Mina Alali speaks to millions of working women when she belts out the chorus, “She will give it her best, short of twenty-two cents. No she won’t half sweat—seventy-eight percent. She will give it her all, wanna be standing tall. Though it’s hard to accept she’s twenty-two cents less.”
Her song reflects the passion and determination of women across the country who have spoked the wheels of our country’s innovation in spite of the gender-wage gap. Achieving gender parity could add a $4.3 trillion boost to the economy by 2025.
Nineteen-year-old Mina Alali is a student at Berklee College of Music. “If young girls hear this song and are inspired to advocate for themselves someday, I will consider it a great success,” states Mina. “People are used to hearing about the wage gap on the news and in political settings but we don’t often hear about it on YouTube or on the radio.”
The music video for the song was filmed in Boston, Massachusetts, where the first-in-the nation bill requiring men and women be paid equally for comparable work was signed into law by Governor Charlie Baker just months ago.
Mina’s mission as an artist is straightforward and sincere.
“My goal is to inspire—to move people, whether it be through the chord progression, the powerful message behind the lyrics, or the tone in which I sing my lyrics,” she writes on her blog.
A North American radio and press campaign has been launched to promote “22 Cents Less” and it has already popped up on regional radio charts, appeared on two national radio airplay charts, and has also begun a steady ascent on to the top of those playlists. She’s also just released a holiday video (https://youtu.be/v1ZAa3Whw2Q) titled “What I Want” as a special gift for her ever growing base of fans (https://www.reverbnation.com/mina1).