Dear listeners,
Hello again from your guest playlister — Lindsay’s editor, Caryn — in this lead-up to the Fourth of July. Last year, Lindsay brought you a 16-song soundtrack for your holiday barbecues. I am not going to top that, so instead (inspired by my fave, Kelly Clarkson), I did a brief dive into songs that use independence as a thematic trope.
While pop has turned to the independent woman many times, Independence Day has been a time for reflection on a variety of emotional topics: a painful breakup (Palehound), an escape from an abusive relationship (Martina McBride), a glimmer of hopefulness cracking through the melancholy (Elliott Smith). Bruce Springsteen’s song is a tad too dark even for this list, sorry, Jersey friends!
All of these songs are sharply written, passionately sung and provide some form of release. And taken together, they make a pretty cohesive playlist. (If you did not yet know, I’m fanatical about sequencing.)
Throw your hands up at me,
Caryn
Listen along while you read.
1. Kelly Clarkson: “Miss Independent”
Kelly Clarkson’s debut album, “Thankful” from 2003, featured this killer lead single: a genuine jam (with some genuinely dated production) about a strong woman who finds there’s also strength in letting love into her life. If it sounds a bit like a finger-wagging Christina Aguilera song, there’s good reason for that: She’s a writer on the track (along with Clarkson, Rhett Lawrence and Matt Morris), which was at one point destined for her own “Stripped.”
2. Ne-Yo: “Miss Independent”
Our next contestant comes from the R&B smoothie Ne-Yo’s exceptional 2008 LP “Year of the Gentleman.” Over a stuttering synth riff and luxurious harp plucks he sings about a woman who has her act together: “That’s the kind of girl I need.”
3. Destiny’s Child: “Independent Women, Part 1”
The woman Ne-Yo celebrates came to vivid life in this 2000 Destiny’s Child song from the “Charlie’s Angels” soundtrack. Her house, her ring, her car? She bought it. “Try to control me boy, you get dismissed,” Beyoncé sings over the track’s spare, syncopated production. We have no questions!
4. Alex Newell: “Independently Owned”
Alex Newell, a breakout star of the (sadly closed) 2023 Broadway show “Shucked,” sang this ditty that grows into an all-out tear-down-the-house anthem. Newell, the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony for performance, played Lulu, a woman who owns her own whiskey business (like everything in Cob County, it’s made from corn), and on this song she let the audience know she’s a boss. Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally, the country music veterans who wrote the music for the show, said the song started out bawdy, but ended up empowering, befitting the talented performer who originated the role.
5. Martina McBride: “Independence Day”
Like Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.,” Martina McBride’s 1993 song has often been misunderstood and misplaced as a patriotic anthem. It was written from the perspective of a daughter whose mother suffered at the hands of an abusive husband before ultimately finding her own form of freedom by burning down their house — with him, and possibly her, in it. Gretchen Peters wrote the song, which was inspired by a real-life story from the late 1970s. “What drew me to it was the brilliance of the lyrics,” McBride told Rolling Stone. “If you write it down on paper, it’s like a work of literature, it’s like a poem.” The uncertainty in the song’s story is balanced by the sturdiness of the track’s classic country production, and the sureness of McBride’s powerful, clear voice.
6. Elliott Smith: “Independence Day”
I could talk for hours about Elliott Smith, one of my favorite songwriters of all time. (And I will, in a future Amplifier, promise.) On this tune from his 1998 album, “XO,” he strikes a hopeful note over fingerpicked guitar and a gentle shuffle, telling a friend there’s beauty and wonder — even if it’s fleeting — just around the corner. If this song had been out when I graduated from high school, you can bet “You only live a day/But it’s brilliant anyway” would have been my yearbook quote (alongside the R.E.M. one, of course).
7. Palehound: “Independence Day”
Plug those guitars back in! (But a few tears can stay.) El Kempner sings about a breakup that went down on the holiday on this peppy but regretful indie-rock jam from last year: “Sparkler in my throat/Can we just take it all back?”
8. Donna Summer: “State of Independence”
And now, a moment of spiritual revelry. Donna Summer covered this track by Jon and Vangelis on her self-titled 1982 album. Jon and Vangelis were Jon Anderson (formerly of the prog-rock band Yes) and Vangelis, the Greek synth master behind “Chariots of Fire.” The song encompasses a mix of global styles and traditions, which Summer infuses with a joyful breeziness and wonder.
The Amplifier Playlist
“An All ‘Independence’ Playlist for the Fourth of July” track list
Track 1: Kelly Clarkson, “Miss Independent”
Track 2: Ne-Yo, “Miss Independent”
Track 3: Destiny’s Child, “Independent Women, Part 1”
Track 4: Alex Newell, “Independently Owned”
Track 5: Martina McBride, “Independence Day”
Track 6: Elliott Smith, “Independence Day”
Track 7: Palehound, “Independence Day”
Track 8: Donna Summer, “State of Independence”
The post An All ‘Independence’ Playlist for the Fourth of July appeared first on New York Times.
