"Pretty Girls" Is All About The Girl Power

I thought that this day would never come, but, finally, it's here. That is, "Pretty Girls" by Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea, the long-awaited collaboration that the two have been teasing since what feels like the dawn of forever, has finally hit iTunes and Vevo after being leaked over the weekend. It's not the best Spears song I've ever heard, but it is a get-up-and-dance girl power anthem featuring one of the biggest names in pop music since the '90s and, you know, Iggy Azalea. And both women do a good job of sharing the attention and the talent on the song without overwhelming each other. The lyrics of "Pretty Girls" tell a pretty straight-forward story of girl power with a feminist theme, and there's no doubt that the world could always use more of that.

"All around the world, pretty girls wipe the floor with all the boys. Pour the drinks, bring the noise. We're just so pretty," the chorus — which is also the intro to the song — begins. That single line is one of many that mark this song as more girl power than it is feminist, at least at first. The opening verses of the song promote women at the expense of men with lyrics like "Wherever the girls go, boys follow. We be keeping them up on their toes. They can laugh, but they don't get the jokes. Just you watch, they're so predictable." Then the song takes another turn in the second verse, revealing that it's not men in general they are castigating in the lyrics. It's men who see a pretty girl and assume it's their right to interrupt that girl's good time to try and get with them.

Tell me, is it true that these men are from Mars?

Is that why they be acting bizarre?

Every time I walk out of my house it's like, "Hey, baby!"

They don't see me rolling my eyes

They buzzing around me like flies

They got one thing on their minds

(Some things don't change...)

Now that's a message that I can get behind. The final piece of the song comes in with Azalea's rap verse, which rubs the theme in with lines like, "I would spend time with you but that'd cost me," while promising these thirsty boys that there's a very thin line between the beauty and the beast, and that she and Spears have no time for them or their entitlement. Overall, though the song has a rocky start, they do an admirable job of driving home the feminist message that a woman does not owe any man her attention just by virtue of being or feeling like a pretty girl when they leave their house. And men who feel otherwise are certainly not worth any woman's time.

It's been a long wait for the release of "Pretty Girls," but, now that it's here, don't pretend you aren't going to add it to your iTunes playlist and play it on repeat the same way that you played "Bang Bang" when it first came out. There are just some songs that make you want to get up and dance because of how well the song gets you, and "Pretty Girls" is one of them. But what did you expect with Britney Spears involved?

Listen to the song below.

Image: RCA Records