Intern Rachel Grate looks at the scary messages for girls embedded in seemingly innocent pop songs
By Rachel Grate
In the length of my hour commute to work it’s not unusual to hear One Direction’s hit “What Makes You Beautiful” upwards of three times on the radio. The pop music phenomenon is just the most recent of a series of artists that have topped iTunes charts and captured the hearts of young girls everywhere. But have you ever listened beyond their catchy beats to focus on the lyrics?
“What Makes You Beautiful” begins with the observation that the girl is “insecure” and the band “don’t know what for.” However, despite the entire song essentially being a list of compliments, the band members never encourage the girl to stop being insecure. In fact, the chorus croons, “You don’t know you’re beautiful, Oh oh, That’s what makes you beautiful.”
The band is telling their target audience of teenage girls not to be confident in their appearance (even if they are as beautiful as the girl from the song), but to remain insecure because low self-esteem is literally “what makes you beautiful.” Is that really a healthy message for young girls to be absorbing?
Disturbed by this song that seemed permanently stuck in my head, I delved deeper into seemingly innocent pop music. Turns out Justin Bieber, the icon of the teen pop music scene, isn’t actually that innocent either. His songs seem to subtly imply that women can be bought, are a source of property, and that being showered with cash is all they need to be happy.
In his first hit, “One Time,” Bieber promises to give his girl “everything down to my last dime.” In “Baby,” Bieber tries to stop his girlfriend from breaking up with him by promising to “buy you anything, I’ll buy you any ring.” In his newest hit, “Boyfriend,” he flaunts that “I got money in my hands that I’d really like to blow/Swag swag swag on you.” Over and over again, his songs support the idea that women are just after men’s money and – judging by how many pre-teens wish he was their actual boyfriend – the message is sticking.
Admittedly, it can be a little difficult to take anything seriously in a song that includes the word “swaggie.” It may seem a bit nit-picky to be analyzing the misogyny in these light-hearted songs when so many other artists (from rap to rock) seem incapable of referring to women as anything other than “bitch”. (Even when Akon, with David Guetta, tries to “find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful,” the best he can do is “sexy bitch.”) So why bother focusing on these pop songs?
Because so many pre-teen girls listen to Justin Bieber that you can actually buy a bed cover with his face on it, or an entire Justin Bieber dental care set. Because these artists’ target audience are at an age where they are most vulnerable and most likely to take these messages as valid life advice. Because the fact that these messages are so subtle compared to those in some rap songs means that it’s actually more difficult to identify and avoid them.
It’s not just male pop singers sending these messages. In Orianthi’s hit “According to You,” she lists all the (disturbingly abusive) insults her boyfriend has hurled at her: stupid, useless, difficult, hard to please, a mess, boring, moody, inattentive and more. But instead of supporting girls to leave an emotionally abusive relationship because of their own self worth, her only defense against this boyfriend is that another boy thinks she’s “beautiful.” The whole song is defining her value according to other people – never once is her target audience given an example of generating healthy self-esteem based on their own thoughts.
I’d love to think that pop songs will change their tune and start encouraging girls’ self-confidence, but given their commercial success, it doesn’t seem likely. Even less likely is that “Beliebers” will suddenly cease to exist. What is possible, crucially so, is to make sure young girls are aware of these hidden messages. The secret is that you don’t have to stop enjoying catchy music to resist the messages it’s implying.
Raising awareness is as simple as one car ride with my dad. “My Life Would Suck Without You” by Kelly Clarkson came on the radio, and I was singing along to the chorus (which is the title of the song).
“You should never be so emotionally dependent on someone to believe your life would suck without them,” my dad commented. “That’s unhealthy.”
I thought about it, I nodded in agreement, and I went back to belting out the song. Though my action stayed the same, my mindset, if only just a little bit, had changed for the better. And with enough little changes like that, girls will become conscious of these negative messages instead of absorbing them subconsciously.
Rachel Grate is an intern at MissRepresentation.org and a student at Scripps College, where she is studying English and Gender & Women’s Studies. Connect with her via LinkedIn.
Bravo! Excellent piece and analysis. Orianthi’s hit had really bugged me too, but I just thought I was being overanalytical. Thanks for this wonderful piece!
“So girl come on! You got it wrong! To prove I’m right I put it in a so-o-ong I don’t know why, you’re being shy And turn away when I look in to your ah-ah eyes.”
I don’t understand how these lyrics can be misconstrued to mean anything but that this girl is beautiful but doesn’t realize it herself and that this guy is trying to open her up to the fact that she is indeed gorgeous. That excerpt completely embodies this notion.
