I listen to music all day, every day. It doesn’t matter where I am, what I’m doing or what mood I’m in, music is everything to me. I have a couple of playlists that I created for specific occasions, but I wanted to make a childfree playlist for those moments when I need to get a boost of that “fuck, yeah!” feeling about my chosen lifestyle.
You can find the full playlist here:
These are the songs I have chosen so far:
- Destiny’s Child – “Independent Women”
Independent is my middle name, and this song makes me want to shake my booty in my underwear around my beautiful bachelorette pad anytime I feel like it (because I can).
Fave line: “Try to control me boy you get dismissed.”
And by boy, I mean “societal pressure.”
- Lesley Gore – “You Don’t Own Me”
She was singing this in the 1960s. Talk about disrupting the conversation! This classic is the kind of song that’s fun to sing at Karaoke with your best childfree friends.
Fave line: “I’m free and I love to be free to live my life the way I want.”
- Jennifer Lopez – “Ain’t Your Mama”
Some childfree women don’t want to parent because we really don’t want to have to cook, do laundry, and clean up after tiny, sticky human beings, so what makes you think we would do that for our partners? (#manchild) JLo gets it.
Fave line: “I ain’t your mama.”
And I will be able to say this to every single person, ever.
- Salt-N-Pepa – “None of Your Business”
If I could rap (I can’t, even if my life depended on it), I would just go off with these lyrics at every pro-natalist who is trying to shut childfree people up because we’re not living a life that is up to his/her/their standards.
Fave line: “Now who do you think you are, puttin’ your cheap two cents in?”
- Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson – “Scream”
Everything that has been written, said or otherwise published in a pronatalist and patriarchal vein makes me want to scream. They really need to stop pressuring people into living a life that is outdated and not the right choice for everyone.
Fave line: “Stop pressurin’ me, just stop pressurin’ me.”
- Lily Allen – “Fuck You”
This is a song for the haters. I don’t mind if you just ignore the childfree people who are active in advocating for making this choice a lot more mainstream, but when your small mind gets in the way in a brazen, aggressive way, you better know that on this side we’re all thinking the same thing: Fuck You.
Fave quote: “So sick and tired of all the hatred you harbor.”
- P!nk – “Stupid Girls”
I have nothing against shopping, getting a manicure or even plastic surgery, because I think women should be free to enjoy whatever makes them truly happy. What I don’t care for are women who cannot think for themselves, who do not express their real feelings, who do all these things for someone else and not themselves, and who let society dictate the steps they have to take in their lives.
Fave line: “That will never be me.”
- Le Tigre – “Hot Topic”
This song names a few of the most influential feminist women artists, politicians, academics, and activists who have done at least one inspiring thing to bring about change in a patriarchal world.
Fave line: “So much bullshit but we won’t give in.”
- Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq – “I Don’t Want Kids”
Well, isn’t this title self-explanatory?
Fave line: “To me a life lived without children sounds divine!”
- Ibeyi – “No Man is Big Enough for My Arms”
I know not all childfree people are pro-choice (yeah, really), but this song reminds me that some societies want to control women’s bodies, including their reproductive rights, wills, and wants.
Dear pro-lifers (ahem): when you care more about an unborn fetus than the actual people, especially children, who are already in this world, there is something very wrong with your reasoning.
Fave line: “The measure of any society is how it treats its women and girls.”
- Christina Aguilera – “Can’t Hold Us Down”
Another song to shut down the narrow-minded male pronatalists when they come to mansplain why our childfree choice is WRONG, because it will always be better for them if we sit still and keep quiet.
Fave line: “If you look back in history it’s a common double standard of society.”
- Shea Diamond – “I Am Her”
This is one hell of a self-affirmation song. It’s like “yeah, I’m fucking different to anything you accept as ‘normal’, I get it, but if I’m OK with myself, you’re just going to have to deal with it.” Also, Shea Diamond’s story is a very interesting read.
Fave line: “Don’t care too much what other people say, I get along swell by my goddamn self.”
- Lizzo – “Good As Hell”
OK, first of all, Lizzo is the embodiment of a QUEEN. This song is one of my favorites to sing in the shower while I start my day because feeling good as Hell is my life’s mission, and my life’s mission includes never having to parent, ever. And that, my friends, is self-care.
Fave line: “You can have it all, no sacrifice.”
And by sacrifice, I mean motherhood.
- Lola Blanc – “Angry Too”
There is so much going on in the world that makes me angry, including how some groups of people and some governments want to control women’s bodies and dictate what it is that we can and can’t do.
Fave line: “I don’t know how to be just standing by blankly, not getting angry.”
- Lady Gaga – “Born This Way”
Whether you’ve known about your choice to be childfree for a long time or not, this song is one hell of a pick-me-up when you need to find a little bit of self-validation (remember, what other people think about your choice is meaningless). THIS IS WHO YOU ARE AND YOU ARE FUCKING AMAZING.
Fave line: “There’s nothing wrong with loving who you are.”
- Aretha Franklin – “Respect”
Not all Childfree people are richer than rich, but let’s be honest for a minute–we do have more financial flexibility than parents: we don’t have to budget for college tuitions, large group vacations, extracurricular activities, and so on. If you ask me, I’m glad I only have to spend my hard-earned money on myself. And, like Aretha, I only demand respect of my personal decisions.
Fave line: “Ooh, your kisses, sweeter than honey. And guess what? So is my money.”
- Alicia Keys – “Girl on Fire”
You know how most women don’t toot their own horns because we have been taught we’re not supposed to? Well, this song reminds me to feel proud about all of my accomplishments and choices and to continue standing strong because I AM ON FIRE.
Fave line: “She’s just a girl, and she’s on fire.”
- Roar – “Katy Perry”
At the beginning of this song, Katy sings, “so I sat quietly, agreed politely. I guess that I forgot I had a choice.” I identify with this 100% because at some point in my life I was resigned that at some point I would end up getting married and having children. But, when I remembered that I had a choice, I just let all my tiger stripes show to defend my “childfreeness” from the haters and to live the life I dream for myself.
Fave line: “I went from zero, to my own hero.”
- Shania Twain – “Man, I Feel Like a Woman”
This is one of the very few country songs that I like. Country is definitely not my genre. But this little 1990s classic always gets me in a good mood when I want to remind myself that if I want to go out and have a little fun, and be “politically incorrect” in the process, I’m totally entitled to do so.
Fave line: “I want to be free, yeah, to feel the way I feel.”
- Rihanna – “Dem Haters”
Last but not least, one of Rihanna’s earliest and lesser known songs that gives off a very Caribbean/Tropical vibe. You know all those people in your life who criticize you due to your choice or don’t take you seriously and tell you that you will eventually change your mind? RiRi has the best advice to deal with dem haters.
Fave line: “Get dem haters out your circle, smile in your face but all they wanna do is bring ya down.”
Do you have any more suggestions for this Childfree Woman playlist? Leave them in the comments below!
Isabel Firecracker is the founder and firebrand of The Uprising Spark, a platform designed to help modern, childfree women define and reach their life goals. She is a world traveler, an avid kitesurfer, and loves dogs. Pragmatic, no-nonsense life purpose igniter and host of The Honest Uproar podcast. Childfree intersectional feminist.
Featured photo by Trinity Kubassek from Pexels
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