The Power Of Female Power In Beyonc�'s Song Pretty Hurts

Beyoncé Knowles’s Lemonade video album brings the words of Beyoncé into a visual media and shows the viewer a deeper meaning behind the album. After this video came out many articles came forward analyzing Lemonade. One article, in particular, that was intriguing is Bell Hooks “Moving Beyond Pain.” Hooks starts her article saying that the Lemonade video was created as a money-making, business strategy, but as the text continues the reader can conclude that “Moving Beyond Pain” is actually about African American women, and women in general, standing up for themselves.

If any woman did not meet the requirements, she is often cast aside and is labeled ugly. This essay will analyze Beyoncé’s music video “Pretty Hurts,” by summarizing the video, applying rhetorical and gender analytical methods, and discussing a source, which strengthens the claim that this video ultimately defies American hegemony. This video constantly demonstrates the way women try to conform to society, even though they seem to be miserable. At the beginning of the video, Beyoncé is presented getting ready for a pageant.

In both songs they target two different audiences. One audience has difficult with insecurities (Pretty Hurts) while the other audience doesn’t believe they are beautiful (Beautiful). The purpose in both songs have the same meaning they both want young ladies or males to feel better about themselves and not allowing anyone to judge them. They also should try and stop changing their appearance to impress society. The tone of the song

The main purpose of Beyoncé’s songs is to emphasise feminism and invigorate gender equality through her lyrics. She does so by using by conveying feminist philosophy in her lyrics. In Run the World, Beyoncé sings “strong enough to bear the children, then get back to business.” Figurative language is used to express be that women give birth however then after they proceed to work. Throughout the song used is both repetition and rhetorical question as this is how Beyoncé portrays the women empowerment theme, domination as well as confidence in her tone whilst preaching the line “Girls, we run this motha (yeah!)” and “Who run the world? Girls!”. Having expressed the line “My persuasion can build he nation” Beyoncé is building women up by speaking

Taylor Swift, a pop icon and polarizing figure, is often known for her empowering music, feminist attitude, and meaningful lyrics. Many of her fans praise the feminist messages some of her songs deliver, however others say she comes from a position of privilege and only advocates for white women. Still, a common perception of Swift is that she has evolved from an innocent country singer into a more controversial and sometimes provocative pop singer. What is ignored though, is that despite this perception, themes depicted in “old” Taylor’s music still displayed highly problematic concepts about gender, just in less obvious ways. Particularly in her music video for “You Belong With Me,” the audience if presented with a fulfilling love story involving a nerdy girl getting the popular. On its surface, this concept may seem normal, but the narrative of this video unintentionally conveys significant gender issues in today’s society. Thus, through her 2008 music video for “You Belong With Me,” Taylor Swift ironically presents herself as the ideal nerdy girl next door who gets the guy when she suddenly turns beautiful while demonizing a cheerleader, revealing problematic notions of how women are supposed to look and behave in society, as well as reinforcing negative female stereotypes.

For nearly twenty years, Beyoncé has lived her life in the public eye yet she has always kept her cool, been submissive, and rather quiet when it came to her personal endeavors however after releasing the film “Lemonade”, we are able to see her in a vulnerable light. In Jeremy Helliger’s article: “Dear Beyhive: Stop Whining. Beyoncé Still Hasn’t Earned Her Album Of The Year Grammy” he addresses the idea that although Beyoncé was able to encourage black women to be proud and free, she also she missed the mark by adding raunchy, over the top content to her vulnerability.

The policing of women’s bodies and accessibility to self determination is a common theme throughout the readings (but also in the present day). Women have had the unfortunate experiences of being treated like second class citizens, and it is only worse for women of color. In their Blues lyrics, women of color could express how limited their lives were, how they were affected by their circumstances and how they found their strength. For example Clara Smith sang, “Gonna leave this town, cause my man is so unkind” (CITE), is an example of women recognizing their strength and independence. Using lyrics as a means to advocate for the progression of women created a sense of unity, because these singers we not just singing their own experiences, but using them as a way to connect and vocalize common circumstances, “we hear the ‘we’ when they say ‘I’” (CITE). Their work, helped to build communities and to call out what happens within them by pushing the

Beyonce is an African American female artist making incorporating empowering messages for women around the world. She is creating work that speaks to an audience that might not receive authentic mainstream. Beyonce ultimate goal is to visually and sonically entice wisdom through her music. Recently in a shocking video release, Beyonce debuted a new song “Formation” as well as a politically charged music video. This song was an uproar in the music industry worldwide. Millions of people around the world negatively viewed this song as a controversy. The music video and song caused many people to debate and cause a worldwide conflict.

