9 Songs About Beauty Standards
Beauty standards can be defined as the individual qualifications women are expected to meet in order to embody the “feminine beauty ideal” so as to be able to succeed either personally or professionally. In the modern world, this has been highly influenced the mainstream media and social media. Below is a list of songs about beauty standards:
1. Beyonce – Pretty Hurts
This is the opening track of Beyonce’s self-titled album. It talks about how perfection and the impossible standard of beauty set in society corrupt the nation. It portrays how we all try so hard to reach that singular, narrow-minded idea of “perfection” despite the fact that beauty itself is subjective. In the video, Beyonce is a beauty pageant contestant who is trying everything in her power to look flawless but still struggles to achieve perfection.
2. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful
The song is mainly about body image and is directed at women. It’s the things women go through on a daily basis in order to feel loved or love themselves. This is thanks to the weird stuff society has instilled in us to tell us that we’re not good enough or that there’s only one kind of beauty. Alessia added that if the world doesn’t like how you then they should change their perspective.
It is off the album Know It All which was released back in 2015.
3. Beach Bunny – Prom Queen
The song is an inner monologue of a girl struggling to accept herself for who she is. She goes ahead and changes herself to fit the societal ideal of beauty. The message is a reminder to people not to change themselves to get people to like them and just learn to be happy with who they are on the inside.
Prom Queen was initially released in 2018 but got traction in 2020 thanks to going viral on TikTok.
4. Selena Gomez & The Scene – Who Says
The song is basically saying we are all insecure but also everyone is beautiful. Gomez stated that it was intended to inspire people and fire back at the haters especially those involved in cyberbullying. In an interview with E! Magazine, Selena said that girls her age then tended to question themselves a lot and dressed according to what other people wanted them to be so as to follow the trend of what’s cool.
It was released in 2011 and hit the charts in the top thirty in the US.
5. Colbie Caillat – Try
This is a piano-driven ballad that relates to the pressures society places on women to look perfect. It also goes ahead to ask the listeners whether they like themselves.
The song managed to reach #55 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the lead single from the album Gypsy Heart.
6. Madison Beer – Dear Society
Madison said that the song is about social media and how our society perceives and is perceived. In the chorus, she uses the metaphor of a relationship with a toxic person to personify social media and the way she gets perceived in society. “Tar that’s on your lips” has been used to symbolize the toxic aspects of being in the public eye. These are like hateful social media comments or negative perceptions in media.
7. J. Cole – Crooked Smile
The song critiques society for making people feel insecure or making them feel as if they need something. It also looks at the high standards of beauty placed on women. J Cole reaffirms that nobody has to be perfect hence making worrying to be pointless.
8. Meghan Trainor – Nice To Meet Ya
The track is the third single off Meghan Trainor’s third album Treat Myself released back in 2020. It was the first time she had collaborated with Nicki Minaj.
Meghan was inspired to do the song because of her reputation in the industry for being really nice. She didn’t want people to take her for a pushover. ‘Nice to Meet You’ is what she is all about.
9. Demi Lovato – I Love Me
This is an empowering self-love anthem from Demi’s seventh studio album. It was inspired after spending time working on herself. She has also struggled with an eating disorder triggered by societal standards.
It was the first bonus track on the expanded edition of her seventh studio album, Dancing With The Devil.