Top 5 Female Solos

Reader, as you may know, I like to have my monthly top 5 lists correspond with each other. So, because it is still women’s month and I focused on female literary heroes on Wednesday, it just makes sense to focus on female musical songs today.

That’s right, today I’m counting down my top 5 female solos (which was pretty much impossible to narrow down) from musicals. I included songs that have ensembles providing back up and may have short snippets from other singers, but all of these are primarily soloes with female singers.

So let’s get right to the list!

Honourable Mention: Still Hurting from The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown is one of those composers who is pretty much incapable of writing a bad song, so picking just one of his songs to feature here was extremely tricky. However, with careful reflection, the only acceptable answer turned out to be this opener from The Last Five Years. The strongest and most emotional song in the whole score, this one sets the stage for the whole show and wins a whole lot of sympathy for Cathy right off the bat. The lyrics are straightforward while the music is not, making it a deceptively simplistic track that gathers strength the more you listen to it.

5. Don’t Lose Ur Head from Six the Musical

Technically, every song in this show is a female solo, but when it came to picking one, there was no contest. I have written extensively on this blog about how much I love Don’t Lose Ur Head. It’s sassy, it’s feminist, it’s funny, and it’s subversive. And it’s also bubblegum pop. That’s a lot of things to be all at once, but it pulls it off gracefully.

4. Watch What Happens from Newsies

Katherine is like my musical theatre hero (this is another topic I’ve written extensively about). She is a feminist writer at the turn of the century who tap-dances. Is anything cooler? Consequently, I adore her solo, a patter monologue that covers her writer’s block, her ambition, her dreams, her growing feelings for Jack, and the desire for change the Newsboy’s Strike indicates. It’s a lot, but it never feels rushed, mainly because the timing is so impeccable and the score so gorgeous.

3. All Grown Up from Bare: A Pop Opera

This is a more recent addition to my list of favourites, but I already love it just as much as the ones that have been there for years. This song is a gutpunch, dripping with raw emotions masked in a soaring belt. As Ivy breaks down, she doesn’t hold anything back, resulting in a song that is as emotionally raw as it is beautiful.

2. Flowers from Hadestown

Speaking of emotionally raw songs, I couldn’t make this list without including this absolute gem from Hadestown. As Eurydice reflects on her decision to sign away her soul to Hades, she sings this gorgeous ballad guaranteed to make the tears start to pour. The music is calm and soothing juxtaposing heartbreakingly with the pain that fills Eva Noblezada’s voice as sings of all the things that she’s given up in return for safety. If you aren’t even slightly choked up on that final line, there’s something wrong with you.

1. Superboy and the Invisible Girl from Next to Normal

This has been on my favourite list since Grade 11, so naturally it had to be number one. Like all the rest of Next to Normal, this uses a pop sound to underscore deeply painful emotion, and the relatively simple lyrics reveal dark truths that make your heart just ache for Natalie. Add in the harmonies from Aaron Tveit at the end, overshadowing Jennifer Damiano even as she sings about being overshadowed, and it’s just too much. This is what perfection sounds like.

And there you have it, those are my top 5 female solos. You guys should let me know in the comments what your favourites are, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Until the next time.