My fifth response is written about a song called “Scars to your beautiful” released in 2015 by a pop artist named Alessia Cara. Alessia Cara is a canadian singer and songwriter, who since 2015 releasing her first album has become a popular and well recognised artist. Her song “scars to your beautiful” is based towards young women struggling with body image and acknowledging their self worth, being overcome with insecurities. This song has a very empowering meaning, and is a reminder to girls that they are beautiful regardless.

“She just wants to be beautiful

She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits

She craves attention, she praises an image”

I would recommend people listen to this song because it has very strong lyrics and meaning. In the world we live in today, society is run by news and the internet, with things such as instagram and facebook on social media. Social media has been a prime destroyer to many young girls self esteem, with the use of beautiful covergirl models, instagram models and acknowledged ‘hot’ men and women. Whether people are poked or prodded with editing, photoshop, filters or not, it has created for some girls an unrealistic expectation of what is recognised as beautiful. Young girls think in order to be attractive and perhaps find themselves attention, they have to look like what they see online; that there isn’t different forms of beauty. In the song lyrics, it says “You know, covergirls eat nothing”. This quote from the song says magazine cover models are skinny; that to be a cover model you need to be small to look beautiful. This isn’t true, but social media promotes the idea of beauty being a certain look or size. “You should know you’re beautiful just the way you are” is another line used in this song, promoting that everyone is beautiful in their own individual ways regardless of what’s seemingly attractive in young girls minds. I would recommend this song for everyone to listen to, especially young girls as its meaning is uplifting. This song upholds the image of being beautiful in all different shapes and sizes, and that we should accept ourselves and the world will too.

What this song text teaches me about the world we live in is that people have a recognised idea of what is beautiful and what is ‘ugly’ or ‘gross’. Girls are marked as they should be skinny, have a thigh gap, have luscious hair and be big and small in all the right places so on. People and girls themselves have a marked idea on what we should look like, and that if we have cellulite or thin hair or even stretch marks were unattractive to media. What this text also teaches me about the world we live in is that people will use fame for the right reason. Alessia Cara is a famous, well known songwriter who will be living a rich and luxurious life. She will use her fame to do many things, however one she has generously used it for is confidence and awareness. She wrote a song as such about how we are all beautiful in our own ways, and that we shouldn’t have to change a single thing about ourselves. Also to show that we know models are small, that they are famous and acknowledged; but awaring us that it’s just as beautiful to be a little bigger or different as to what we see on social media or magazines. Alessia doesn’t need to use her fame for awareness or to reach out so people, but she has chosen to and will have affected many girls and fans of hers doing so.

This song relates back to me in a way to do with the basis of how the songs about insecurities and an ‘idea’ of attractiveness. Every girl sometime in their life struggles with their each and own different insecurities, and I know even I have. When I was younger, i never thought I would in two or so years cared so much about what I looked like, or what people thought of me. As well as what I wore or how I did my makeup. I signed up for most social media accounts at age 13, and naturally I followed well known instagram models and celebrities who were and are outstanding looking. At such a young age, I thought that’s what was considered to be beautiful, such as being skinny and tall. I felt insecure about how I looked at such a young age, and it was all because of media. I too have friends who struggled to a harsher extent to me, where they became very unhappy because they didn’t have big lips or arched eyebrows like some of their favourite celebrities. You definitely learn to accept and appreciate yourself with age; like I and many more of my friends have, but some people are so caring as to what people think they unfortunately dwell on it. This text relates back to me in a way where i once wasn’t nearly as happy as I am now with myself, same going with girls my age and with my friends.

This song relates back to the world in a social way. People’s insecurities come from somewhere, and it is most of the time their role models and famous people. Photoshop is an overused tool in today’s society, making goals unrealistic, smoothing away any bumps of lumps or cellulite n such. Or even making skin see impeccably smooth when it perhaps might not be. Photoshop has a large role to play in girls being unhappy with themselves, seeing other woman with hair they want, skin they want, the weight they want or more. That the way they look isn’t considered beautiful because if they were, why aren’t they noticed for it like models are? This relates back to the world in a social way because due to society and modern technology, we are able to alter the way we look and think we should look.

“Scars to your beautiful” sung by Alessia Cara has a very valuable and empowering meaning. This song not only teaches us to love ourselves and not to change, but not to change even if the world says the way they look isn’t beautiful. At such a crucial time in 2015, where looks and media was so strong a song or words such as Alessia’s were needed in young girls lives. Because we are run by social media and body and beauty standards, we have learnt to not be always happy with how we look, but Alessia’s song teaches us to shut all that out.