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The Songwriter Behind Keith Urban's 'Female'

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

I'm Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Last week, Keith Urban debuted his new song "Female" at the Country Music Awards in Nashville. Some viewers called it Urban's response to the slew of sexual misconduct accusations in Hollywood. Nicolle Galyon is a Nashville songwriter who co-wrote the tune. And she says that the idea was brewing long before the scandals.

NICOLLE GALYON: One of my co-writers, Shane McAnally, walked in and just said, hey, got this title. I don't exactly know what to do with it, but it would just be a song called "Female." I do remember Shane had the idea or kind of like the mood of, like, the first line of the song. Like, how does it make you feel when someone says hit like a girl?

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEMALE")

KEITH URBAN: (Singing) When you hear somebody say somebody hits like a girl, how does that hit you? Is that such a bad thing?

GALYON: But then once the song was pretty much sess-ed out and almost written, I remember I was taking a break and kind of looking at it and going, oh, wow. This is really timely with everything that's going on around us. What's going on in the news right now has been going on forever.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEMALE")

URBAN: (Singing) And somebody laughs and implies that she asked for it just 'cause she was wearing a skirt. Oh, is that how that works?

GALYON: Not only is it important that a man sing it, but it was important that Keith sing it because Keith is believable.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But Urban faced backlash after his performance. Some critics claimed that he was mansplaining feminism to women. Others took offense that the song uses the word female as a noun. Galyon, for one, is owning that word.

GALYON: I can only speak for myself. And I'm so freaking proud to be a female and to be called a female - feels more like a badge of honor to me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEMALE")

URBAN: (Singing) Secret keeper, fortune teller, Virgin Mary, scarlet letter, technicolor, river wild, baby, girl, woman, child, female. Female. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.