Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” has been stuck in my head since TWO friends sent me the YouTube link in the last few days. Oh, how I needed this song. My daughter’s anxiety is through the roof with the new school year in progress (yet we aren’t sure what we’re going to do about school for her still). We’re also dealing with negative body image issues. Thirteen is just so hard for girls. Maybe for boys, too. I don’t know since I was a girl and am raising a girl, so I only know about it from the female perspective.
I’ve blasted this song about seven times in the last 24 hours. Yeah, there are some problems with “All About That Bass” and the video. For starters:
- What in the world does “I’m all about that bass, no treble” MEAN?????
- The thin girl in the video is mistreated by the ladies with more “bass.”
- She uses the term “skinny bitch.” Not the most supportive way to talk about another person – especially in a song about empowerment.
- There’s a lot of emphasis on pleasing men.
BUT the positive outweighs the negative by far for me. She acknowledges body image is a challenge for women of all sizes after the skinny bitches line with, “No, I’m just playing. I know you think you’re fat, but I’m here to tell ya every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.” It’s repetitive, but catchy. Cheesy, but fun.
It makes me feel good. It gave my daughter and I something to discuss together. (It also led to a conversation about sex thanks to the line about momma saying boys want a little extra booty to hold in the night. I told my girl I’m not ready for anyone to think about holding her booty. She said somewhere between 19 – 23 seems like a good age for her. I’ll take it.)
When I was an overweight teenager, all we had was “Baby Got Back.” Thanks, Meghan Trainor. I’m not entirely sure what it means, but I’m “All About That Bass.”
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