana, country.

All of it comes out of
cross-cultural collaboration.

But if you don't know
that Black people

were a huge part
of that collaboration,

you get a really skewed picture
of what America is.

When I first started
singing country music,

I was like, scared. I was like,

"There aren't really any
Black people in country music."

And I Googled
"Black female country singers."

I found a woman
named Linda Martell.

Linda Martell's
first single in 1969

was a huge hit.

She performed on popular
TV shows like Hee Haw

and at venues
like the Grand Ole Opry.

And before Beyoncé, Martell
was the highest slotting

Black female singer
on the country charts.

Martell later revealed
a dispiriting story

about that period of her life.

She had originally signed
with a label called

SSS International Records

and was totally unaware

that they had decided
to release her music

on their sister label

called Plantation.

Feeling rightfully misled
and disrespected,

she left the label,

and when she tried to take
her music elsewhere,

Plantation threatened
to sue any company

that released a song with her.

She ended up leaving
the music industry

and ultimately supported
herself as a school bus driver.

I think of music as a matter
of historical record

and a matter of history keeping,

and that particular example,

I think, was representative

of the state of the country.

I think her story
is all too common.

That is actually more
of the refrain of women,

and especially Black women
in the music industry,

not just like they flamed out
or they weren't good enough

or they couldn't hack it.

It's like, actually, they were
kind of set up for failure.

When I first
started going to record labels,

there was a president.

He was questioning
if I was authentic.

He was questioning where I was
from and questioning who I was.

And I'm like, I grew up
in Crawford, Texas.

It doesn't get any countrier
than that.

And then he said,

"Can you take those songs
that you're writing

and put a smile on it?"

I needed to downplay
everything that I was,

and I lost myself.

♪ When I first saw
That bikini top on her ♪

♪ She's popping right out
Of the south Georgia water ♪

There was a movement
that had happened

when I was first coming up

called the bro-country movement.

Everybody had trap beats
in their songs,

and they were all going
like this in their songs

and like going like this
in their songs,

calling it country.

And then I was turning in songs
and they were like,

"Mm, you need to make sure
that sounds more country,

because people are gonna think
that you're not authentic."

I was watching myself
struggling as a Black woman,

and, um, I sat with my husband
and I asked him,

"Why do you think country music
isn't working for me?"

And he says, "Because you're
running away from your Blackness

and you're running away
from everything

that makes you different."

And he said, "You know,

country music
is three chords and the truth.

So why aren't you writing
country music

from your perspective?"

I was like, "Hm, why am I not?"

So I wrote a song
called "Black Like Me."

♪ If you think we live ♪

♪ In the land of the free ♪

♪ You should try to be
Black like me ♪

It got a lot of hate.

People were pissed.

It was at a time
a country artist

got caught saying the N-word.

This is what's happening
in this genre.

Like, you think I'm lying?
Like, this is what's happening.

And the things
people said to me,

"Get your ghetto ass
out of country music.

Effing N-Word."

♪ Oh, now ♪

♪ Now I'm all grown up
And nothing has changed ♪

♪ Yeah, it's still the same ♪

You can't truly see change
until you start helping

other artists
that are coming after you.

My God! No!

Are you Mickey? Hello.

I never thought
that I would be able to have

these types of possibilities

all because I just stood up
and said, "No."

♪ And I'm proud to be
Black like me ♪

♪ Proud to be Black like me ♪

The storytelling
can cut across genre,

but it carries a through line
of refusal

to be crushed
by what seems to be a system

that does not care
for your existence.

Tracy Chapman was one of
those fantastic storytellers.

She talks about
working-class challenges

in a way that is universal
but so specific.

♪ Don't you know ♪

♪ They're talking
About a revolution? ♪

♪ It sounds like a whisper ♪

I wrote the song,
"Talkin' 'bout a Revolution,"

when I was 16.

I received a scholarship
to go to boarding school,

and it was a really difficult
transition for me.

I found that people
at the school

really didn't have
a sense of where

the scholarship students like
myself, where we come from,

and they also really
didn't have much interest.

And, uh, I was really angry
about that.

♪ Poor people gonna rise up ♪

♪ And get their share ♪

As a teenager,
I discovered her music.

And for me,
that was this moment

where all of the pent-up
and sort of burgeoning,

you know, righteous indignation
found a voice.

What was I upset about?
What could I do?

Those songs really told me,

"These are the things
you should demand."

And today I come to you
as a young person,

as a young woman,

as a young Black woman,

to ask you to use us.

