The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Thursday, March 12, 2020 — 5

Badmouthed, 
banned 
and 
ultimately 
blacklisted 
for 
their unwavering 
antiwar sentiment 
in 2003, the Dixie 
Chicks are battle-
tested. 
After 
a 
14-year hiatus, the 
ex-country music 
superstars 
have 
proven 
they’re 
ready to go another 
round 
with 
the 
fiery single “Gaslighter.”
A 
“gaslighter” 
describes 
a 
manipulative 
abuser. 
In 
the 
song “Gaslighter,” this abuser 
is lead singer Natalie Maines’s 
ex-husband. 
By 
linking 
the 
narrative of Maines’s divorce to 
the broader context of sexism, 

the Dixie Chicks retain their 
commitment to being political in 
a form that’s easier to swallow 
— a break-up song. “Tried to say 
I’m crazy, babe, we know I’m not 
crazy, that’s you / gaslighting,” 
Maines sings in disgust. In a 
moment stripped 
of production, she 
quietly 
admits 
“you broke me,” 
giving light to the 
hurt beneath her 
anger. 
The rest of the 
song is explosive. 
Co-written 
and 
co-produced 
by 
pop 
whiz 
Jack 
Antonoff, 
“Gaslighter” is expectedly catchy. 
“Gaslighter, 
denier 
/ 
doing 
anything to get your ass farther” 
is chanted along to pounding, 
building drums. Antonoff’s hand 
in the track along with the rest of 
the upcoming album is probably 
a major red flag to any old-school 

Dixie Chicks fan. But the richness 
of the group’s harmonies and the 
prominent use of banjo in the lead 
single should put those fears to 
rest, at least temporarily. 
For now, all there’s left to do is 
count down the days until May 1st, 
the album release date, and shout 
along to “Gaslighter.” Who knows 
who or what the Dixie Chicks are 
going to burn down next?

The Dixie Chicks burn 
bright in single ‘Gaslighter’

COLUMBIA

In new music video, Taylor 
Swift becomes ‘The Man’

‘The Invisible Man’ is more fact than horror flick

KATIE BEEKMAN
Daily Arts Writer

“The Invisible 
Man”

Dir. Leigh Whannell 

Feb. 28, 2020

AMC 20+IMAX, 
Quality 16

MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW
SINGLE REVIEW

REPUBLIC

Just 
last 
year, 
Taylor 
Swift returned to her roots 
as the flowery, love-struck 
songwriter with her single 
“Lover” and gave us an album 
that sharply contrasted the 
pointed rage from her 2017 
album Reputation. Last week 
Swift released a music video 
for “The Man,” a song off her 
latest album, and returned 
to her targeting metaphors 
and sometimes not-so-subtle 
accusations. 
“The Man” features Swift 
in full drag as she portrays 
toxic masculinity and takes 
on the role of ‘The Man.’ 
She’s loud and rude, yells at 
coworkers and gets rewarded 
for doing next to nothing. 
Through these brief incidents, 

Swift pokes fun at what she 
considers to be masculine 
norms 
and 
highlights 
the 
double standard women face 
by turning the tables. 
Not surprisingly, Swift not-
so-subtly calls out Scooter 
Braun, the man who bought all 
of her masters and essentially 
wiped Swift of the rights to 
her own music. In the video, 
Swift walks through a subway 
and comes across a wall spray-
painted with the names of all 
of her albums that Scooter 
owns. On top of that, Swift 
incorporated signs onto the 
wall that read “Missing: If 
Found Return to Taylor Swift” 
and even a “no scooters” sign. 
It’s no secret that women 
in music face many obstacles, 
and Swift has clearly had 
enough with the misogynistic 
nature of the music industry. 
While her portrayal of men 
seems a bit dramatic and 
perhaps even unfair, the final 

scene where Swift is revealed 
as the director of the video 
is empowering and the most 
powerful part of the video. 
In truth, Swift doesn’t need 
to 
aggressively 
attack 
the 
male population to defy the 
patriarchy — she just needs to 
be herself and be an example 
for other women through all 
of the great things she’s done.

