Pretty Hurts by Beyoncé

Every nation has their own definition of beauty, examples of it is shown in magazines, on television and social media. This example puts in some woman's head that they aren’t good enough to society’s standards and they must work to get there. Sometimes that definition is hard to achieve; and if you achieve it, you may not like what you had to do to get there. Beyoncé’s 2013 Columbia Records, a Division of Sony Music Entertainment song Pretty Hurts is a song that deals with feminism and empowerment for women who feel that they must fit into mainstream media's definition of ‘pretty.’ The song's message to listeners that they shouldn’t strive to be beautiful by another person’s standards and the video does a good job of exhibiting the things women must go through in an exaggerated way.

The setting is in a pageant show, where there is more emphasis on beauty and poise. That was a well chosen setting because the winner is chosen based primarily from her beauty, which is usually based from the societal idea of beauty of the time. The video and song were well executed and good for people to hear and see. The chorus sums up the entire message of the song and the meaning of pretty hurts: “Pretty hurts, we shine the light on whatever's worst/ Perfection is a disease of a nation, pretty hurts, pretty hurts/ Pretty hurts, we shine the light on whatever's worst/ We try to fix something but you can't fix what you can't see/ It's the soul that needs the surgery.”

The chorus is a very powerful statement and it is true. The video shows a girl eating cotton balls to stay thin and girls chastised about their weight. The video shows an exaggerated way women are treated to stay beautiful by mainstream standards and could be representations of what women go through day to day. The girls being chastised could represent the people that comment on social media and talk about them because of the way they look. The girl eating cotton balls could represent the girls forcing themselves to eat little to nothing to stay thin to fit in, when sometimes their body type is not meant to be small. This is a problem of many individuals, but it comes from the pressure of society. Which is “a disease of a nation” because physical beauty is so important. But it can’t be fixed because it is something we can not fix since “ you can’t fix what you can’t see.” People harbor inner pain that can not be fixed from losing weight and wearing makeup, but from counseling or just talking to someone.

This song is a good insight on what pressure from the outside does to people. But it is interesting that Beyoncé is singing this song because she is beautiful to what we define as beauty by what is see; she is a light skinned, small woman with light colored hair. But the pressure from our nation affects her also because she posted a photo-shopped picture trying to increase her ‘thigh gap.’ A thigh gap is literally a gap between your thighs and shows that you are thin and your legs do not rub together. Everyone is affected by our nation’s pressure to be pretty, but this song shows that we should not strive for that definition of beauty because it is always changing. Even if someone reaches it, they may not be happy with what they had to do to get there.

Pretty Hurts was a good message and visual for the pressures of our society. It shows the pressures that everyday Americans have to deal with from advertisements and other mediums. It is a good video and tried to give a message that people should not focus so much on fixing the outer beauty because our soul is where our insecurities are rooted from.