Upon reading this article one word comes to mind…WOW! This article was not only well written but thought provoking, I’d never even thought that these pop songs could be influencing young women and their self esteem. It makes so much sense though after you have pointed out the lyrics. Even the Kelly Clarkson song. I think you make a great point when you say that even though you went back to listening to the song your thought process had changed. Thats what we need to instill in both women and men. You can enjoy these songs, or tv, or film or whatever, but just realize that the negative images are there and are not to be taken literally. Again, this article was fabulous and I look forward to reading more from you!
AMAZING! that was beautiful and what I’ve been trying to tell people for ages!
You are thinking way to much into this. Would you rather the girl in the “What makes you beautiful” song know shes hot and wear skimpy clothing? This song is saying that she’s beautiful being herself.
This seems to call into question the definition of beauty. As Rachel seems to be arguing, the line “You don’t know you’re beautiful, Oh, oh That’s what makes you beautiful” will probably be interpreted as superficial beauty to the general (particularly pre-teen) public.
I absolutely agree with you on that one Lori! I think there is nothing wrong with that song. A girl who is down to earth and not full of herself is what they’re talking about!
Loved this article!
Great article! I definitely find myself thinking the exact same things every time I listen to top 40 music. It actually makes me feel really uneasy when I pay enough attention. For example, Pitbull’s “International Love” degrades women completely by focusing only on their bodies and sexuality while also making sweeping generalizations about women from different countries (apparently you can get a threesome in Romania and all women in Brazil wear blue, yellow and green thongs). And like you say, how can we take a song that rhymes “You know what I mean?” with “You know what I mean?” seriously enough to critique it for its social value, but when I even catch myself accidentally humming or singing along to a song that I hate with all my heart, it scares me how pervasive this music can be. Why can’t we have music that doesn’t make me feel sick to my stomach with stereotypes?
chill out hey…
Lori:
Yup, I would rather she knew she was hot and wore skimpy clothing. But it’s a false either/or- a strawman argument. The choices aren’t “be insecure” or “wear skimpy clothing”. Both insecure and secure women can dress in a variety of ways, for a variety of reasons. Why is how other women dress more important to you than their confidence?
Good critique, liked your perspective! I just wanted to add my take too… I think your first song analysis was a little unfair. Whenever I heard that song what ran through my head was a message of what made the girl beautiful is that she isn’t vain and looks obsessed, that she doesn’t act like her appearance is everything. A lot of stereotypically “beautiful” girls behave in an entitled stuck-up manner. I liked that this singer was celebrating the fact that this girl doesn’t care or “know” that she has the kind of looks that society prizes as “beautiful” she is beautiful because she is simply being herself. So to me, empowerment is how we choose to interpret music and lyrics. The best defense to subliminal messages is teaching young women to be critical thinkers and to dissect songs the way you have in this article. In the end, no amount of pop music is going to change who we are as women on the inside if we can empower ourselves with our own personal interpretations.
Well said Sarah, I completely agree with you!
I’m a teenage girl, and I understand completely what you’re saying. My friends often aspire to be Justin Bieber’s ‘perfect’ girl, and it makes me sad and upset when they comment that they’re ‘too ugly’ to ever be the subject of one of his songs. ‘Idols’ like these young boy groups do nothing for girls, except give them a low self-esteem, and force them to aspire to be someone else. Girls need to understand that the messages these songs give out are damaging and wrong. I think young boys also need to understand this, as these songs can also twist young boys’ views of young girls, and what women should be like, further forcing the objectification of women into society. It’s sad that pop music revolves around sexualization rather than anything worthwhile nowadays, and even sadder that this negatively implements the young generation of today.
Kudos to Rachel Grate for a well written article.
I wish I could say the same about the content.
Yes, young american women seem to have a problem with self-esteem. Blaming that low self-regard on music is just another copout in a society when nobody wants to accept responsibility for anything. We suffered a decade or so of RAP/CRAP with lyrics even worse and there was little outcry. I’m sure that partly happened because no one dared to criticize “black” music because it wasn’t PC to do so. Now, another bunch of young girls are listening to teen idols who grew up on those nefarious lyrics and we are going to blame them?
Come on now…. get real. Don’t start your writing career by being whiney and powerless. Don’t be a victim pointing at why other people make you the way you are.
Look beyond the obvious to the cause, and don’t glorify the effect by giving it more attention than it deserves. Teen idols are going to happen; parents will always think teen music is stupid (or you name your emotion); but teen music will always be a reflection of the society around it.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for writing this article! I am a teenager myself and don’t enjoy One Direction or Justin Bieber, and that decision is mostly based on the fact that their songs promote insecurity and low self-esteem. Every time I hear One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful” I want to turn off the radio because I have always been bothered by the fact that they seem to only think the girl in the song is beautiful because she has no self-confidence and doesn’t realize that she is beautiful. I have friends who feel insecure and don’t understand or appreciate their beauty, and I’m afraid that the music we hear everyday on a simple bus ride home from school is causing part of their insecurity. It makes me sad to see my friends this way, and it makes me even more sad to know that every time “What Makes You Beautiful” plays on the radio, thousands of girls just like me are out there believing the message it portrays…
@Lori-
I would personally argue that the problem is that we are so fixated on physical attractiveness and not on more important attributes. When we compliment women-even on their personalities, as this song may be implying- we do so by telling them that it makes them beautiful. If a girl is fun, nice, and confident, she should be complimented as such. I would never tell my boyfriend that his enthusiasm for life or his sense of humor makes him handsome. Beauty isn’t everything and by telling women that they must look, or act, a certain way to be ‘beautiful’ and therefore valuable and worthy of affection and happiness, we are perpetuated a value system that makes women and girls everywhere incredibly self-conscious about their looks and attractiveness to men.
