Bruin Beats: Gender Equality Movement President Kat Carlton

The Vision has teamed up with leaders from organizations across campus to bring you weekly Spotify playlists from students and staff.

For today’s installment, President of the Gender Equality Movement, Kat Carlton shared 10 of her favorite songs with the Vision.

 “F E M A L E” – Sampa the Great

A smooth hip-hop song of empowerment, Sampa fits numerous viewpoints into a short amount of time. It is incredibly important to give women a sense of pride by claiming their own identity within their sexuality.

“My Skin” – LIZZO

Fresh from just seeing LIZZO perform at PRIDE Nashville, the meaning behind her lyrics ring all the more clear. Being a person of color, LIZZO reaches out to others with the message of “we are only given what we can wake up in the morning with.” I think she is an incredible role model for this generation.

“Glider Plane” – Andreá Gibson

The beautiful person that Andreá Gibson is cannot be easily summed up. I think it is important to actively include non-binary persons in the discussion, especially when talking about equality. The vulnerability that Andreá Gibson’s spoken word gives carries across borders to reach people from all different viewpoints.

“Rican Beach” – Hurray for Riff Raff

Alynda Lee Segarra, the writer and singer, touches on how colonialism has shaped the culture through gentrification. It is important to recognize this so that we can create legislation to help the lower class.

“Weary” – Solange

Solange is an incredible activist by being the voice of the downtrodden. People who aren’t privileged are constantly being torn down, especially when it’s brown people on the news getting killed by police.

“Judas” – Esperanza Spalding

The bigger picture to featuring this artist is to point out an incredibly gifted woman musician. Playing an instrument has been dominated primarily by men going all the way back to the Middle Ages.

“Mexican Chief” – Xenia Rubinos

Just saying it like it is — brown is enslaved to society because they have been marginalized into the working class.

“Rebel Girl” – Bikini Kill

Going all the way back to a feminist movement that started in the late ’80s and early ’90s, Bikini Kill became known for having women stand in the front row of their concerts and telling their men fans to stand in the back. There is a lot to be said about how these women were not afraid to make their listeners feel uncomfortable in order to put a message across.

“Blue Lights” – Jorja Smith

The importance of protecting lives from police brutality cannot be emphasized enough. Women who are killed or taken advantage of by cops go unreported by the media, which effectively sweeps the issue under the rug. We cannot accept this, and must keep fighting to raise awareness.

“Woman” – Kesha

This is Kesha’s big comeback song after battling a horrifying rape case with her ex-producer. The case was very public, and for a lot of survivors, it was triggering to watch a beloved artist suffer. Rape culture is everywhere, and is an issue GEM continues to raise awareness for by putting on events at Belmont, such as “Take Back the Night” in April.