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Image via @MichelleObama on Twitter
Earlier today, First Lady Michelle Obama kicked off SXSW’s music week with her keynote speech. Discussing young women’s education, music, gender inequality, and her Let Girls Learn initiative with Missy Elliott, Queen Latifah, Diane Warren, and Sophia Bush, Mrs. Obama also shared a star-studded song about women empowerment.
“This Is For My Girls” was written by Warren and features Missy, Janelle Monáe, Kelly Rowland, Kelly Clarkson, Lea Michele, Zendaya, Jadagrace, and Chloe & Halle. The song’s aim is to highlight the stories of women, and was performed by Chloe & Halle moments before the panel took the stage in Austin.
“We haven’t had an anthem like this in awhile,” Warren tells Billboard. “I envisioned the record being with all these different women, never just one girl singing on it. With Kelly Rowland on it, it’s almost like an updated Destiny’s Child record. I think it can be a huge worldwide anthem. I hope it becomes that.”
During her keynote, FLOTUS also showed off her musical talent when Queen Latifah asked about the First Family’s final moments in the White House, to which Obama responded with Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”:
Michelle Obama’s Let Girls Learn initiative aims to educate the “62 million girls around the world” who are not in school. 100% of the revenue generated from purchases of “This Is For My Girls” will directly go to the Peace Corps Let Girls Learn Fund.
Listen to a snippet of “This Is For My Girls” below, and hear the song in its entirety via iTunes.
