20 Songs About Loving Yourself For Who You Are
When people star loving themselves and accepting themselves for who they are, they tend to feel better over time. So many hide from themselves and don’t even know who they are. If you are on a journey to self-discovery and accepting yourself for who you are here is a list of songs you may enjoy.
1. Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful
The song is about body image directed at women. Alessia was inspired by the things that certain women go through on a daily basis in order to feel loved or in order to love themselves.
In an interview with Idolator, Cara explained the meaning of the song: Basically, that song is about body image. It’s directed at women, but I think men can relate to it as well. It’s just a song about these things that certain women go through on a daily basis in order to feel loved or in order to love themselves. I think that’s such a thing that goes on in today’s world. These weird things are instilled in us. You know? That tell us that we’re not good enough or that there’s only one kind of beauty. This song basically is contradicting that idea. It’s saying, “Well, if the world doesn’t like how you look then they should change. They should change their perspective. You don’t have to change yourself.”
2. Hailee Steinfeld – Love Myself
The song is Hailee’s debut single and is part of the album Haiz. It speaks about coping after a breakup and realizing the value of yourself. In an interview with The Elvis Duran Show, she shared how she got inspired to do the song:
We’re fed this false sort of sense of what we’re supposed to be like in order to love ourselves. I think this song kind of highlights the power of loving yourself and empowering yourself.
3. Pink – Fuckin Perfect
The song is from the album Greatest Hits…So Far!!!. It encourages people to accept one another for who they are. In an interview with The Sun, Pink revealed that her brother was the most bullied kid she has seen with her own eyes and this ended up turning her into a fighter and one that sticks up for other people.
4. Anne Marie – Perfect
It talks about the beauty of imperfection and rejects the idea that perfection is possible. This makes people to be more accommodating with their flaws and insecurities and be okay with being themselves.
Anne-Marie drew her inspiration after watching YouTube videos of women talking about body confidence. She shared this as her experience: I felt really empowered and just wanted to write a song that reflected that. So my co-writer Jennifer said to me, ‘Right, tell me all your insecurities about you, your body and your life in general.’ So I just wrote down everything I’m embarrassed about, all the stuff I do on my own when no one else is watching. And it all ended up going into the song.
5. Meghan Trainor – All About That Bass
This is an empowerment song about being okay with being thick. It was Meghan Trainor’s debut single that catapulted her to fame and ended up as the first and only single to reach 1 billion views as a debut single.
Meghan described the song to be about loving yourself, loving your body, loving your insecurities and having fun with it. She used the term bass to represent thickness and treble to represent the opposite. Her body is thick by nature and she is proud of it even though the expectation of modern women is a pencil-thin figure.
6. Meghan Trainor – Me Too
This song is a self-love anthem from Meghan’s 2016 album Thank You. It is a celebration of herself as a person who is confident in their abilities and body. She had this to say:
“Me Too” is another self-love anthem about loving yourself and the chorus says “if I was you, I’d wanna be me too”. How confident is that? Come on people. And I wanted to make a club banger and I say this is my club banger”
7. Billie Eilish – Copy Cat
This is the first track off of Billie Eilish’s debut EP. She takes shots at fake people who act like the real themselves by copying mannerisms so as to present a more ‘acceptable’ personality. Billie had this to say in an interview:
Everybody has a little bit of people copying what they do. And everybody copies what other people do, because before you really know yourself, you’re trying out different personalities. Sometimes people really don’t know themselves because they try out everybody, and they just don’t have any of themselves in them. And they’re kind of everyone else combined. Which is just wack. Just be you, dude. I don’t want to see you as someone else. That’s already them.
8. Jessie J – Who You Are
The song is all about Jessie reassuring people that it’s okay to be sad sometimes as long as you continue to stay true to who you are and not become somebody else.
Jessie came up with this track while going through a phase in life where she didn’t know who she was anymore and was scared.
