Billboard’s 25 Empowerment Anthems: Express Yourself

Billboard‘s Chris Malone complied a list of 25 empowerment anthems, “songs to help inspire people who want to live their lives as loudly and authentically as they choose, because regardless of who you are or where you come from, everyone is entitled to musical empowerment.”

Here’s what they wrote about Madonna’s Express Yourself and read the complete list on Billboard.com.

Originally written as a feminist anthem about independence, Madonna’s 1989 dance-floor standard has since become synonymous with self-love and holding oneself in high regard. The song’s lyrics directly address women and urge them to not settle for men who don’t treat them like the queens that they are. In the years following the song’s release, it has been embraced by Madonna’s gay fans around the world and has simultaneously become an anthem of personal expression and female empowerment.