Use the young people
of the United States of America

to pave a road
that will last forever.

Tracy gave words to it

in such lyrical
and beautiful fashion

that I carry it with me
to this day.

♪ You got a fast car ♪

♪ And I want a ticket
To anywhere ♪

♪ Maybe we make a deal ♪

♪ Maybe together
We can get somewhere ♪

"Fast Car" is talking
about not just poverty,

but the cycles of violence
that are more relevant today.

It's a song
about someone trying to break

intergenerational patterns,

and I just feel like
it's such a classic narrative,

needing to carve out
an identity for yourself.

There was something
about the small-town angst

and desire
to go somewhere else.

♪ You got a fast car ♪

♪ Is it fast enough
So you can fly away? ♪

That moment,
her at the Grammys,

there was something
really remarkable

about how they shared
the stage.

Like, we saw Tracy first.

She was glowing.

And Luke's relationship
to her on stage

was of such reverence
and respect.

Even the way he sings the song.
He doesn't change the pronouns.

He doesn't do the things
that men in general might do

to feel like, "Oh, I have
to de-feminize the song."

♪ I-I had a feeling
I could be someone ♪

The power of music

comes from its ability
to change its shape over time.

What began as a song
about urban poverty

could, four decades later,
be transformed

into a modern country anthem.

Any time a marginalized group
finds itself alone,

without power, un-listened to,

you can bet it has
a song to sing.

And it's only a matter of time
until a voice emerges.

My name is
Melissa Etheridge.

I am a mother and a wife
and a rock star.

When I turned 21,

I knew that Los Angeles was
where the record industry was.

This was 1982.

I had just come out of
the glorious '70s of folk rock.

The Eagles and Jackson Browne

and-and Fleetwood Mac.

So I travel out to California.

I'm like, "Here I am," you know.

And I realized what's happening
in Los Angeles

is a lot of hair

and a lot of spandex,

and there's no acoustic guitars
anymore.

As the weeks went by,
my money was running out,

and I'm like,
"What am I gonna do?"

I was a lesbian

and I went to some bars
in Los Angeles

and I met some ladies.

And one of them, I went
on a date down in Long Beach.

She took me to a club.

It was called
the Executive Suite.

It used to be a steakhouse,

and the Russian mob
had bought it,

and it was now
a, uh, lesbian bar.

They had a piano in the corner.

I said, "Hey, do you have
live music?" And...

I auditioned, got the job.

♪ Yeah, just like a movie ♪

And it put me in an atmosphere

of the lesbian movement of 1982.

These women were coming
into the bars that I played at.

They were signing people up,
registering them to vote.

So I was slowly being...

taught, really, about politics,

and we were in the midst
of a huge backlash.

There is so much hatred
and persecution

of gay people in our society.

In the '80s
with HIV/AIDS,

there was just
rampant homophobia.

Ambulance drivers
have refused to take

AIDS patients on occasion.

He asked one of the attendants,
he told them I had AIDS.

And the person said, outright,
"I'm not touching him."

Just like that.

I am not HIV positive.

But what if I were?

I would be more afraid
of how society would treat me

for having the disease
than the actual disease itself.

Madonna was extremely vocal
during the AIDS crisis.

She turned out to take part
in a charity dance marathon

to benefit AIDS victims.

I'm really here for two reasons.

Number one is because I really
believe in AIDS Project LA.

And the second reason I'm here
is 'cause I love to dance.

When she released
Like a Prayer,

the album had an insert

to inform people
about HIV/AIDS.

So if you bought
a Madonna record,

you were getting
an informational booklet,

and it essentially read,

"Here are some basic facts
you should know about it,"

and you bought it
whether you wanted it or not,

because it was
in your Madonna record.

And then, of course,
after that we saw

that she went on to become
like a huge activist.

I deal with a lot
of topical issues,

family issues, and, you know,

what I think to be a big problem

in the United States,
and that's homophobia.

If you keep putting something
in somebody's face,

eventually, you know,

maybe they can come
to terms with it.

She was just,
like, so in your face

because it's like, you know,
her entire-- her dance crew,

her makeup artists,
her hairstylists.

She is flanked by queer people.

And she stood up for them,
which is everything.

Her boldness was part of a push

towards more visibility
for queer people.

She helped destigmatize
people in the community

and encouraged them
to come out.

Gays need to have
more role models,

people who-who are
in powerful positions

coming out
and saying, "I'm gay."

I think that would be
very helpful.

