Song Challenge Day 7: A Song to Drive to

For all five of you that are following this silly thing of mine, it's day 7 of the song challenge, and the prompt today is, "A Song to Drive to."

This is another fairly easy one. For your listening and driving pleasure: 

You're welcome.

Ok so this was the first song I heard by ZZ Ward and I fell in love with the blues-rock hybrid sound of it, and then I listened to the rest of her stuff (this was not too long after her first album dropped, so eight years ago, give or take a few months). Oof, does this woman know how to wail and NOT sound like a dying chicken! If this song interests you at all, I implore you to look her up on Spotify or Apple Music or Prime Music or whatever the Hell else it is you use to listen to music. She's mega-talented and deserves way more attention, and it's a shame she's still somewhat obscure. Her second album is also a gem, and her mixtape Eleven Roses with her own versions of songs by other artists like Kendrick Lamar is just... 

Anyway, so "Move Like You Stole It" is a damn fun song. It's sexy, it's tough, it's assertive, it's bold. It's catchy! And that hint of gravel in her voice could easily sound like a cold in less-skilled hands, but she utilizes it just enough to give her singing an extra bit of depth without sounding gimmicky or ill.

One thing that I appreciated about this song was it's a woman singing about sexual desire and the things she'd do to her partner- it's a lot harder to find women singing about sex than men. You get your "Red Light Special"s and "2 Become 1"s every now and again, but pretty much every genre has a sub-genre focused on tropes revolving around the exploitation, objectification, and/or dehumanization of women. So I adore the following, and will sing its praises until the day I die, because of the message it's sending:

I'm not saying women should thus be exploiting dudes left and right (although the dudes in Maddie and Tae's video are pretty fucking hilarious- but it's SATIRE, so it's not the same thing) (and I should note, Bo Burnham even hints at the treatment of women in stadium country music with his generic "A good girl" line in his satirical country song). But Women just rarely sing about sex, arousal, or desire.

So Ward's overt passes and statements are refreshing. She may be singing about driving, but she's really singing about something else. You go, girl. 

But for real, overall, this song is a toe-tapper for sure, and I legit have to be careful not to start speeding when it pops up on the mix CDs I keep in my car (because sometimes I do tire of channel surfing*). Listen to it, relish it.

And look up the rest of ZZ Ward's music. You will not be disappointed.

*Again, sorry Beaux.