Date: Sept 8, 1999
Weeks: 3
This song is basically a pop music version of The Beauty Myth. It's been simplified and poeticized, but the intended message is essentially the same
The lyrics are obviously the most important part of the song. They're intended to educate women, especially the young women listening to pop music, about the dangers of holding themselves up to the impossible beauty standards that are promoted by the media. It also encourages women to reject men who try to push that standard upon them and can't accept them for who they are. The video gets even more explicit about this. While the song may simplify the issue a bit, I have to admire its message overall.
The music is pretty average. It's soft guitar and drum stuff, mostly, with a bit of strings to accent. The music isn't anything spectacular, but it's interesting enough for the duration of the song. It's good enough to keep you listening to catch the lyrics, anyway.
The vocals may be a point of contention. TLC's vocals can be a bit of an acquired taste. They are not the Supremes, they don't have raw harmonic singing talent, and their voices can come across as a bit whiny. Despite that, I've always kind of liked their unique vocal style, and it fits with the music in this case. Often the moment of contention in a TLC song is the rap verse, and your reaction to it will probably predict your opinion of the song overall. But in this case, there is no rap verse, so the issue is happily sidestepped.
My verdict: Like it. I think it's a decent enough song with a good message.
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