I had released
three records,

and, um, I would do interviews

and I did, you know, Letterman,

and I did one interview
where the guy asked me

personal questions
about the songs,

and I always gave my answers
in very general terms.

They were not gender-specific,
ever.

When the article came out,
he had changed

every "us," "them," "you,"
to a boy.

And it made me look like I was,
like, totally lying

out of my teeth
talking about my boyfriend.

And, um, I said,
"I just gotta come out."

I thought I would maybe
come out on Arsenio Hall.

But before I ever had
that opportunity,

I really got
politically involved

with the Clinton
and Gore campaign,

helping get him elected.

And so I was invited
to the inauguration.

I was up there
with all my gay friends,

and I just said,
"Ooh, I'm a lesbian."

And I'm proud to say right here,

I'm very proud to have been
a lesbian all my life.

I-I could have thought
of something much more eloquent,

had I knew
that I was going to come out,

but, uh, it just, boom,
it just happened like that.

I came out and people start
to do interviews with me.

Um, let me just talk
about the album a little bit.

Uh, Yes I Am.

Everybody's talked about,
well, "Yes, I am..."

Does it have any connotation?

- "Yes, I am what?"
- "Yes, I am what?"

Each of them
would ask me over and over,

all year long, day after day,

I would answer questions
about being gay.

I guess you came out
at the inaugural ball?

Yeah, in '92, I-I came out.

It was like they'd never known
anyone gay.

And I realized at the time,
"You know, I...

I want to be real thoughtful
about what I say

'cause I think this is
the first time

that they've really ever spoke
to someone who was openly gay."

The first time I kissed a girl,
it was like...

I've been out to family
and friends since I was 17.

I've always been very upfront
about my sexuality.

I didn't understand, but I knew
that I was on a different path.

Man, I talked a lot
about being gay for a long time,

and slowly...

just saying it
and then being in the media,

just being on a cover
of a magazine,

it was big.

When we made the video
for "I'm the Only One,"

I thought
it would be scandalous

because it was
the first sexy, sexy video

that had two women.

They were dancing with each
other, looking at each other,

and I'm like,
"Oh my God, I can't wait

till they say
they're not gonna play it."

Not a word!

Nothing.

It was a huge video,
and I was like...

"Oh, that's gonna be okay.
All right."

♪ I'm the only one ♪

The 30 years that I have
traveled since I came out

have been amazing...

I'm gay.

...as I have seen
the world change and grow.

Same-sex marriage,
legal in this country

across every state
in this nation.

The first, uh, transgender woman
to win this award.

But today, it seems like

things are going backwards.

In the middle
of what should be

a joyous month
celebrating pride,

the Human Rights Campaign
just issued

a first-of-its-kind
emergency declaration

for the LGBTQ+ community.

Seventy-five laws
in more than a dozen states

specifically targeting
LGBTQ+ rights.

We're not doing
the pronoun Olympics in Florida.

It's not happening here.

A Tennessee bill
that bans

gender-affirming care
for anyone under the age of 18

was signed
by the state's governor today.

We're in the middle
of one of the biggest rollbacks

of rights for everybody.

That is really disturbing.

Movements to ban specific books

are increasing
around the country.

The New York Times
now reporting

22 states ban abortion
or restrict the procedure.

- What do we want?
- More rights!

- When do we want it?
- Now!

Brennan Center reporting that
nearly 100 new restrictions

have impacted voting rights
in the last 10 years.

These aren't single issues.

These are things
that connect all of us.

These are
fucked up times,

which is why I think
it's important for us

to stick together.

Bravery is easier when you know
what you're fighting for.

You want a world

where we're all treated
equally under the law.

When I'm surrounded
by my peers,

it makes me feel like
I'm a part of a movement.

♪ I will stand for you ♪

♪ Would you stand for me ♪

Young women
are like such a vital part

of changing the world.

♪ ...deserves to be free ♪

♪ I would lend
A hand to you ♪

♪ Would you lend
A hand to me ♪

I was put on this earth
to do music,

to inspire and empower
little girls to do things

that we're not expected to do.

That fight that we had in us
the summer of 2020,

keep that same energy.

Any great things that have come
took a great deal of time,

and we still persist.

When women
find their voices

and offer those voices
to others,

we realize
that not being silent,

it's about having
the words to tell stories

that you didn't even know
you were ready to tell.

Oh, I don't give a damn
what people think.

This is what I am.

And this is the truth. My truth.

And I want to hear yours.

♪ Everybody ♪

♪ Deserves to be free ♪