Pretty Hurts Analysis
I have always been drawn to strong, independent women and all that they stand for. People like Gloria Steinem, Rosa Parks, and Margaret Sanger are the reason women can live as freely as we do today. Despite this, however, women are still expected to look and act a certain way. Nowadays, people in the music industry use their prominence to recognize social and political injustices going on in our everyday lives, and in turn educates people on important issues that they otherwise may not have known or cared about. Now I am not saying that a song with powerful lyrics is comparable to leading the feminist movement, or standing up against racial inequality, or creating what would eventually become Planned Parenthood, but it opens peoples’ eyes to
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what is going on in the world.
One of my all-time favorite songs is Pretty Hurts by Beyoncé. I have always been a big fan of Beyoncé, but when she released her self-named album in 2014, I developed a newfound respect for her. Beyoncé used her fame and popularity to bring the everyday struggles young girls and women go through into the spotlight. This particular song focuses on a pageant girl, and the voices of the media and her mother telling her how she needs to look. She talks about how “perfection is the disease of a nation”, with an ideal body type, hair color, and style being the end goal for girls as they grow up. The chorus of the song says that “you can’t fix what you can’t see; it’s the soul that needs the surgery” because in the end your personality and who you are on the inside matters more than what is on the outside. While this message may sound cheesy, I agree with it. Sometimes in order to change your outward appearance, you end up changing who you are on the inside as well. Seeing as Beyoncé has always been a curvier African American woman, she faces discrimination towards her race as well as her body type on a daily basis. Based on this and the overall tone of the song, you can infer that the song values non-conformity and acceptance. I have always believed that body positivity is crucial in order to maintain a bigger sense of equality among women. If “what you wear is all that matters” then things like harassment and bullying would become more prominent in schools, and at a much younger age. Beyoncé is an artist that reaches a wide demographic of people, and not just from the United States. While her lyrics can touch a variety of people, the music video for Pretty Hurts illustrates the message behind the song even better.
The music video for Pretty Hurts starts out with a close up of a defeated looking Beyoncé.
It shows multiple girls who are basically skin and bones, trying to squeeze themselves into even tinier dresses. This scene portrays how detrimental eating disorders can be, because even after you reach your “goal weight”, your reflection in the mirror has become so distorted that you cannot see how small you are, or why your family and friends are worried about you. One woman who stuck out to me in the music video had an eating disorder, but it was not just her ribcage that caught my attention. This woman was clearly African American, yet her skin had been lightened. Skin lightening has recently become popular among African American women because lighter skin is considered “prettier”. This, as well as diet pills, weigh ins, and vigorous exercise regimens were shown throughout the video to portray the lengths women go to in order to be considered beautiful. The music video truly adds to the song’s message because it depicts just how extreme societal expectations can be, and the effect it has on women. There is only so much you can gather from the lyrics alone, but when paired with the video, it becomes a powerful message about self-confidence and
empowerment.
Overall, Pretty Hurts was a groundbreaking song on an already powerful album. It showed the stereotypes that women still feel the need to fit, and the impact societal expectations can have on women as famous as Beyoncé. She used her voice and her power in the music industry to make a change. In the end, equality and acceptance are what we are striving for, and I believe powerful women like Beyoncé can speed up the process.
what is going on in the world.
One of my all-time favorite songs is Pretty Hurts by Beyoncé. I have always been a big fan of Beyoncé, but when she released her self-named album in 2014, I developed a newfound respect for her. Beyoncé used her fame and popularity to bring the everyday struggles young girls and women go through into the spotlight. This particular song focuses on a pageant girl, and the voices of the media and her mother telling her how she needs to look. She talks about how “perfection is the disease of a nation”, with an ideal body type, hair color, and style being the end goal for girls as they grow up. The chorus of the song says that “you can’t fix what you can’t see; it’s the soul that needs the surgery” because in the end your personality and who you are on the inside matters more than what is on the outside. While this message may sound cheesy, I agree with it. Sometimes in order to change your outward appearance, you end up changing who you are on the inside as well. Seeing as Beyoncé has always been a curvier African American woman, she faces discrimination towards her race as well as her body type on a daily basis. Based on this and the overall tone of the song, you can infer that the song values non-conformity and acceptance. I have always believed that body positivity is crucial in order to maintain a bigger sense of equality among women. If “what you wear is all that matters” then things like harassment and bullying would become more prominent in schools, and at a much younger age. Beyoncé is an artist that reaches a wide demographic of people, and not just from the United States. While her lyrics can touch a variety of people, the music video for Pretty Hurts illustrates the message behind the song even better.
The music video for Pretty Hurts starts out with a close up of a defeated looking Beyoncé.
It shows multiple girls who are basically skin and bones, trying to squeeze themselves into even tinier dresses. This scene portrays how detrimental eating disorders can be, because even after you reach your “goal weight”, your reflection in the mirror has become so distorted that you cannot see how small you are, or why your family and friends are worried about you. One woman who stuck out to me in the music video had an eating disorder, but it was not just her ribcage that caught my attention. This woman was clearly African American, yet her skin had been lightened. Skin lightening has recently become popular among African American women because lighter skin is considered “prettier”. This, as well as diet pills, weigh ins, and vigorous exercise regimens were shown throughout the video to portray the lengths women go to in order to be considered beautiful. The music video truly adds to the song’s message because it depicts just how extreme societal expectations can be, and the effect it has on women. There is only so much you can gather from the lyrics alone, but when paired with the video, it becomes a powerful message about self-confidence and
empowerment.
Overall, Pretty Hurts was a groundbreaking song on an already powerful album. It showed the stereotypes that women still feel the need to fit, and the impact societal expectations can have on women as famous as Beyoncé. She used her voice and her power in the music industry to make a change. In the end, equality and acceptance are what we are striving for, and I believe powerful women like Beyoncé can speed up the process.