Boy, this week the news has been all about things I’ve been long dreading that have come to pass. First it was A-gong entering the ROC army, and now… Ashin has finally written a song for S.H.E. You knew he would not be able to resist forever (…he was probably not actually trying to resist, of course, but in my head he was).
It’s not totally clear yet to me if he wrote the music and lyrics or just the lyrics, but he was definitely responsible for the song – and, as it turns out, the album – being called “Shero.” That’s as in, “She + hero.” Ashin says that he knows in English there are masculine terms for things like “hero” and “history,” so there should be feminine terms for them as well, like “shero” and “herstory.” Erm, except that there is a feminine form of hero in “heroine” and “history” comes from ancient Greek and has no more of a masculine connotation than “Hispanic.” (Except that I’ll bet you $20 there’s someone out there using “Herspanic” to make a feminist point.) He explained that he thinks the model of an independent women who chases after her dreams completely suits the way S.H.E. has rewritten history. Then, after checking a dictionary, he discovered that “shero” really is a word with two definitions: first, a woman who supports or fights for women’s rights – essentially, a feminist – and second, a female hero. Since you and I both know this is not actually a word, my guess is the “dictionary” he checked was the Urban Dictionary. Oh well, the pun on their name is fairly clever (and honestly, I’ve always suspected that Ashin has pretty feminist tendencies himself. I hope my impression is right… but I can’t remember ever having read anything sexist from him). But I’m just going on record now that I think “Shero” is cheesy.
[Side note: And now, out of the blue, my mind is singing a feminized version of "I Need a Hero." As in, "I need a shero... I'm holding on for a shero till the end of the night... well she's gotta be strong and she's gotta be fast and she's gotta be fresh from the fight...." *sigh*]
But actually, being pretty darn feminist myself, I can take a little cheese given the overall message the concept is trying to get across. In promoting the new album, S.H.E is trying to create a new wave of “queens” – ugh, I hate the term too, but stay with it a second – and these queens would adhere to the “three haves”: have courage, have money, and have a figure. No, wait, still – stay with it. It sounds much better once they explain. Have courage means to have the courage to love and to let go; have money means to work hard, have an independent life, and fulfill your own needs; and have a figure means to like your own body, and not to be unduly humble about your appearance, if you want to be revealing, be revealing. In short, girl power. (Generally, I’m not sure young women especially need much encouragement to dress more provocatively, but that could be me being 30-something and grumpy.) But they say whether you’re single or married, young or old, all women can be queens, and they can be their own “sheros.” Yeah, I’m still not on board with the terminology, but the concept is good, especially the part about economic independence and self-confidence.
The song premieres on the 8th, so we’ll have to wait until then to make the determination if the combination of Ashin’s influence and the feminist message overcome the fact that in the end, it’s still sung by S.H.E.