"Quiet" is a

feminist anthem This is a list of songs described as feminist anthems, celebrating women's empowerment, or used as protest songs against gender inequality. These songs range from airy pop affirmations such as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" by Cyndi Lauper, to s ...

co-written, co-produced, and performed by

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

–based singer-songwriter

MILCK Connie K. Lim, professionally known as Milck (stylized as MILCK), is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter. A child of immigrants from Hong Kong, she initially performed as an independent artist for several years, and rose to widespread attentio ...

. It received national attention after she organized

a capella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

performances of the song at the

2017 Women's March The Women's March was a worldwide protest on January 21, 2017, the day after Inauguration of Donald Trump, the inauguration of Donald Trump as US president. It was prompted by Trump's policy positions and rhetoric, which protesters called Misog ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, after which she made the

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

publicly available and organized further activity around the song.

History

MILCK wrote "Quiet" with her co-writer Adrianne “AG” Gonzalez in 2015. While the song draws on the artist’s adolescent experiences of

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

, depression, and

anorexia Anorexia nervosa, often referred to simply as anorexia, is an eating disorder characterized by low weight, food restriction, body image disturbance, fear of gaining weight, and an overpowering desire to be thin. ''Anorexia'' is a term of Gre ...

, it was inspired by “a nightmare in which she was being assaulted and a bystander in her dream told her she just had to stay quiet until it was over.” The lyrical structure of the song breaks with the most common

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

song structure Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...

, taking the form of

verse Verse may refer to: Poetry * Verse, an occasional synonym for poetry * Verse, a metrical structure, a stanza * Blank verse, a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme * Free verse, a type of poetry written without the use of strict me ...

pre-chorus Song structure is the arrangement of a song, and is a part of the songwriting process. It is typically sectional, which uses repeating forms in songs. Common forms include bar form, 32-bar form, verse–chorus form, ternary form, strophic form, and ...

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song) or refrain, line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in which all verse ...

, pre-chorus, chorus,

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

, chorus. MILCK organized 26 singers from various choirs around the U.S. into the #ICANTKEEPQUIET chorus, to perform an a cappella version of her song

flash mob A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via t ...

style during the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. One performance with the singers from the GW Sirens & Capital Blend went viral on the internet; MILCK was praised for having authored the “unofficial anthem” of the Women’s March. Within a week, MILCK and other performers reprised the Women's March version on the television show ''

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ''Full Frontal with Samantha Bee'' is an American late-night talk and news satire television program that aired on TBS from 2016 to 2022. The show was hosted by comedian Samantha Bee, a former correspondent on ''The Daily Show''. In July 202 ...

''. In response to the attention given to "Quiet" as a result of the Women's March, MILCK publicized the song on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

using the

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#ICANTKEEPQUIET. This was intended to allow people to share their stories and access the sheet music for the a cappella version for free, so that they could create their own #ICANTKEEPQUIET choirs.

Personnel

– composer, lead vocals *

Adrianne Gonzalez Adrianne E. Gonzalez (born 1977) is an American songwriter, producer, composer, and mix engineer who works under the name AG. Career Gonzalez was born and raised in Miami, where she was a chorister and taught herself piano and guitar, taking ...

– composer, background vocals *Rod Castro – guitar *

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session musician, drummer, producer and songwriter. Biography Life and career Chamberlain was born in San Pedro, California on April 17, 1967. He began learning how to play the drums ...

– drums *

Patricia Bahia Patricia Bahia is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Her songs have aired on TV shows, The Fosters (American TV series), Nashville (2012 TV series), Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, and Riverdale (2017 TV series), among others ...

- background vocals *Kyler England - background vocals *Keely Bumford - background vocals *

Dia Frampton Dia Frampton (born October 2, 1987) is an American musician, singer and songwriter. Frampton is the lead singer of the band Meg & Dia, was the runner-up in the inaugural season of ''The Voice,'' and is perhaps most known for her presence and col ...

- background vocals *Mary Osborne - background vocals *Iljeoma Njaka - background vocals *Sophia Dion - background vocals *Hungarian Studio Orchestra - orchestra

References

{{Reflist 2017 songs Women's rights in the United States Songs about sexual assault