I chose to write about, “The Man,” by Taylor Swift. Taylor Swift is a huge pop artist today. I chose this song because it completely breaks away from traditional gender roles set by society. Women are supposed to act passive, emotional, kind, and dependent. A woman who sticks up to a man usually catches people’s attention. This musical example rejects the gender roles because the whole song is about her going against men. In the song, she discusses how if she were a man, she would get the respect she deserves for her contribution to music. She also talks about how she would not be labeled for having money or dating men. The whole song focuses on how women need to work more than men to get to the same goal. The song has an upbeat, empowering sound to it. The song is categorized as synth-pop, which means the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. The producer, Joel Little, also used a drum programmer and keyboards along with the synthesizer to create a techno style beat. She also uses her own voice to back up her singing. This emphasizes certain words that make powerful statements. The song has a homophonic texture because while Swift sings the lyrics, a melody provides chordal accompaniment which makes the song very catchy. The lyrics and the empowering music makes this song perfect for this assignment because Swift breaks away from her traditional gender roles to make a statement against them.