Pretty Hurts

Beyoncé deserves an award for this passionate song and meaningful music video. After Katy Perry and Rihanna turned down the opportunity to present such an expressive song, Ms Knowles took it in her stride to open up girls eyes for what perfection really is.

The video consists of Beyoncé backstage of a beauty pageant, spraying herself with hairspray and fighting with another contestant for a hairdryer and even going as far as putting petroleum jelly on her teeth just to make them shine more. It then goes in to deeper scales of what women actually do to become ‘pretty’. The ‘Single Ladies’ singer stands on some scales and the man weighing her is not impressed as she should weigh less than what she does. The video then shows Beyoncé taking slimming tablets and making herself sick in the toilets. A doctor is also seen sticking a botox needle into the ‘Irreplaceable’ singer. The controversial video also shows a woman swallowing cotton wool balls in order to keep herself thin. Towards the end it shows Beyoncé smashing up all the trophies which she has won from the pageants with tears rolling down her face.

The lyrics speak for themselves. Beyoncé sings ‘Vogue says, thinner is better’, but she wants people to realise that being thinner is not the answer to feeling better about yourself. At the end of the chorus, she sings ‘It’s the soul that needs the surgery’ because many people believe that plastic surgery can fix their flaws but it’s really your soul that needs fixed if you think surgery is the answer. The lyrics that strike the most are ‘Ain’t got no doctor or pill that can take the pain away, the pains inside, and nobody frees you from your body’ which only proves that not any amount of pills or surgery can truly make us feel better if it doesn’t come from within.

There are women out there who still believe models and celebrities are these flawless beings but many photos are photo-shopped to take away spots, cellulite, wrinkles, etc. Pretty may hurt but who can tell us we are not pretty already?