The power of female rage: Rosalía, Lily Allen and eight other artists who have harnessed their anger

BarcelonaTwo of the most talked-about albums of 2025 will surely be those of two women, Rosalía and Lily Allen. Despite having nothing in common musically or conceptually, both artists momentarily coincide on one point: the exploitation of anger as a means of songwriting. In Rosalía's case, this element is present in a single song from Lux, The pearl, while on the British singer's album, West End girlRage is the backbone of the entire narrative of the work, focused on dissecting the end of her marriage to actor David HarbourWe analyze the furious compositions of both singers and eight other female colleagues who have also unleashed their anger through music.

'The Pearl' ('Lux')

Rosalía

In an album filled with spirituality and mysticism, the earthly feelings of The pearl They have stirred the imagination of Rosalía's fans, who have tried to decipher who the song about a man who is a real bargain-basement is directed at. Some suggest she's describing Rauw Alejandro, to whom she was engaged but never married, while others see traces of C. Tangana, her first known partner. Still others say it could be Jeremy Allen White, with whom she had a brief relationship. In reality, it hardly matters who the song is about. What does matter, however, is the wit with which Rosalía, drawing inspiration from the world of ranchera music and transforming herself into Paquita la del Barrio, doesn't let the song's listener get away with anything.Olympic gold medal in the most badass [...] the more you talk [...] They'll build a monument to dishonesty. [...] Loyalty and fidelity are a language you won't understand.", he tells her.

'Pussy Palace' ('West End girl')

Lily Allen

The British singer's return to the forefront of the music scene after a seven-year absence was nothing short of a whirlwind. West End girlAllen, one of the leading musical figures of the early 2000s, bares her soul to explain in graphic detail the devastation of discovering her husband David Harbour's numerous infidelities after five years of marriage. The album, written in less than two weeks, takes us from the promising beginnings of their relationship, with its generous doses of romantic advances, to the pressure to open their marriage and the eventual realization that some men will simply never be emotionally mature and responsible.

Of all the songs, the most furious is Pussy Palace (which in Catalan could be freely translated as Palace of Cunts either hutch), in which thealter ego The singer discovers that her partner has been using his bachelor pad to act out all sorts of sexual fantasies and infidelities. Completely overwhelmed by the situation, she asks the man directly if he's a sex addict. "Bed sheets ripped from the bed, scattered on the floor / Long, black hair, probably from last night / A drugstore bag with the handles tied / Inside are sex toys, anal plugs, lube, and hundreds of condoms / Are you seriously sick? / How did I end up trapped? Despite being considered a nepobaby (She is the daughter of an actor and a film producer.) The British woman has always mastered street language and in West End girl It's easy to identify the girl who, in 2008, at 23 years old, was a success with Fuck you, a song with which he ridiculed George W. Bush without mentioning him.

'Hold up' ('Lemonade')

Beyoncé

One of the conceptual predecessors of West End girl Lily Allen's album LemonadeBeyoncé's album, in which the Houston diva gave her husband Jay-Z a piece of her mind. In this case, the resolution of the marital problems was more positive than in Allen's, since the American singer and her husband are still together. The singer's outburst, however, has been immortalized on an album that is one of the great works of her long career and a cry for the liberation of Black women from the role assigned to them within the African American community.

A Hold upQueen Bey confronts a couple about their infidelity. As soon as the song was released, rumors began circulating about the singer's husband's cheating. In the music video, Beyoncé appears dressed in yellow, a nod to the Yoruba goddess Oxún, a representation of femininity in Yoruba mythology. Smiling and powerful, she wields a baseball bat, smashing cars along the way while throwing darts at the man who betrayed her. "Let's imagine for a moment that you'd never amounted to anything / that you didn't have your inheritance and weren't considered a king / That you'd never left the cage / that you were still hustling on the streets / that you didn't have the best woman in the world in your sheets / Would they be willing to go with you? No / Yes."

'You oughta know' ('Jagged little pill')

Alanis Morissette

The Canadian has the honor of having been considered for many years the standard-bearer of "female rage", a label that was given to her with the release of her first album as an adult singer, Jagged little pill, published when he was 21. His lyrics were direct and stark. In You oughta knowThe generational anthem, "La António," was giving a lesson to an older ex-partner who had quickly moved on – actor Dave Coulier, from Forced ParentsAnd fifteen years her senior, has admitted that the song was surely about him—"And I'm here, to remind you / of the wreckage you left when you left / It's not fair that you deny me the cross I bear because of you / You should know," the singer reproaches him, who had no problem belting out sexually charged verses like "A bigger version of me / Is she perverted like?"