KAITLYN FOX
Daily Arts Writer

New ‘Saturn Return’ is an ode to womankind

FILM REVIEW

ALBUM REVIEW

“The Man”

Taylor Swift

Dir. Taylor Swift

Republic

“Gaslighter”

The Dixie Chicks

Republic

Who knows 
who the Dixie 
Chicks will burn 
down next 

Make no mistake — “The Invisible Man” is a true 
story. When one considers its source material, an 1897 
novel by H.G. Wells, this sounds like a wild claim. 
After all, nobody (that we know of) can become 
invisible, 
even 
centuries 
after 
the original book was published. 
Yet, this 2020 remake, which at 
first glance appears to be another 
desperate Hollywood cash-grab, is 
more true to life than most other 
offerings at the movies today. 
While the particulars of what 
Cecilia, played by Elizabeth Moss 
(“The Handmaid’s Tale”), endures 
are science fiction, they are simply 
imaginative means to a very real end. 
Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, “The 
Haunting of Hill House”), a wealthy 
inventor 
and 
Cecilia’s 
abusive 
ex-husband, is so inflamed by Cecilia 
leaving him that he terrorizes her 
by turning invisible. The invisibility is fantasy, but 
Adrian’s arrogance, emotional manipulation and 
violence, which come from a deep, white-male 
privilege, are anything but. This gives the movie’s 
already well-made scares a core of indelible truth, 

making the story feel truly real. 
Writer-director Leigh Whannell (“Upgrade”) 
throws the viewer into Cecilia’s situation with 
razor sharp efficiency. The grungy, gray-soaked 
cinematography turns even the sunniest of days into 
something terrifying, making viewers wonder what 
lurks in every shadow. Sometimes the camera lingers 
on stillness, like a rack of knives or sheets in a dark 
bedroom, leaving the viewer waiting, breathless, like 
Cecilia. Waiting for what they know 
is coming but can’t possibly see until 
it’s too late.
The soundtrack crawls deep 
under one’s skin and stays there, 
coloring the visible horrors with 
stomach-churning 
blasts 
of 
unnerving synth. The script oozes 
with hand-wringing tension that 
never lets up, providing gut punch 
twists that blast the story forward 
even when it already seems to be 
hurtling at an impossibly high 
speed. Moss, as always, gives an 
immaculate performance that has 
one’s sympathies from the very 
start, ratcheting up the tension in 
every possible moment. For most other actors, a 
scene where a character is beaten up by an invisible 
man would be awkward at best, hilarious at worst. 
In Moss’s hands, it is one of the scariest, most heart-
wrenching scenes in recent memory. “The Invisible 

Man” is no haunted house attraction, and you will be 
sickened, afraid and exhausted once it’s over. 
Horror this stupendous does not come around 
often. The movie is not for the faint of heart, but 
should be seen by anyone who can stomach it. It’s 
especially satisfying once Cecilia fights back, giving 
viewers a look at something that rarely happens 
offscreen — a rich, white, male predator brought 
to justice. From film directors to the Commander 
in Chief, many of these abusers stay invisible even 
when their crimes are in plain sight, hidden behind 
their privilege. Others are only unmasked after 

vast swaths of damage have already occurred and, 
because of their status, can stay relatively invisible, 
unscathed by the harsh justice they deserve. It’s 
satisfying to see one of these monsters put through 
the wringer, even if only on the silver screen. 
“The Invisible Man” is a marathon of scares and 
heart, proving, like “Get Out,” “The Babadook” and 
“The Witch” before it, that horror can be one of the 
most meaningful, optimistic and authentic genres. It 
also may be the most vital — even in 2020, America 
still needs to learn that the monster never, ever 
should get away with it.

What does it mean to be a woman? Statistics, 
the media, society –– many of them would answer 
that womanhood lies in the gender wage gap, the 
tampon tax, abortion rights; the drawn out Harvey 
Weinstein legal battle or the #MeToo movement; 
in the Kardashian empire, Ladies Night at the local 
bar, or TikTok videos of preteen VSCO girls; broken 
stilettos, a Brazilian body wax, fake eyelashes. At 
least, these are the superficial labels that dog the 
steps of womanhood. 
More often, womanhood is understood only 
in contrast to the patriarchy. Womanhood is a 
battle –– armor worn from girl-hood until death, 
triumphantly painted in the colors of the conquest 
of man. Yet even here, in the fiery protest against 
gender-conforming shackles, there is no woman 
without man. Let us rewrite the question: What 
does it mean to be a woman in spite of man? 
An answer (by no means the only one) can be 
found within the heart of The Secret Sisters’ new 
album, Saturn Return. The Secret Sisters have 
written an ode to womankind; a dedication to 
womanly mind, body and heart. It is an album 

