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Isaac Falk

Professor Flores

English Composition II

20 February 2022

“I Will Survive”

In 1978, Gloria Gaynor released a song titled “I Will Survive” which meant to empower

women to find the strength and independence to leave their unhealthy relationships. Just eighteen

years later, CAKE, an American rock band, did a cover of the famous song that acted as a gender

reversal and essentially claimed that men need to find the strength to leave relationships where

the woman is emotionally controlling over them.

Gloria Gaynor released her famous album titled “Love Tracks” in 1978. The album

featured eight songs from the disco and dance genre that mostly referred to the hardships of bad

relationships. The album specifically contained a song titled “I Will Survive” which instantly

became a hit. The lyrics behind the song demonstrate themes of women’s empowerment in

society. The song talks about how women need to find the strength necessary to leave unhealthy

relationships. The lyrics also mention how women need to realize that they can be free and

independent and should never feel pressured to stay committed in unhealthy or unacceptable

relationships. Gloria Gaynor specifically says, “...and now I'm saving all my loving

for someone who's loving me,” which shows how you should only be in a relationship with

someone who treats you the way you deserve to be treated. Because the song was written at a

time when women often felt pressured to stay in bad or even abusive relationships, this song sent

a much-needed message for the world to hear. They claim the music video essentially tries to
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establish is simply that women should never be expected to stay committed to a man who does

not treat her how she deserves to be treated. The claim is mainly supported lyrically, however,

the music video also provides support for the claim. The music video features Gloria Gaynor

singing and dancing with such emotion in her voice and dance moves that directly support the

claim by demonstrating women’s empowerment. Throughout the music video, there are also

clips of a woman roller skating and dancing through the disco lights. The skater represents how

women can be happy without being in a relationship and how they need to realize their

self-worth and just how strong it is. The music video overall appeals to pathos since it triggers an

emotional response in those who watch. The emotional response is inherently uplifting which

also helps to support the claim. The targeted audience seems to be women between the ages of

18 and 40. This would be the target audience since this is the demographic that is most

susceptible to feeling pressure to stay committed in unhealthy relationships.

In 1997, CAKE, a popular American rock band, released their cover of the famous song

by Gloria Gaynor titled, “I Will Survive”. The cover song instantly became a hit due to the

perfected instrumentation and notable differences between it and the original song. When

listening to the song, one instantly picks up on the alternative rock genre. The lyrics of the song

are very similar to those in the famous song by Gloria Gaynor, however, a few important

alterations do exist which completely reverse the meaning of the song entirely. The meaning of

the cover song is essentially a direct gender reversal from the original. What this means is that

the cover song, rather than continuing to talk about women’s empowerment, talks about how

men must also free themselves from women who are emotionally controlling over them. The

lyrics claim that women often can cause significant emotional damage to their significant other

without even realizing it. This implies that men must realize if they are in a relationship where
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their significant other is controlling or emotionally manipulating and find the strength to leave

the relationship. The music video depicts the lead singer of the band, who is depicted as some

type of city worker, who drives around a city. The evidence to support the claim is found in the

demeanor and voice of the lead singer. Throughout the music video, it becomes obvious that he

is tired and sluggish which represents the emotional trauma he has been put through. This,

combined with just how slow the song is in general, provides evidence to support the fact that

men must leave unhealthy relationships to be truly happy. This is what makes the cover song also

an appeal to pathos. It triggers emotions of sympathy since you watch a seemingly innocent city

worker struggling to get through the day due to the implied emotional damage he has been

through. The targeted audience of the cover song seems to be men between the ages of 18 and

40. This is the demographic that is most likely to feel pressure to stay in a committed relationship

with a controlling woman, which makes it the target audience of the cover song.

“I Will Survive'' by Gloria Gaynor, and the cover song by CAKE, have some notable

differences. Firstly, the meaning of the song is similar but completely reversed in terms of

gender. Additionally, when listening to both songs one instantly picks up the notable difference

between music genres. The original song by Gloria Gaynor fits the disco dance genre, whereas

the cover song by CAKE features a rock genre interpretation. The genre of the songs helps to

show the separation of the meanings since the original song has a seemingly more feminine

genre, whereas the cover song has a seemingly more masculine genre. However, both songs still

manage to talk about the importance of realizing self-worth and understanding that it is not

emotionally healthy to stay in bad relationships.