That means you’ve finally started listening.
“Not a Pretty Girl”—Ani DiFranco
She’s not here to be saved.And if the guitar sounds raw and frayed—it’s because so is she.
She’s not a pretty girl, that’s not what she is.We’re tired of being looked like pretty girls.We’re equal, and we need to be listened to.
We’re not complicated.You just don’t want to take a moment to get to know a woman.It’s all about serving you—but we’re done.
“Cornflake Girl”—Tori Amos
This one’s weird on purpose.
You don’t get it?Good.It’s not yours.
It’s about betrayal from inside the circle—how women get torn apart by other women when they follow the rules too long and don’t realize they still lose.
The piano is dancing on broken glass.Every lyric is layered like secrets passed through locked bathroom stalls.
“Carrion”—Fiona Apple
She’s not asking for your approval.
She’s saying: I’m not ruined.I’m raw, and there’s a difference.
She knows she’s a mess he doesn’t want to clean up.I feel just like that.But guess what?We still walk.We stand up, dust off our knees, and keep going.
Title of this list is probably: Burn It Down and Walk Through the Ashes
Listen or don’t.
But don’t pretend you haven’t needed songs like these before.
And if you say they’re “too much,” I’ll know you weren’t listening.
Private Message| EchoZone Internal Chat
From: DeadStrings
To: StringTheory27
Date: May 1st, 1997 11:24 PM
Subject: Burn Marks
You knowthat feeling when you hear something that wasn’t meant for you—but it hits anyway?
That was your list.
It wasn’t just the songs—though, holy hell, that piano in “Sleep to Dream” feels like a fist to the chest—but the way you talk about them.
Like you’ve lived inside each track.
Like they weren’t written so much as carved from somewhere inside you.
I won’t lie.
I listened to every one.
