The 50's are calling, they want "Dear Future Husband" back.

On March 16th, singer Meghan Trainor released yet another romanticized 50's-era music video titled "Dear Future Husband". Trainor has a number of other well-known songs such as "All About That Bass" and "Lips are Movin". While many of her songs are very catchy to most listeners, I believe that the video representations of her songs are wildly ineffective and go against all progress that women have made in the past 60 years. It was not only her choice of lyrics, but the artistic choices in the video made that were a bit off.

I can see why some people might like the video; there are a lot of fast cuts and a billion costume changes, but I think all those elements were just a distraction from the fact that the song is really really terrible. There are a lot of pop-y colors that don't look good together at all, and overall the video is just one big clusterf*ck of old-school romantic gestures and Trainor bopping around from side to side. I just want to ask the director why they think Trainor going out with all these guys who do something the teensiest bit wrong calls for her to dump them? The storyline of the music video just doesn't make sense at all.

The lyrics are also very confusing. Just an example of some of the lines from the song are, "take me on a date, I deserve it babe, and don't forget the flowers every anniversary / Cause if you treat me right I'll be the perfect wife, buying groceries, buy-buying what you need". These lyrics are just bringing back themes women were forced to follow mid-century, because that was the "norm".
According to an October Rolling Stone interview that her newest album is all about how she wants to be treated with respect by her future partners. While this is a very relevant theme for women all over, her latest video regresses to 50's-era ideals of everything being about the man first.

Throughout the video, Trainor is shown doing various "housewife" activities, such as washing the floor, cooking, and waiting in the bedroom; all for her "future husband". A number of things are wrong with this picture. First off, this girl is only 21 years old and singing about her future husband. You're young, successful, and well-known! Go and write some songs about women deserving equal pay and not needing a husband, instead of this bullcrap about everything your future husband needs to do. You are a popular celebrity in the 21st century and you have the power to make a difference through your creations.

If you so desire, watch the music video yourself and see what I mean.

What ARE We All About?

We currently live in a period of time where feminism is a strong theme in everyday life, body shaming is no where near okay, and self love is very important among everyone. I'm not sure how these trends started, but I'm so glad they did. But, as happy as I am that I can't go to any social media site without seeing something about one of these themes, I'm also a bit off put by some of the media surrounding these subjects. One of the bigger portions of media that has stirred up controversy among these subjects is pop singer Meghan Trainor's song, "All About That Bass."

The song has become an anthem for many women who are said to be more "curvy" than others, which I honestly find great. Being bigger shouldn't be a shameful thing, and I'm really glad that that's out there. However, as much as the song has it's high points, it's also got a lot of lows. As much as I love to hear that every inch of me is perfect from the bottom to the top, I'm not so sure that I like to hear that the reason I should be okay with having a little more "booty" is because that's the way guys like it. This idea comes from the line "my mama, she told me, don't worry about your size. She said that boys like a little more booty to hold at night." I don't think that in a world where feminism is rising that girls should love their bodies because boys do. 

I'm not the only one who thinks so, either, This Instagram video by the user "mobrienorwhatever," was posted on the subject, The new lyrics say "fuck what boys think, it's your body so do as you like." And, however crude or funny you might find this short video to be, it's very true. No girl should ever feel empowered by her body just because a guy likes her that way. It's 2015, and we've got to start loving ourselves because IT'S WHO WE ARE, IT'S HOW WE WERE BORN, AND IT ISN'T GOING TO CHANGE, and that should be okay.  

This isn't the only problem encountering the song and it's video. While the song promotes women who have curves, it very much shames people who do not. It refers to girls without curves as "skinny bitches" and "stick figure silicone barbie dolls." The smaller girls in the video seemed more ditzy, more rude and just overall not nice people. This is the WRONG message to be sending out. Smaller girls should love their bodies too, they don't need to spend their time figuring out how to gain weight so they can "shake it like they're supposed to do," just as much as curvy girls shouldn't be worrying about losing weight to be like smaller girls.  There's no reason to be shaming girls who are smaller, don't hate them for their metabolisms, they can't help it. This is also something that I think many people can agree on, and YouTube user Natty Valencia expanded on it and made her own rendition of the song, that includes all woman, skinny, curvy, black white, and encourages them to forget about guys who don't accept them the way they are. 

I think this is a really great way to approach the matter, because the tune is catchy, and it's something people catch onto. I hope all women get to see this version of the song, because it's really important that we stop body shaming, and we start loving ourselves for who we are.