This song was originally recorded by Sixties Teenybopper queen Lesley Gore, and was pretty much the only good song she recorded in her heyday. It was Pop music’s first great feminist anthem, and was pretty groundbreaking in its day. And while most sung political statements eventually become dated to the point of sounding almost condescending, this song still sounds just as fresh and defiant as it did at the time. It’s been covered by pretty much every female singer on the planet, and is virtually impossible to screw up. This particular version seems to have charted in the U.S. primarily because it somehow wound up on the Suicide Squad soundtrack. The vocals are somewhat overprocessed, and it doesn’t compare to some of the earlier versions (particularly the Joan Jett cover), but while the original song is being sung, it’s still pretty effective. Unfortunately, G-Eazy’s Rap verses are wildly out of place here, and his attempts to sound feminist are so condescending that it almost amounts to blasphemy against the song’s legacy. There are worse things from the Suicide Squad soundtrack that were on the charts at the time, but this still owes pretty much all its good qualities to the classic song itself, and you can easily find a multitude of better versions.
Verdict: A mediocre-to-poor cover of a great song.