Empowered women rebelling against heteronormativity through lyrics: Madonna, Felukah and Madame

Music is a way to communicate ideas, values and defy ideologies long-layered in society while affirming identities and subcultures against mainstream thoughts. In particular, women in pop and rap music are contributing to deconstructing heteronormative ideology through lyrics and visual aids (video or live performances) challenging discourses that marginalise, exclude, disempower or even sexualise women often reducing them to mere sexual objects (Asare, 2021). At the same time, through their music, such female pop and rap singers are able to speak to and advocate for any social group affected by patriarchy and sexism and to put forth a feminist humanist vision of a society where gender does not influence or predetermine our relationships with others or our sense of self (Grant 1993; Hill-Collins 1990). This paper intends to discuss lyrics by Madonna, the Egyptian rapper Felukah and the Italian Madame and the way in which these three female pop and rap artists, although being of different socio-cultural and geographical backgrounds, use them to rebel against heteronormativity. The main aim is to show how they exploit their music to struggle the typical woman stereotypes combating oversexualization and misogynistic sentiments, to empower themselves while expressing female sexual desire and, meantime, to defend gender fluidity by refusing to be placed into a single and stable category. In order to reach this goal, a selection of some parts of their songs’ lyrics will be analysed through a Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis approach (Lazar, 2007) paying particular attention to textual semiotic choices.