which finds its truth in the contrasting sharp 
edges and soft curves of womanhood. Here, man is 
irrelevant, obsolete. He is not torn down or ravaged 
in fury –– these are not the songs of a battle waged 
against patriarchy. Rather, man holds no place in 
Saturn Return because these are stories of women, 
of womanhood, not of mankind or masculinity. 
To be “Woman” –– Saturn Return explores this 
independently of patriarchal contrast, in its own 
basking glory. 
Saturn Return can be broken down into four parts, 
four core songs that make up The Secret Sisters 
exploration of Woman: “Silver,” “Fair,” “Nowhere, 
Baby,” and “Water Witch.” Each song presents a 
different aspect of womanhood, examined and 
experienced in the context and lens of women alone. 
 
“Silver” is a dedication to the relationships 
between mothers and daughters. It is womanhood 
defined by motherhood, but confined to the special 
bond between women, and not the limitations of 
marriage or patriarchal oppression. The only song 
on the album that prominently recalls the country 
roots of previous work by The Secret Sisters, “Silver” 
is comforting and a touch haunting. The harmony 
of the duo’s voices holds something ancient within 
as the pair recalls the memories of those women 
who came before: “Look upon your mother and the 
silver in her hair / Consider it a crown the holiest 

may wear.” The song makes a point to acknowledge 
the sacrifices and abundant strength of mothers 
who have raised us, who have created the world we 
know by giving and nurturing life. “Silver,” the first 
song on the album, sets the tone of Saturn Return 
with its poetry and mix of ancient sentiment in a 
modern package. “Last night in my slumber came 
the matriarchs I miss / They said, ‘Do you wanna be 
anointed with age’s lasting kiss?’” The silver hair of 
years spent in motherly toil is a badge of honor. Here, 
the Secret Sisters find a little-uttered truth: That 
motherhood is a mark of the unyielding strength 
and devotion of womanhood. It does not have to 
be a mark of oppression, as it has been and can 
certainly be. Motherhood is more than childbearing 
–– it is the eternal connection between mother 
and daughter, and every ancestor and descendent 
stemming from them. 
“One is given wings and one gets more than she 
can bear / God in Heaven, can you tell me how that’s 
fair?” In the song “Fair,” The Secret Sisters weave 
a story of the lives of two very different women. 
Through circumstance, one lives a life of ease 
–– of good choices –– and the other a life of hard 
choices. They are united in their womanhood, their 
respective difficulties, despite the opposition of 
their paths. Here, again, men are absent from the 
narrative. One might guess that in the background 

lies the patriarchal system that has led to “frownin’ 
from the pages of hard times,” but there is no 
nefarious villain to conquer. There is simply life to 
be lived, in all its beautiful and terrible simplicity. 
What is most enduring, however, is the evident 
love between these two unnamed women. Their 
friendship does not seem tangible, but rather their 
affection is bound in the solidarity of their identities 
of shared womanhood. 
“Nowhere, Baby” is a short breath of fresh air. 
The Secret Sisters do lonesome journeys and somber 
ballads so well, but “Nowhere, Baby” takes a chance 
to celebrate self-validation and victory. “And it’s time 
I showed myself exactly what I am made of / And 
that’s not a cop out, not a dream drop, not a ‘close, but 
no cigar’”: Self-doubt is banished to embrace inner 
strength, courage, and determination. A tale of a 
woman who spent a lifetime climbing “nowhere,” it 
is hopeful rather than deprecating. Moreover, it is 
a universal narrative: Life and time gets away from 
us, and suddenly we’re stranded too far from the 
starting line to go back, and the finish line too far 
away to grasp. Womanhood is life –– yes, it can be 
unique, but The Secret Sisters do not shy away from 
normalizing shared narratives. 

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

ANDREW WARRICK
Daily Arts Writer

MADELEINE VIRGINIA GANNON
Daily Arts Writer

Read more online at 
michigandaily.com

