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While women may on the surface appear to have the same legal rights as men, there are still endless things women can’t do in modern society \u2014 like interact with strangers without fearing for their safety, or live free from men’s expectations. In real life, that is. But in songs, they can do anything. On her debut album Girls Like Me<\/em>, Toronto-based singer, songwriter, and producer Nyssa exploits the freedom afforded by music to help listeners imagine a more egalitarian world.<\/p>\n Sung with dramatic ’80s-esque vocals against triumphant guitar riffs inspired by Bruce Springsteen, the LP centers on fictional characters Nyssa created to represent certain concepts. Several of the characters, whose names start with the common letter J to designate an “every man” or “every woman,” are women doing things real-world women aren’t permitted to do.<\/p>\n The opening track “Hey Jackie,” for instance, centers on a female hitchhiker. After an intro reminiscent of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley,” Nyssa’s smokey voice sings of a woman who eats apples from a tree while shirtless, sleeps in a boxcar, and takes part in other adventures.<\/p>\n “That’s something that doesn’t really happen because the idea of a woman traveling alone on the open road seems unsafe, and any time you see that story, it ends tragically,” she says. “So what I’m trying to do with these female characters is give them the chance to have a freedom that the real world does not allow them.”<\/p>\n