9. Linkin Park – Numb
This is one of Linkin Park’s most popular songs which topped the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart for 12 weeks. The song is about a child being forced to follow the dreams their parents once had but were never able to achieve. They become numb to the forced path since they can’t be themselves as an independent individual.
10. Naughty Boy – Runnin’
In the song, Beyonce comes to terms with her identity and her past. She no longer runs from her personal challenges and wants to face her insecurities. She wants to win the race of life by being true to herself and her lover.
11. Beyonce – Brown Skin Girl
The song was part of the soundtracks for the movie The Lion King. Beyonce’s message in it is to all girls with brown skin, urging them to be proud of their color and embrace it. Not only does it shine but also tells their story.
12. Christina Aguilera – Beautiful
This is the second single off the album Stripped. It features themes regarding self-acceptance, inner beauty and insecurities. It has also been widely embraced as an anthem for the LGBT community due to its messages.
The track won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and was also nominated for Song of the Year at the 2004 ceremony.
13. Halsey – Still Learning
In this track, we get to see Halsey’s vulnerable side. She generally talks about her lack of self-esteem and self-love. Despite her achieving lots of success in her music career she still struggles to love herself. She uses the term “still learning” to let her listeners know that they can still learn how to be kind to themselves. She also wants them to learn to be forgiving and extend grace to themselves.
14. Meghan Trainor – Nice To Meet Ya
The song is part of the album Treat Myself (2020) and is Meghan’s first collaboration with Nicki Minaj. The song starts by Meghan mentioning how she used makeup to hide her true self but in the end she figured she couldn’t change what’s is within.
Meghan stated that the term “nice to meet you” was the coolest to be like that’s it period. This is who she is. A person whose personality is regarded as nice but shouldn’t be confused to be a pushover.
15. Demi Lovato – I Love Me
The track is from Demi Lovato’s seventh studio album Dancing With The Devil..The Art of Starting Over. It is an empowering self-love anthem. Speaking on The Ellen Show, Demi described the main message in the song as, “You are completely whole as you are, without anybody, without substances, without this food, without whatever. Like, you are good, girl!”
16. LLyod – Tru
The track is mainly about the struggles and obstacles Lloyd faced in his life. He now wants to be true to everyone and is asking anyone who has ever loved him to accept him the way he is. The past is not him anymore. He also shares various personal things that happen in his life such as losing a child due to an abortion that wasn’t his decision and helping raise his sister’s child.
17. Selena Gomez, The Scene – Who Says
This is the lead single from the album When The Sun Goes Down (2011). Selena stated that is was intended to inspire people and fire back at the “haters” especially those involved in cyberbullying. She also had this to say when speaking to E!: “I feel that girls my age tend to question themselves a lot. They tend to dress and be what other people want them to be. I feel that everyone wants to follow the trends and what’s ‘cool’ and eventually, at the end of the day when you strip all of that down, are you really proud of yourself and comfortable in your skin?”
18. The Greatest Showman Cast – This Is Me
This is a song empowering those who are ostracized by society for being different. It encourages them to no longer hide their faces and see their own worth. It won “Best Original Song in Motion Picture’ at the 75th Golden Globe Awards and was also nominated for “Best Original Song” at the 90th Academy Awards.
19. Sam Smith – Love Me More
The is song is from his third studio album Love Goes released in 2020. Lyrically, it talks about self-esteem and overcoming self-hatred to achieve a more positive outlook. Sam uses a subtle hint of humour and self-mockery. Sam had this to say about the song:
I wrote this song for anyone who feels different, anyone who has to stop themselves every day from saying unkind things to themselves, in their head, all the time. I felt like that for the longest time and slowly I’m learning how to just be nice to myself. I wanted to share that because I captured it in this song. Over the last two years, music has been my therapy more than ever. So I hope this song can be your friend.
20. Eminem – Beautiful
The song has been regarded as one of the strongest songs on the album Relapse. Eminem began writing it while sitting in rehab and when he came out he finished it. The chorus of the song portrays the message of not letting anyone else tell you that you aren’t a great person since everyone is special in their own way.