All Hail The Queen

Call me archaic but I think in our modern age, monarchy still exists. We hand-pick our royalties from semi-celebrities to people who take their photos of their outfit of the day, unknowingly proclaiming ourselves as their followers. (Oh hello, Twitter.)

But there will always be the royalty we didn’t choose and simply invaded our lives – in high school, in college and even at work. They might not be the same person, but she’s definitely the same girl. The girl God made to continually make us feel insecure and inadequate. The Queen Bee.

Contrary to popular belief, the Queen Bee is not the girl you can never be. In fact, she’s the girl who’s almost as good (or great) as you, only she makes herself appear to be better than you. She surrounds herself with friends who will make her always one step ahead and bullies you if you attempt to wage a fair fight. She can be the girl who violently pushes you when you bump into each other. Or she can be the girl who gives you cake face to face and would attach a nuclear weapon at your back. Either way, she’s the golden girl and she will make sure you cannot outshine her.

In my 24 years in this planet, I’ve been pushed around, given cake and been planted with nuclear bombs from behind. I’ve seen girls fight back against the Queen Bees of their life but early on, I realized I’m not the type who does that. For years, I’ve suffered and wallowed quietly until I recently learned that the Queen Bee’s source of power is my very own insecurities.

So whenever I felt that my own Queen Bee haunts me and  tries to paralyze me, I hear The Eraserheads sing to me: “Ikaw ang diyos at hari nang ‘yong mundo. Matakot sila sa ‘yo.” I’ll be reminded to let go and let the Queen Bee have her rule, find a myself a new passion to take control of. Something I can own and I can be awesome at.

And here’s my ode to all the Queen Bees who tried but failed to reign over me.

1. Pretend To Be Nice by Letters To Cleo
2. Boys With Girlfriends by Meiko
3. Ugly Girl by Fleming & John
4. Call An Ambulance by Albert Hammond, Jr.
5. Tighten Up by The Black Keys
6. Happiness Is A Warm Gun by The Beatles
7. Crazy by Aerosmith
8. I Can Buy You by A Camp
9. You Know The Answer, Follow The Leader by Ciudad*
10. SURPRISE TRACK
11. (They Long To Be) Close To You cover by Cranberries
12. Just Like Heaven by The Cure
13. There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You by Ben Folds
14. Cool by Gwen Stefani
15. Giraffe by The Miniature Tigers
16. You’re So Cruel Stephanie by Patience Dear Juggernaut*
17. Bust Your Kneecaps by Pomplamoose

Download the mix here.

*You Know The Answer, Follow The Leader by Ciudad can be downloaded here.
*You’re So Cruel Stephanie by Patience Dear Juggernaut can be downloaded here.