Upon first listening closely to the lyrics of Canadian Rock and Roll singer JJ Wilde’s “The Rush”, one line from the chorus immediately jumped out at me: “And it’s times like these that I swear to God, I’m glad my mother can’t see me, and if she did, I don’t know how I would keep it together, I don’t know how I would keep it in”. These lyrics stood out to me because of the mention of JJ’s mother, and how she makes it clear from the lyrics “I don’t know how I would keep it together” that her mother’s opinion of her is important to her. This subtle detail included in her song “The Rush” reminds me of traits defined as feminine according to the Sex Role Theory: the lyric demonstrates that JJ Wilde is sensitive to others (whether it is their needs, opinion, or desires) and indicates that she might even be eager to soothe feelings (being that she would struggle to keep herself together if her mother could see her at “these times” that she refers to in her lyrics). The next lyrics go on as if to explain why she finds herself in “these times” and “unable to keep it together” by singing “It’s the rush, it’s the lust, you can’t trust”. These lyrics are repeated multiple times as the main part of the chorus, clearly giving more hint to why she feels this way. The mention of lust relates to her lyric from the very beginning of the song “I had my red dress on again”. Even without the association of the color red being a “sexy” color, the mention of wearing this dress “again” gives the audience a clear feminine silhouette.
Investigating her gender role and image further by means of Instagram also reveals a more feminine display. Most of her photos showcase her outfits, as well as hair and makeup. In most of her photos that present more than just her face, JJ can be seen wearing a crop top and high waisted pant combo more than anything else. She displays her body in a more feminine way by wearing these form-fitting crop tops and crop tops that reveal more skin such as her waist and stomach. She styles her dyed blonde hair in neat curls, wears darker makeup around her eyes and pinky/nude lipstick. All of these traits are hyper-feminine, however, JJ Wilde herself doesn’t seem to fit the stereotype of “hyper-feminine”. The genre of music she performs as well as the darker, rougher, distressed feminine look she sports gives way to more masculine traits such as assertive, tough, and a strong personality. But how much of this can be attributed to being a female in a historically mostly male-dominated genre of music? After a brief analysis of her lyrics from “The Rush” and a dive into her Instagram, it seems maybe JJ Wilde is attempting to re-write the representation of the Rock and Roll genre, by bringing more feminine dominated perspectives to the table.
Shared by: Em VonDerRuhr
Image Credit: https://www.instagram.com/jjwildechild/