“You know some days you feel so good in your own skin/ but it’s okay if you want to change the body that you came in.” These lyrics have really spoken to many teen girls. Hailee Steinfeld, a young actress and artist, released her song “Most Girls” in April 2017. Being “like most girls” has been stereotyped as a negative thing; it shouldn’t be. This song was written to tell girls the opposite. The song reminds girls of all ages to know that they aren’t the only ones who see themselves as heavily flawed. Social media is a cruel environment that doesn’t always appreciate the changes we make to our appearance, Steinfeld uses her song as an approach to remind her listeners they are most beautiful when they are confident and comfortable with themselves. Hailee Steinfeld is a unique artist who uses her feminism to inspire women to feel proud of who they are as an individual and that is something that should be more common among artists.
Her music tends to have a general “girl power” feel to it and “Most Girls” includes some of her most powerful lyrics yet.
The voice behind “Most Girls”started her career as an actress when she was fairly young. Her big debut was a role in the movie True Grit when she was just fourteen years old. She made her name in the music business when she portrayed the newest Bella in “Pitch Perfect Two” which released in theatres April 2015. Her cover of “Flashlight” proved she had vocals worthy of fame. Her first hit song, “Love Myself” went platinum in several countries and was the beginning of her music career. She had said she noticed there were plenty of songs telling people how special they are and that everyone is beautiful but didn’t quite think there was enough songs to remind them that everyone has their insecurities and it’s perfectly normal not to love things about themselves. That’s when she wrote the strengthening song, “Most Girls.”
Feminist are perceived as angry women protesting for more money. Through her lyrics, Steinfeld justifies the term feminist as someone who supports gender equality and strongly believes in empowering women. She is a great role model for girls growing up and agrees that those girls should not be ashamed of any part of themselves. Insecurities are a big influence in everyone’s lives, so if everyone has them, we should be more accepting of them. Steinfeld’s music tells us that we should not ridicule each other because we want to change those insecurities. She uses her feminist power in the music industry to make females feel confident and happy and demonstrates that insecure girls should embrace their uniqueness. Her music is pushing a change towards the end of stereotypes and all music should be powerful enough to speak to listeners the same way her music does. “Most Girls” is a large step on the way to becoming a more considerate society.
We tend to see only what’s bad about our bodies rather than what we have to be proud of. Role models today are trying to change that, and one could get a clear view of it on social media profiles of many famous women today. We will always have things about ourselves that we don’t particularly like and that’s ok. “Most Girls” acknowledges this concept. The song starts by grabbing the listener’s interest as they relate to her lyrics, “Some girls, feel best in their tiny dresses/ Some girls, nothing but sweatpants, looking like a princess.” One of the very unique, while important, points of this song is that it addresses and includes all types of girls and not just the stereotypical “pretty” girl. “Most Girls” reminds us that if changing our appearance is what makes us more confident and happy, we can do that. As well as, if what makes us comfortable isn’t the latest fashion trends, we should be okay with that.Famous icons are dying their hair rainbows and ombres but somehow, when ordinary people try to do the same, they might be taunted for it. In her lyrics, we are told that we should do what makes us happy not what makes everyone else happy. Being portrayed as a basic girl or most girls has somehow become negative. When we are told “you aren’t like most girls” it is perceived as a compliment. ”Most Girls” is all about how we should take pride in being female, as she repeats the message numerously throughout the song singing “I wanna be like/ I wanna be like most girls”
Our society needs more humans like Steinfeld to make each other more mindful of the people in our environment. Teens are being introduced to models with unrealistic appearances through advertisements, magazines, television, and especially social media. Lowering the self esteem of teenagers today is creating a depressing impact on our future, as these teens are the future. With society becoming increasingly violent, we should be teaching children to love, and particularly love themselves. Being insecure is normal, Steinfeld recognizes this and continues to empower women through her bright spirit and uplifting lyrics. Hopefully someday, more artists will follow her footsteps and our world can be filled with confident young women who stick up for eachother, not just themselves, and feel good about who they are. Girls will finally be able to do things for themselves instead of doing things to please everyone but themselves. Thank you Hailee Steinfeld for being a great role model for girls growing up by celebrating individuality in a world that criticizes each other for being different.
