‘We Are Lady Parts’ Delivers Multiple Songs of the Summer for Its Villain Era
That any television show ever gets a first season is a bit of a miracle, and subsequent seasons even more so these days. That something as wildly fun and original as “We Are Lady Parts,” chronicling the (sadly fictional) adventures of London’s premier all-female Muslim punk band, has now gotten a second season at Peacock feels like creator Nida Manzoor pulled off a heist. And it feels that way not least because Manzoor was able to use what she learned from her collaborators on Season 1 and create set pieces that let them flex different muscles in Season 2.
It’s not hard to spot how “We Are Lady Parts” expanded its world and our view of its characters in Season 2, from giving the hard-nosed Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey) big goofy comedic moments to putting ultimate girl-next-door Amina (Anjana Vasan) at the center of a love triangle. But one of the places where the show’s increased ambition shines the brightest is in its songwriting.
Season 2 features both sad girl remixes and soulless label edits of its existing bangers as well as new tunes from Manzoor and her songwriting partners Shez Manzoor, Sanya Manzoor, and Benni Fregin. “For me, I wanted to grow past Season 1, so I wanted to challenge not only the cast and the band, but also my siblings who I write the music with: How can we level up now, and how can each song show a different side to Lady Parts?” Manzoor told IndieWire on an upcoming episode of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast.
Leveling up takes several forms in the songwriting of “We Are Lady Parts,” although the sparkling humor of the lyrics and the joyous enthusiasm of the performances remain the same. Manzoor and her collaborators were intentional and strategic about varying their approach so that each number pushes the characterization of the band forward but feels fresh. There are spots where the songs swing at whole new genres, as with the Western dude-rock vibe of “Malala Made Me Do It,” spots where the filmmaking itself would expand a number’s scope, as with the angry razor editing of “Glass Ceiling Feeling,” and spots where Manzoor’s camera would step back and let the vocal performances shine in a way the group-coming-together dynamics of Season 1 perhaps didn’t have space for.
The most outstanding example of this last approach might well be Faith Omole’s take on Nina Simone’s “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” sung at a moment when her character Bisma is having trouble articulating a crisis of identity to her family. The number is integral to Bisma’s arc and also something that happened because Manzoor realized she could. “I went to see a musical [Omole was in] in London and she has this incredible voice. I didn’t think I really appreciated just how big and expansive her voice is,” Manzoor said. “So I knew I wanted to give her a really big musical moment [in Season 2].”
Manzoor’s instincts as a director (she directed all six episodes of “We Are Lady Parts” Season 2) are to let her have that musical moment, too. “I knew my DP could really create this world, this visual language. I knew that P.C. Williams, my costume designer, could create these amazing Western looks for that Malala song. The level of trust was so much deeper that I felt so much freer to just push it to a whole new level for Season 2,” Manzoor said.
There’s something very virtuous-cycle about the levels that the Manzoors and Fregin settled on for Season 2, though, anchored as they are in stretching particular character dynamics and the show’s established tone. Even “Villain Era,” which Manzoor described as the new song most classically Lady Parts, contained a Season 2 twist. “What’s new and exciting for me about that song was having Amina lead it. She’s the awkward girl next door and seeing her really lean into this sort of badass punk energy, dropping her own F-bombs, was really joyful,” Manzoor said.
Manzoor especially credits her sister Sanya Manzoor and Fregin for the bedroom rock rework of Season 1 standout “Bashir with the Good Beard,” performed in Season 2 by the upstart fan-band Sister Wives. “They really found that very Billie Eilish-inspired sound and when they came up with that, it made me angry, just how catchy it was. So that was really fun,” Manzoor said. “I was really making sure each song was catchy, had the humor, but then also was doing something new from Season 1 because I just felt so emboldened. When you have a team that you trust, my fellow songwriters — you want to evolve together.”
“We Are Lady Parts” is available to stream on Peacock.