Actually, I have to disagree with the ‘interpretation’ of ‘What Makes You Beautiful’.
It goes on to say “So girl come on!! you got it wrong! To prove I’m right I put it in a song”
The line “That’s what makes you beautiful’ simply means she is a beautiful person because she doesn’t even realize how great she is. Modesty is a virtue, after all.
But if we are going to pick on songs, try listening to “because you loved me” by Celine Dion. It essentially says “I was a piece of shit until you loved me.” Nice message there. Where was the outrage 16 years ago?
I enjoyed this critique. At first I thought “oh no, an extreme feminist view point nit-picking,” but it turns out to be the same thought process I have. I myself enjoy top 40 music, yet I encourage girls to actively listen and discover what the song is really saying. I love you said there is no reason not to listen to the music, we as a society need to actively listen to the meanings behind the words. Which I hope more will begin to do.
Even when I was a teenager, these messages in pop songs drove me crazy. I was seemingly the only girl who hated Maroon 5, especially “She Will Be Loved.” BLECH. It’s such a cheap trick: valorize insecure girls who don’t realize how beautiful they are, and you’ll automatically have a huge following of young girls with low self esteem who like to think the song is about them.
But the song that grates on my nerves the most? “Daughters” by John Mayer:
Boys, you can break
You’ll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without the warmth from
A womans good, good heart
On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the god and the weight of her world
So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too
Thank you John Mayer, for being our knight in shining armor and speaking on behalf of all the weak, helpless women. We ALL want to be wives and mothers one day, since it’s our job as women to find a man and make him feel loved with our “good, good heart.” We’re meant to be the nurturers and men are meant to be our protectors. That’s the natural order of things.
*rolls eyes*
Sorry to break it to you, men, but you’re not the “god and weight” of our world.
what about bruno mars’ “the way you are” — got any problems with that one? maybe you’ll say that he only thinks the girl is beautiful because she, too, doesn’t “realize it.” well, come on! these songs are rightful attempts at making girls swoon – girls who are normal and therefore insecure sometimes and who want guys to think they’re attractive in their natural vulnerabilities. how contrived it would be if all songs were along the lines of neo’s “miss independent,” or whatever that song is where the woman’s “got her own thing, that’s why i love her?” the new direction dudes, who are bringing back boy-band goodness for the 2010s, are simply trying to say that the girl is beautiful because she doesn’t know it, so it’s not a put-on; it’s more authentic and therefore emanates something far more attractive that something fabricated. these guys aren’t PROMOTING insecurity; they’re picking up on a basic truth – that people are more attractive when they don’t seem to realize it. confidence is very attractive, but confidence doesn’t have to be about physicality! come on! if anything, the new directions song is far less shallow than others – the girl’s personality is what makes her beautiful as much as her looks. get a grip and focus on more important things that mess with gender equality and poor influences on girls.
Really? They’re saying it’s the girl’s personality that makes her beautiful? Because it sounds a lot like they’re saying she’s physically beautiful, but with low self esteem.
I don’t hear any pop artists singing songs about average looking girls who have the virtue of humility.
So let me get this straight… The criteria for being “beautiful” is being physically attractive, but not realizing it. So If a girl is extremely attractive by conventional standards, and she has a realistic self image, she’s not “beautiful.” If a girl is humble but she’s not particularly attractive by conventional standards, she’s not beautiful either.
That totally makes me swoon.
Excellent article. A more positive lyric, would be “You’re confident, and I know it, and that’s what makes you beautiful.”
But I blame the song writer. One Direction didn’t write the lyrics.
I don’t think even the author of this blog read the lyrics to One Direction’s “What makes you Beautiful.” It is clear in the song that the girl is made even more beautiful because of how she doesn’t realize her true beauty. “So girl come on! You got it wrong! To prove I’m right I put it in a so-o-ong I don’t know why, you’re being shy And turn away when I look in to your ah-ah eyes.” If this isn’t a plea to change her views upon herself, then what is? It seems obvious throughout the song that the guy is amazed that someone so beautiful could not see herself as beautiful and is trying to let her know that she is.
