“Breakfast” by Dove Cameron is an alternative pop song that focuses on empowering women and getting rid of the power dynamic between men and women. As I was searching for songs that encapsulated this idea in a similar way, I found a couple that I thought fit in well with the lineage for “Breakfast”. The lineage would be as follows: “Maneater” by Nelly Furtado, “Breakfast” by Dove Cameron, “She Wolf” by Shakira, and “Bubblegum Bitch” by MARINA.

 

“Maneater” by Nelly Furtado is a pop song released in 2006 that, on the surface, reflects women’s ability to manipulate men in several senses (regarding mentally, sexually, etc.). The title “Maneater” also relates directly to the lyrics in Cameron’s song: “I eat boys like you for breakfast”. However, when you look further into the song, it is more of a reference to women’s individuality, confidence, and power. Other than the obvious women empowerment lyric in the chorus of “Maneater”, the lyrics: “And when she walks, she walks with passion // When she talks, she talks like she can handle it // When she asks for something, boy, she means it” shows women’s ability to be powerful on their own and step out of gender stereotypes and discriminations. 

Next in the lineage is “Breakfast”, even though it chronologically doesn’t come next, I feel as if it works best being placed after “Maneater”. “Breakfast” stems well from “Maneater” because both songs use the metaphor of “eating men” as a way to express women taking back the power that men have had throughout history. “Breakfast” does so especially in the music video, as all the women in the video are in the typical male roles, whilst all the men take up the typical women roles. By swapping gender roles, it is another metaphor for women taking back power.

 

Third in the lineage is “She Wolf” by Shakira which is a pop song released in 2009 that also focuses on women breaking free from conventionalizations that have been in place for years. Following on the same theme of man-eating, “She Wolf” focuses on women being the prey, which can again be seen as a swapping of stereotypes. This is present specifically in these lyrics: “Sitting across the bar, staring right at her pray // It’s going well so far, she’s gonna get her way”. This song also pushes the idea of women being able to express themselves freely and without judgment. 

Last in the lineage is “Bubblegum Bitch” by MARINA which is another pop song that was released in 2012. Sticking with the theme of man-eating as a metaphor for women gaining back power, this song also alludes to it with these lyrics: “I’ll chew you up and I’ll spit you out”. However, it is not the major theme of the song. It mainly focuses on being able to take on anything as a woman, working well with the entire lineage’s theme of women empowerment.