Originally Posted on BuzzFeed

1. Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj, “Flawless (Remix)”

Beyoncé’s feminist call to arms is even fiercer with a feature from Nicki Minaj. The two women take turns explaining all the ways they stay flawless in the face of constant gossip and hate. You can say what you want, Nicki and Bey know they’re the shit and they want everyone feel the same.

Girl-power lyric: “And you can say what you want / I’m the shit (what you want I’m the shit) / I’m the shit, I’m the shit, I’m the shit / I want everyone to feel like this.”

3. Taylor Swift, “Blank Space”

Tired of defending her music against misogynistic attacks, Taylor Swift changed tactics. Instead of calmly explaining for the thousandth time that plenty of men write about their life without being labeled crazy or fake, she wrote a song from the point-of-view of “Taylor Swift,” psycho ex-girlfriend. “Blank Space” embodies sexist tropes to expose them.

Girl-power lyric: “Got a long list of ex-lovers / They’ll tell you I’m insane / But I’ve got a blank space, baby / And I’ll write your name.”

5. Colbie Caillat, “Try”

When, as a girl, you’re bombarded with messages all day, every day about how you can be prettier, skinnier, sexier, it’s easy to forget that you don’t have to engage. That you can be enough. Enter Colbie Caillat’s “Try.” The singer-songwriter takes four minutes to remind girls there is another option: You can just exist. You don’t have to try. You can if you want but you don’t have to.

Girl-power lyric: “You don’t have to try so hard / You don’t have to bend until you break / You just have to get up / You don’t have to change a single thing.”

7. Tacocat, “Crimson Wave”

Menstruating sucks but this song doesn’t. A silly bit of ’60s-inspired surf rock, Tacocat’s “Crimson Wave” skewers dumb euphemisms (“there are communists in the summer house”) and offers listeners some good advice (“Listen to the Cramps on my stereo, turn it up as loud as it will go”). It’s a pro-period pop song you’ll want to listen to all month long.

Girl-power lyrics: “Call my girls see if they wanna go / take their minds off dumb Aunt Flow.”

9. Mary Lambert, “Secrets”

Singer-songwriter Mary Lambert cuts through the clichés and gets to the hard truth of self-acceptance: It’s messy business! Letting go of the shame and guilt that society heaps on women who don’t confirm to the very narrow skinny-straight-sane ideal isn’t easy. But, as Mary’s confessions make clear, there’s power in publicly embracing everything that makes you different.

Girl-power lyric: “I know I’m not the only one who spent so long attempting to be someone else / Well I’m over it.”

11. Elliphant and MØ, “One More”

It’s a shame platonic love has long taken a backseat to romantic entanglements in pop songs because Elliphant’s exploration of female co-dependency is both incredibly moving and catchy as hell.

Girl-power lyric: “Let’s do what we / Always used to do / Stupid around like two fools.”

13. Meghan Trainor, “All About That Bass”

“All About That Bass” isn’t perfect but the quibbles about Meghan Trainor’s “skinny bitches” put-down and emphasis on the tastes of men miss something important: This year a song that celebrates curves and body diversity spent eight consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That’s a win for women of all sizes.

Girl-power lyric: “I see the magazine workin’ that Photoshop / We know that shit ain’t real / C’mon now, make it stop.”

15. Lorde, “Yellow Flicker Beat”

Written from the perspective of fictional teenage badass Katniss Everdeen by actual teenage badass Lorde, “Yellow Flicker Beat” is like feminist inception. The synth-heavy ode to survival follows Lorde-as-Katniss as she declares war on all the people who have tried to abuse and intimidate her.

Girl-power lyric: “But I got my fingers laced together and I made a little prison / And I’m locking up everyone who ever laid a finger on me / I’m done with it.”

17. Little Mix, “Salute”

The patriarchy got you down? Get your killer heels, sneakers, or pumps, or lace up your boots, because this military-inspired banger from British pop quartet Little Mix will inspire you to keep fighting the good fight.

Girl-power lyric: “You think we’re just pretty things / You couldn’t be more wrong / We’re standing strong, we carry on.”