Tunes for Tuesday: Rebecca Ferguson, “Superwoman”

For this week’s Tune for Tuesday, let’s take a look at Rebecca Ferguson’s title track off her recent album, “Superwoman”, and its lyrics.

Rebecca Ferguson’s name may sound very familiar to you. She’s the British singer who refused to perform at Donald Trump’s upcoming inauguration. Well, more specifically, she wanted to sing “Strange Fruit“. (You’ll have to settle for Billie Holiday singing it instead.) Since that wasn’t about to fly, she won’t perform at all, and she’s one of many artists who won’t attend the inauguration.

As there’s also no clip of her rendition of the protest song, we’ll settle for something a bit more recent.

By more recent, we mean “her title track off of her latest album, Superwoman“. Here it is.

Let’s dive down into this one.”Superwoman”, lyrically, deals with the fact that it’s tough to feel confident all the time. It’s important, too, that Ferguson starts out with the mention of what she’s wearing, that it isn’t a cape but just regular clothes instead. It’s when the chorus comes in that things start to get interesting.

One might expect the opening line, “Never said I was Superwoman”, to be followed up with something about why the listener can’t put those sorts of expectations on someone. Instead, Ferguson sings that maybe she’s scared, maybe she’s just coping, but she’s coming around nevertheless, according to the lyrics posted in the video’s description.

In other words, the singer may look competent on the outside, but on the inside, she’s dealing with some issues — and she carefully doesn’t say which, making the song accessible to more people.

The bridge also adds the lyrics: “And I lose my mind every now and then / I break down big, then I start again”. Sometimes starting again can be the most radical act of all.

With the next four years in mind, maybe we don’t have to be superwomen, but maybe we can start again and cope and make it through.

Next: Halsey's Fifty Shades Darker Track

The album Superwoman is out now.