(Music artist Paris Paloma in a teased shot, for her upcoming music video and latest single, "Labour.")
The chorus hits you, chanting:
“All day, everyday:
Therapist,
Mother,
Maid.
Nymph then a virgin,
Nurse then a servant,
Just an appendage,
Live to attend him,
So that he never lifts a finger…
…It’s not an act of love if you make her,”
The line preceding this chant begins and ends with the line:
“You make me do too much labor.”
The chorus sounds like something you could yell at the top of your lungs during a protest. It feels alive. It sounds like the cry stuck in the back of your throat from generations of mothers past. This song vocalizes the agony women endured following the wake of colonialism. It’s the plea that mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and all women before whistled but couldn’t sing—until now.
Music artist Paris Paloma has reignited a global conversation regarding the patriarchy across Tiktok and Instagram, summoning the anger felt by women, who are speaking out against the patriarchy. Folks are speaking out and stitching the chorus of the song. In this Instagram reel, a vast array of experiences are culminated. Some read:
“This song makes me think of my Grandma. She was the eldest child who had to leave school to take care of her siblings at the age of 14 despite being a straight A student. She married a man who was amazing and would go out dancing but stopped doing that the day they were married. She spent her whole life taking care of children and working whilst being in an abusive relationship. She would have loved this song and would have loved to hear me talking about this song,” from Tiktok user @_.queenaccident._
“We don’t appreciate Muslim women enough. Imagine facing islamophobia and misogyny from society (especially hijabis and niqabis!) and then your supposed “brothers” turning on you too…” from Tiktok user @faz.zz
“This trend makes me think about the way girls are treated in comparison to their brothers. In most families I know, the sisters are expected to cook, clean, babysit, and overall be the better child, while the boys are praised for the bare minimum…” from user @camillaisalesbian on TikTok.
Other TikTok users such as @angeliquenichelle and @artemisia_mizi have stitched the audio and given full presentations about the emotional labor of educating people about black women in history and dating from a perspective as a transgender woman, respectively.
The wave of responses from the teased release of Paloma’s latest single, “Labour,” drums up excitement and anticipation for the full version. The music video for the single is expected to air live on Youtube this Thursday, and the single will be released this Friday on Spotify.