For those looking for some positive pro-girl & Pro-self esteem messages in Pre-teen pop, try checking out the Australian early 90′s Girl Band “Girlfriend”.
People quote the Spice Girls as being the start of the “girl power” catch phrase and phenomenon, but in Aus – we’d had a far better example already for the previous 6 years.
Girlfriend were my fave band in primary school and at 27 I still love them for the positive messages they portray in their songs. Don’t get me wrong, not every song is great, a lot of their ballads were in the usual simpering “I wish you loved me” style of the time, but as an overall message: AWESOME.
The album titles alone start the positive messages with “It’s Up To You” and “Make It Come True”
My best picks
Off “It’s Up To You” are “Get It Done”, “I Love This World” “Individual” “Just a Girl” and “Saving it up”
off “Make It Come True” are “All or Nothing”, “Go For It”, “What Kinda Girl”, “Promises”, “Skating on Thin Ice” and “Bad Attitude”
I think in the second list too (excluding “Go For It”) the songs all work well together to enhance meaning and the overall message of “if you want to be with me, then you have to do right by me”
I hope it gives some people a bit of hope even if it is 20years old!
Being a Directioner myself, I can totally see where you are coming from. I wish there was someway we could get the message to them. And educate them on how their song could actually be damaging.
Ok, but seriously? There is nothing wrong with those songs and you are all a bunch of feminists who are way over thinking these pop songs. If you really want to dive into songs that degrade women, maybe you should look at rap songs where saying derogatory names of women’s private areas is completely acceptable. Stop diving into innocent pop songs and trying to sway their message.
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Kudos to you Rachel, for a well written and very well argued article.
It really encouraged me to start thinking about the song’s that I choose to listen to a little more closely.
You are all delusional! You are thinking way too deep into the song. Saying “You don’t know you’re beautiful oh oh that’s what makes you beautiful” isn’t saying that the girl should say insecure. They’re saying the way that she flips her hair, and when she smiles at the ground etc, they are what makes her beautiful. If you don’t see this you must be a grade A moron! And you are most likely lonely women who are jealous of the love us teens are getting from the guys. And you’re probably also jealous of Justin Bieber that he will buy his girl whatever she wants. You don’t see him ONCE say “Women are objects la la la, we can buy them” no. Maybe you ladies should get out a little more, do something productive with your lives! kthanksbye
This twisted interpretation of the one direction song is absurd.. misinterpreting half of one line in the song in an attempt to support an interesting but in this case irrelevant argument. It is so clearly a song telling someone she doesn’t need to plaster herself in make up to be beautiful, but that she’s already good enough, she’s already beautiful, she just doesn’t know it. Don’t tell us you don’t know anyone in that situation! The line at the end… “that’s what makes you beautiful” makes total sense. She is unassuming, she is not boasting. Theat is an attractive trait , what’s wrong with that. As for Justin Bieber trying to buy his girlfriend’s happiness… hardly surprising for a teenager who has made too much money too quickly… and don’t try and kid yourself that most or at least many educated women in their 20s and even 30s are not swayed by gifts or wealth sometimes… how many friends of yours have knocked a gift cos it wasn’t worth “enough”… our advertising is full of it. Finally, instead of knocking these lightweight popsongs (which are not really about the words, anyway, they are about cute guys and catchy tunes), why not analyse Rhianna and co’s lyrics – confident, sure, sometimes, and also taunting guys about their sexuality and inviting brutality and misogyny. How about Flo-rida, again, super catchy, but thinky disguised songs about “doing as you are told and giving head.” Leave One direction alone, chill on little Bieber, get real about where the really disturbing lyrics are.
thank You!!! that’s exactly how i feel. people just think since they that one word is bad they think the whole song is bad for kids. but thanks for finally opening peoples eyes
Are there any girl-positive songs you CAN recommend? I have my own running list but would love some new fresh ideas for a mother/daughter workshop coming up. Thanks, ~ Holly Cervini for myTERMS
I ,personally, has to disagree with the article. Really, there’s nothing wrong with the song “What makes you beautiful”. I’m a preteen, and yes, I’m also a directioner, but only because when I first hear this song, I cried. I am a VERY inseacre person and do care very much on what people think of me, and when I heard this song. It was like saying to me, “Wake up, girl! Your beautiful! Go take a look in the mirror for once.”
They’re saying, just as the song goes, “You don’t know your beautiful.” Simple as that.
And just because she doesn’t know, makes her MUCH more beautiful.
Part of the chours actually says, “If only you saw what I CAN see, you’ll understand why I want you sooo desperatly.”
They’re saying, “Babe, you’re beautiful.”
Clear as day.
But I did like that you have a point with some songs like, Kelly Clarkson, “My life would suck without you” and I dislike John Mayer “Daughters” too because he was puttin down woman, saying their whole lives is just to serve some guy.
No.