In Beyoncé’s song, “Pretty Hurts” and Christina Aguilera’s song, “Beautiful” are very similar songs. However there are some differences. In the song “Pretty Hurts” talks about how being pretty is not defined by what you wear or how you look. While “Beautiful” talks about how people feel bad about themselves. The intended audience are somewhat similar, the tone, the mood, and the purpose in both songs are similar.

Beyonce uses pathos, the first of the three appeals in her song by using very descriptive phrases. When she states, “I’d listen to her, `cause I know how it hurts,” Beyonce is telling her audience that she understands what it is like to be hurt, and that if she were a boy, she would treat her women better because she could understand where she was coming from. This tugs at the listener’s heart because you can see that she has been emotionally hurt from a past relationship. Also, many people can relate to what she is disclosing. It is human nature for people to get emotionally damaged in a relationship and therefore her feelings are empathized. She also uses syntax by the way she orders her words by telling a story. If the song was not in story form, it would not produce the great impact that it does.

Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade gives a more personal view of her upbringing and how it influences the person she is today. One song in particular, “Formation,” explains how she was raised and how hard she worked to earn everything she owns. As a black woman, Beyoncé worked especially hard to overcome prejudice to become the iconic artist she is today. Beyoncé’s intention behind “Formation” is to empower all black people, but especially black women. Malcolm X’s speech “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself” delves into the racism that African Americans have always faced in America. In this speech, he questions why African Americans feel the need to separate themselves from their own race. In her article, “Beyoncé and #BlackLivesMatter,”Anna

Women’s rights and racism have been two of the most controversial issues in the world. With all of the corruption occurring in the world, this should not be a main worry. Beyonce Knowles Carter recently released her sixth studio visual-album; this album, “Lemonade”, is her most emotional work yet. With this album, Beyonce has cemented her status as an artist who must be taken seriously. She has the influence to spark controversy across the nation and establish new trends. Beyonce’s newest album fought strongly for African American women’s rights. Some viewers felt as if this visual album was offensive to people of other ethnic backgrounds or genders.

Beyonce’s fervent passion for creating art is evident in the quality of her performances, diligent work ethic, and as well as in the song “6 Inch Heels”. In “6 Inch Heels”, Beyonce and The Weeknd sing about Beyonce staying true to her grind, and her steady/sound commitment to fulfilling her goals. In “6 Inch Heels” Beyonce exposes the inner lives of Black women by professing her genuine and raw expression of how tirelessly she works to achieve her goals. This is explicitly clear as she states, “She fights and she sweats those sleepless nights because she don’t mind, she loves the grind.” Furthermore, Beyonce encapsulates the essence of the life of the working class women, mamas, and wives. Though her success and riches are apparent, she

Rather than conforming to societal ways, female rappers and blues women work within and against dominant sexual and racial narratives in American culture to exposed the stereotypes and explored unfair contradictions. By so doing, they redefined women’s “place”. They forged and memorialized images of tough, resilient, and independent women who were unafraid neither of their own vulnerability nor of defending their right to be respected as autonomous human

Pretty Hurts portrays a feminist approach as the song lyrics express how women are portrayed in society, having a stereotypes and an image to identify with. Lyrics “We try to fix something but you can't fix what you can't see, It's the soul that needs the surgery” claim the content of many not have self-love through emotive language and colloquial language emphasising that the soul needs surgery. Purposely having surgeries to enhance, and improve yourself, the meaning of acceptance is getting lost. Reason and logic techniques are used in the lyrics indicate the message of no matter how much you change your appearance, you’ll still remain the same. For example the line of “Ain't got no doctor or pill that can take the pain away” addresses that