'Vampire' ('Guts')

Olivia Rodrigo

One of today's pop stars who has acknowledged the influence of Lily Allen and Alanis Morissette is Olivia Rodrigo, also an expert at singing with rage as her driving force. Vampire, from their second album, GutosShe settles scores with a former partner who took advantage of her, portraying him as a bloodsucker who leaves her without the will to live and is only interested in her fame. "All the girls I talked to about you told me you couldn't be trusted / You called them crazy, oh my God, how I hate that I called them crazy too / You're so convincing, how you lie without batting an eye?" she sings in one part of the song. When Rodrigo presented the track on Instagram, he made it clear what feelings had driven him to write it: "regret, anger, and pain."

'Rezaca on his beach' ('Nostalgia Airlines')

María Jaime

Disappointments aren't always expressed in harsh words; they can also be conveyed through songs that are almost comforting. Undertow on your beach In Maria Jaume's song, you have to look closely at the lyrics to find clues about a certain anger towards a summer lover. Because, although the end of seasonal romances seems predetermined, it's always a hard blow when they end and the other person becomes a stranger. "Little by little, everything grew much bigger / And it exploded in your face / the face I now look at," the lovelorn singer recalls.

'Silver springs'

Fleetwood Mac

The song that led Stevie Nicks to leave Fleetwood Mac is built on the anger and resentment stemming from her breakup with Lindsey Buckingham, the band's guitarist, with whom she had a consistently tumultuous relationship. In an interview with Arizona Republic In 1997, the singer explained why she had written the song and what message she wanted to send to her ex-partner: "I'm so mad at you. You'll hear me on the radio for the rest of your life, and that'll bother you. I hope it bothers you." And that's almost literally what the song says, when, almost as if it were a litany or a spell, Nicks sings with all her rage: "Time has bewitched you, but you won't forget me / I know I could have loved you, but you wouldn't let me [...] I'll haunt you." It's a fascinating yet unsettling experience to see Stevie Nicks singing the song live, accompanied by Buckingham, whom she stares at intently during the song's most intense parts.

Silver springs It had to be part of Rumors (1977), a magnum opus of sentimental heartbreak, but it was ultimately discarded and relegated to the B-side of Go your own wayMany years later, in 1990, Nicks left the band after Mick Fleetwood, the group's leader, refused to let her join. Silver springs in a compilation of his best songs, Timespace: The best of Stevie Nicks.

'Ice Cream Man' ('My 21st Century Blues')

Raye

Of all the songs on this list, Raye's song, by the British soul and R&B prodigy and Amy Winehouse heir apparent, is one of the most dramatic and powerful. The ballad describes a sexual assault within the music industry and tells of a struggle to rise from a situation that nearly cost her her life. After detailing the predatory tactics of a music producer, Raye stands up for herself: "I'm a damn strong woman / And I'd be mad if I let a man ruin / How I walk, how I talk, and what I do." It's an astonishing song that touches on themes like consent and how to cope with trauma. In an interview with Rolling StoneRaye explained the healing process involved in writing this song: "There's still a lot of healing to do. For me, power is really about that, being able to shout through the microphone: 'You know who you are and you know what you've done.'" Raye will perform at the Palau Sant Jordi on February 13, 2026.

'Relay' ('Fetch the bolt cutters')

Fiona Apple

The American singer is one of the champions of female rage. In Fetch the bolt cutters (Best album of 2020 according to the ARA) included Relay, a theme where he pours out all the disgust he feels for a society based on appearances and that plays at being perfect. As he explained in the New York MagazineThe spark that ignites her rage is the rape she suffered when she was 12 years old, an experience she says made her think a lot about concepts like guilt, innocence, and forgiveness. The song begins with a reflection on evil ("Evil is a relay sport where what's burned comes back to pass the torch") and continues listing all the things that make her angry ("It offends me that you present your life like a fucking propaganda pamphlet").

'Shakira - BZRP Music Sessions #53'

Shakira

When Shakira separated from Gerard Piqué, she experienced a musical catharsis. Her revenge for the Barcelona player's infidelity came in the form of a song that targeted both him and his new partner, Clara Chía. Lines like "You traded a Rolex for a Casio" either "She has the number of a good person. Clearly, it's not what it sounds like. She looks just like you.They are already part of popular culture.