Maddie & Tae are Pure Gold in Their Hit "Girl In a Country Song"

Shout-out to Maddie & Tae

Hey y'all. Do yourselves a favor and listen to this masterpiece that has comically upended gender stereotypes for country girls in country music songs. Needless to say, I have watched this video over and over again with so much pride and glee in my soul for what they have done for southern girls. I will always sing my heart out and blare this song whenever it comes on, regardless of where I am at any given moment. Girls, be proud of who you are, and never let any person dictate your worth or persuade you into fitting into a certain mold because it seems to be "the southern thing to do." Enjoy the video and song above!

Okay, good. Now that you have watched the video, how pumped are you? How much did you laugh? How happy are you? And if you are a country music fan, like I am, then you know that the lyrics to this fantastic hit are entirely too true. Sad that we have to look backward when "Conway and George Strait/ Never did it this way" when we have supposedly made so much ground with our rights as females. Yet, during the time when these country music stars rose to extreme fame, women did not have the privileges and rights that we have today.

So what has changed? Seems like not much because some rising female country music artists are promoting the ways of the past that prevent women from not only receiving our rightful justices, but also feeling as if we do not need them, do not want them, and do not deserve them. Yes, I am talking about RaeLynn's "God Made Girls." Merely writing the title gives me anxiety and hearing the song in my head only further fuels my hate fire, as Fat Amy from Pitch Perfect would say. 

Ahhhh, so much love for Fat Amy. Anyways, back to the nonsense that RaeLynn has been encouraging. Forgive me for posting this video, but you have to hear it for yourself.

My freshman year roommate told me about this song after we had a 30 minute conversation about how we both felt about today's country music, why we disliked the messages behind half of the songs, and why I loved Maddie & Tae's song so gosh darn much. After she told me about the song, I of course had to watch it. Little did I know that my brain would implode on itself after watching it. Ugh, thanks for the warning roomie. Watch the video and listen for yourself. 

I am a strong, independent, and proud young woman and she basically crapped on all of that. Duh, I am livid. I was so angry and in disbelief by the blatant advertising of subservience to men that I wrote a piece on it for the op-ed assignment I had for my Women's Studies 101 class. I ended up writing too much, too passionately (is there really such a thing though?), but it is as follows if you care to read it.

RaeLynn, I am NOT Alive to Please Men! A Major Shout-out to Maddie & Tae

RaeLynn, an emerging female country music star, released her hit single “God Made Girls” in 2014 that argues that all women were created to be subservient to men. This friends, is an outrage to all of womankind because condoning that male domination is justified through Christian faith sends the wrong message to so many people. However, RaeLynn is not the only new female artist within country music to generate attention; the female country music duo, Maddie & Tae, came out with their hit “Girl In a Country Song” in 2014 as well. Unlike “God Made Girls,” Maddie & Tae’s song satirically highlighted the disrespect and objectification of women evident in many of country music’s greatest hits in the past few years. I thoroughly support the sentiment and wit of “Girl In a Country Song” because it humorously calls out other songs that demean women. Hey guys! Girls are NOT your “pretty, little [play] things!”[1]

“God Made Girls” also emphasizes that women have to fit into these stereotypes because that is how God made us; for instance, RaeLynn says a man “needed something soft and loud and sweet and proud.” Wait, did she just liken herself and all women to being a thing? An object? She also says at the beginning of her music video that “the heart of every girl longs for these things. It’s what makes us come alive.” Excuse me, but says who? Hello ladies! We belong to us, we deserve our own attention, time, and effort, and we do not need to base our precious lives on another human being because society tells us so. Likewise, the media consistently attempts to mold and shape young women to fit into the beauty ideal that has been suffocating us for decades. Naomi Wolf describes in “The Beauty Myth” that “women must want to embody [beauty] and men must want to possess women who embody it” because society dictates that that is the only way to succeed in life. This idea is also seen in Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly film series in which she shows exactly how objectifying advertising is and has been for decades. RaeLynn is advertising to young girls that it is okay for their bodies to be viewed as objects and available to please men. No more. Women need to be role models for girls in positive, uplifting ways. Thankfully, artists Maddie & Tae are indeed fighting for our respect within current country music.

Maddie & Tae’s “Girl In a Country Song” is fantastic for feminism, and the music video, available on YouTube, is genius and hysterical. To elaborate, a role reversal scene creates the image of three “good ol’ country boys” drastically morphed into three hot, sexual objects. They embody the typical, country “tan-legged Juliet,” except as men and not women. These characters over-exaggerate the stereotypical behaviors of women in country music videos with the emphasis on sexiness, hotness, and desirability. Oh, that is not even the best part. Maddie & Tae describe how women “used to get a little respect,” but are now only lucky enough “to climb up in your truck, keep our mouth shut and ride along, and be the girl the girl in a country song.” Y’all better tell ‘em! The amount of awareness they are spreading to women is exceptional, for it reaches out to young girls that they should never tolerate belittlement from a male or person or accept a subservient place in our society. We deserve equality between the sexes. We deserve respect.

As I myself thought, Tara Rountree of the Thought Catalog argues that RaeLynn’s “God Made Girls” is “dangerous to all women, and to all men who have women in their lives that they care about… [because] it exacerbates the results of years of negatively socializing us to devalue women as a less capable faction of society.” Maybe this sounds dramatic, but it is entirely true. We, as women, have a duty to uphold and endorse the equality between the sexes and need to stop promoting inequalities, for such promotion only continues a vicious, never-ending cycle of male domination over females. Stop. This. Insanity.

To all females, and even males, that happen to love country music, as I do, and especially those who do not, you need to listen to “Girl In a Country Song” and appreciate it. It is pure gold. It is a beacon of hope for young girls in an overwhelming world of striving to be popular, get the guy, look hot, be catcalled, degraded, condescended… the list could go on forever. Do not let our objectification and our mistreatment by men continue to exist in society.

So my dearest ladies, let us ditch being the girl that has “gotta wear a pretty skirt” and “be the one to flirt” like RaeLynn wants us to. Forget the beauty ideal! We will tell him and use the wise words of Maddie & Tae instead: you act “like all we’re good for is looking good for you and your friends on the weekend, nothing more,” but “that ain’t no way to treat a lady.” If anyone does not agree, then all I can say to y’all is… Bless your heart! Because honey, you’re going to need it.

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[1] This edited citation references partial lyrics to Maddie & Tae’s “Girl In a Country Song” (2014).

Yeah, pretty passionate. I know. On a super serious note though, if young girls, southern or not, idolize and unknowingly internalize these messages of inferiority and subservience to men, then they will have no chance of breaking out of the shell that has been created for them. They will have no chance to be their own individual and will not even be aware that this is not okay. If this happens, then God Bless America because we females are most certainly going to need it.

Oh, and RaeLynn. Yeah, bless your heart! XOXO.

P.S.