The song “Breakfast” by Dove Cameron was released in June of 2022, the same month Roe V. Wade was overturned. The overturning of Roe V. Wade was obviously a very detrimental event for women’s rights, including women’s right to abortions, which had previously been a right for decades. This website goes further into depth on the process and execution of it all: https://www.npr.org/2022/06/24/1102305878/supreme-court-abortion-roe-v-wade-decision-overturn. As for the actual writing of Cameron’s song, Cameron was included in the process, as well as Jesse Finkelstein, Delacey, and Blair Gimma. After releasing the song, which already was geared towards feminism, women’s rights, and more, Cameron decided to incorporate the end of abortion rights for women in the video.
Dove Cameron being a pop artist has a lot of room to influence a vast majority of people since her music is used as a form of entertainment, unlike some sorts of protest songs. Her song creates a sort of aura that emits female empowerment, making it catchy and captivating, especially for young girls/women. When I first heard this song, I honestly hadn’t thought about the deeper intent and meaning behind it. I found it entertaining and something that makes you feel empowered but with not much of a bigger intent. However, that is exactly why artists like Dove Cameron create music like this, in order to subconsciously (or overtly when it comes to the music video) influence people and express the need for change.
Since Dove Cameron was one of the writers of the song, her opinions and values are evident throughout it. Also, all of the songwriters being women show furthermore on the message being relayed, which in this case is the still unequal society we live in. One of the repeated lyrics in the song is “Ooh-ooh, so you wanna talk about power? Ooh-ooh, let me show you power”, followed with “I eat boys like you for breakfast”. These lyrics immediately convey female empowerment and set the tone for the rest of the song. She is essentially saying that it’s her turn, as well as all women, to have power and equality. The music video paired with this also plays a key role in the intent and meaning behind the song. Throughout the entirety of the music video, the women are falling into the role of men in society, while the men are falling into the role of women in society. The very end of the video it ends with “Not The End”, showing that the fight for abortion rights, as well as women’s equality in general, is a fight that will continue until we reach true equality. Also in the song she states “I’m sick yeah I’m sick”, referring to the constant battle women are facing. This can also be related to the overturning of Roe V. Wade.
September 26, 2023 at 2:43 pm
Cheyenne,
This is a good introduction to the context and social roots of “Breakfast,” but in your podcast you are going to need to explore in much greater depth the gendered power dynamics that Dove Cameron is alluding to (and directly calling out) in the song, especially in terms of the innuendos embedded in the lyrics and how she is inverting the those dynamics.
One thing I’d like you to consider is if you think it best to ground the project in her video and use that as a launching point. The video is so much more concrete in its meaning than the song itself, despite how empowering the song is. So, think about that a bit.
In future posts, please be sure to add (from the assignment) “features that are important to blogs and blog readers: headings, bold print to highlight important phrases in the discussion, links, images, embedded video and/or audio” and so on. You’re doing great with the links so far. Link actual phrases in the sentence; don’t just paste in a URL. You also missed an opportunity to embed the video, which you could have done since you mentioned it in the post. These things help the reader.
Looking forward to future post!
Bill