Why “All About that Bass” Doesn’t Have As Good of a Message as We Thought

It’s that time of year again, isn’t it? The store’s are void of Slim Fast, and prime time T.V. is full of those pesky infomercials that make you feel like disgusting slob for not owning a Bow Flex. At least, some people get, right? I mean, Meghan Trainor sure does.

I’m sure many have heard of Meghan Trainor’s hit single “All About that Bass” by this point. If you haven’t, go ahead and give it a listen:

Trainor has picked up fans like a whirlwind with her hit song. It’s been played worldwide and has been listed in 21 different charts for 253 weeks. With its unique rhythm featuring the use of the cello and/or other bass instruments and its “positive” message to women, what’s not to love? However, Trainor’s song has some subtleties that I simply cannot ignore.

Firstly, I think it’s horrible that we live in a culture in which a song such as this should even need to be written. It’s almost barbaric that in the year 2014 we, as women, need a song to remind us that size doesn’t matter. Unfortunately, this only proves that size does matter. After all, the song includes no lyrics addressed towards men and their body types; in fact, I can’t think of one that does. While I understand that men have their own “magazine(s) workin’ that Photoshop”  and their own pressures that come along with it, when have they ever had to be told to love themselves in the way that women are?

Another issue with the lyrics that stood out to me is the subtle objectifying of women. In penning her lyrics, I believe this was something Trainor (or her song writer) was trying to speak against; however, her lyrics actually support the degrading of women to the status of a mere object. Her aim may have been to build confidence in the body images of listeners, but she fails in this line: “My mama she told me don’t worry about your size. She say, ‘Boys like a little more booty to hold at night.'” In this single line, as well as in others, she has still objectified women by almost encouraging them to have that bigger “booty” to please and/or attract a man. To succeed in her message, Trainor should have left the male perspective aside and simply prompted her listeners to take pride in themselves simply because they are “perfect from the bottom to the top” with or without a man’s seal of approval.

All in all, I can agree with Trainor on one thing we as a society need to “make it stop”. Women and young girls are beautiful the way that they are, and they shouldn’t have to change themselves in any manner to please someone else. Our worth, as women, is immeasurable, and if someone else doesn’t see that they need to “go ahead and move along.”