The Girl Scouts and Breakthrough Music have released a new anthem for young feminists everywhere: “Watch Me Shine,” written by two-time Grammy winner Liz Rose and chart-topping songwriter Emily Shackelton. The song is available for streaming on Music Choice and will be featured this month as part of the Girl Scouts’ Kids Summer Programming.
The organization’s first-ever original song and music video—both featuring real Girl Scouts and written, produced, directed and distributed entirely by women—tell the story of a young songwriter turning her dream into a reality in the famous Nashville Blackbird Studio in a powerful showcase of the impact preparing girls for a lifetime of leadership can have on their lives and their communities.
“Every girl should have a chance to change the world,” Girl Scouts wrote in a press statement. “The music video celebrates every girl’s inner G.I.R.L. (Go-getter, Innovator, Risk-taker, Leader)™ ambition, applauding girls who never give up, who try new things and who make their ideas a reality.”
Juliet Shavit, the cofounder of Breakthrough Music and business producer on the song, came to the project with a direct connection to its mission. “There’s just a very strong emphasis on action, and especially in today’s environment where everyone seems to have something to say,” Shavit said, “it’s great to be someone who is doing, like my girls.” Her three daughters—all of them members of the Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania—spoke about the joy of being part of the production of “Watch Me Shine.”
Eden, 12, who has been a Girl Scout for many years, has always wanted to record a song for the organization. “I think this song means that girls can do anything they want to do,” she explained. “I have a passion for engineering and I really like to build things. The song reminds me that I can do that and anything else I want to do!”
“It just goes to show you, if you really think you can do something, you can. You’re just as capable as anyone else,” Maya, 13, said, adding that the female focus inspired her and others involved in making the anthem come to life. “Everyone involved had a really strong sense of what they wanted the song to mean. They wanted it to have a strong message. I think this song is very uplifting… It shows the drive and abilities that a girl can have and how we are unafraid and ready to fight anything that comes our way.”
That’s a message that resonates within Girl Scouts and beyond. “The song is meaningful for anyone, [it] relates to all of us,” Ariel, 9, asserted.
“We don’t all want to be the same thing,” Eden added. ‘We don’t want to have our lives planned out for us. We want to be able to help others, be happy and be ourselves.”
