The other day, I chucked at a a Time magazine headline, that said even Meghan Trainor’s mom is tired of listening to “All About That Bass.” Girl, I’m with mom because “Why reject the treble?” You gotta have both. Meghan sings about bass and treble in terms of body type. Since she’s supposedly all about body-type acceptance, I don’t understand why she outwardly rejects “skinny bitches” in her lyrics. Yes, I’ve read the whole lyric set. Meghan says she’s “just kidding” about dissing thinner girls, but she would have been better off leaving that line out of her song.
The last time we spoke of Megan was when she giggled to Billboard about how feminism isn’t her thing for no other reason than “love yourself more.” Now that Meghan’s hit single has sold over 3 mil copies in the US, Meghan will get more interviews. She’s already talked about how she’s empowered because “I ain’t no size 2.” This doesn’t explain why — big, small or medium — size has to be a qualifier of self worth. I’ve already compared Meghan to Nicki Minaj because they both dis “skinny bitches.” I respect Nicki a more for owning her bitchiness. Nicki’s proud of her booty for every reason and no reason at all. Meghan can’t stop qualifying her booty with male acceptance: “My mama, she says boys laike a little more booty to hold at night.”
Meghan talks back to the haterz with the Daily Beast. She claims to have written “All About That Bass” in 20 minutes flat (see video here). Let’s do some excerpts:
On her critics: “They say the song is about putting skinny girls down or that girls need guys’ approval, but I just wrote a little three-minute pop song about how I felt about my body. I just write the way I talk, and I write about things I’ve experienced.”
Why people zero in on her: “People are always put off by something that’s fresh and new. When I first heard Rihanna I thought, ‘I’m not feeling this,’ and then I listened to her more and was all about it.”
On body image: “I definitely had issues with my body. I’d look at my butt in pants in the mirror and be upset, and my friends would comfort me and say, ‘You look great.’ But now I look at my butt in the mirror and go, ‘Yeahhhh I can work with this.'”
Her musical inspirations: “I could get guys, but I always thought I was dating them and then I’d see them around with some other girl on their arm. So … I guess we were just hangout buddies, or something. I was never taken out on any dates.”
Early creative frustration: “I was writing all these country songs, but I thought, ‘This isn’t really my kind of music.’ My uncle is Caribbean so the dream was always to write for Rihanna. It still is, really.”
She wrote “All About that Bass” for Beyonce: “Beyonce wasn’t about it at the time, it just wasn’t what she was into. And then Kevin told me, ‘Meghan, why don’t you sing it? You’ve got the voice and the stuff. This could be your song.”
Fame brings newfound booty calls: “My prom date got ahold of my number and called me recently and congratulated me on everything that’s going on. I asked him what he was up to and he said he’s still living in our hometown.” She laughs. “I was just like Oooook. Click.”
[Frpm Daily Beast]
The last part about Meghan hanging up on her high school prom date is actually very funny. Props. I’ve heard other celebs people say the same thing — once fame approaches, the high school “friends” crawl out of the woodwork. I hope Megan finds what she’s looking for. She’s already succeeded by topping the charts. She doesn’t have to continue dissing the size 2 girls to stay on top.
Photos courtesy of Getty & WENN
What is she, a size six? Please.
Yeah, she’s smaller looking than I was expecting.
Yeah I was expecting her to be a size 12 at the least, but she is a pretty healthy, thinner size. Makes me sad that that is considered too big these days. I remember when I was a wee kid that a size 6-8 body was what you aspired to, back in the 90s.
Her face makes her look fat. But her body works fine for music videos
Took the words right out of my mouth. Sit down girl.
Bulimia jaw.
Wow, this is the first time I’ve seen what she looks like – and this girl may not be a twig, but she’s a lot smaller than what I was expecting! She totally qualifies as thin in my mind!
I call it ‘Jennifer Lawrence thin’.
Does that mean that she’s thin but constantly goes on and on about how people call her fat? Because this girl is thin. But I bet that due to the fact she does not have narrow hips, and that she dows have T&A, that everyone always called her bigger. I’m completely projecting my life right there.
I don’t know, look at her in the video where she’s lying down in a leotard and the camera has an aerial view of her….she’s got some thighs on her there. In her 1994 clothes she looks to be about a size 8 or 10 but in the music video she looks a bit larger. She’s probably one who gains and loses. Some people are deeply affected by their experiences as overweight people and they always fear going back to that and see themselves as big.
People like Eva Langoria that claim to be a size 2 are lying. They are 6 or 7’s. This chick is a 12 – 14. That picture is so photo shopped. Also, clothes fit small these days, so no wonder people have body dismorphia.
It’s funny you bring up Longoria, I have seen her in person and she is in fact tiny. When I saw her I was a size 4 and we are the same height, she was much thinner than I. She is definitely a size 2. Us shortys carry weight much differently. I crack up that her and Kim K are roughly the same height, Kim claimed to be a 4 at the time..no way, she is probably about an 8.
@ELO– Yeah, I have no problem believing that Eva Longoria is a size 2. Short/petite girls who are as thin as her would be.
She is a small woman. But even thin people have insecurities.
Only in today’s entertainment business which is obsessed with fitting all women into a size 2 would this girl be considered anything but skinny. She is not Kate Moss skinny but she is skinny! I would guess she is around a US size 6-8.
To me, skinny means underweight. She doesn’t look underweight at all. She seems to be fairly average, weight wise.
For Hollywood, a size 6 to 8 isn’t skinny. The goal is to be at least a size 2 and preferably a size 0. A size 8 is large in the entertainment industry. I am not saying I agree with this idea of thinness, but these are Hollywood standards and the reality she’s living in as an entertainer.
As for skinny shaming, I kind of view that in the same terms as “reverse racism.” The fact is, skinny people have much more power than overweight people do in Western society. A skinny person typically doesn’t suffer the same shame and stigma that an overweight person does. And I say this as someone who’s never been overweight and has been teased from time to time about being thin. Skinny shaming simply does not have the same power as fat shaming does in a country where being skinny is the goal.
On a different note, I think it’s weird that people think skinny people don’t have curves. You can be thin with T & A and you can be overweight and lacking in these areas.
Betty, I think I understand what you’re saying, and on the one hand I do agree with you (about skinny shaming not having the same “power as fat shaming”)…Yet I don’t think that just because we live in a country where being skinny is the goal, it’s okay to “skinny shame.” I think any kind of shaming is wrong, fat or skinny.
I don’t really think she was trying to “skinny shame.” It’s just a catchy pop song to feel good about your body. She’s a songwriter who writes many songs. I wouldn’t judge her so harshly for one.
Just listened to PART of the song….wow, she can’t sing. This song is freaking annoying.
I find her voice quite tolerable tho. I’ve seen videos of her singing live,she’s okay. I still hate the ‘skinny bitches’ part on her song tho.
Well, as said above, Minaj also talks about skinny bitches… “F*ck you skinny bitches” in Anaconda is said many times. I don’t body shame (unless it’s a Kardashian) but I kind of think these songs are a way of hitting back more at society and the pressures it puts on women to be as thin as possible. I guess “F*ck you patriarchs in da muthaf*ckin club” or “i’m all about that pear-shaped uterus taking it’s place in the world” just don’t sound very catchy in a pop song. I think both women were poking fun and being defiant in a way.
But, Kri, that’s one of the big problems with her song. She’s in no way saying, ““F*ck you patriarchs in da muthaf*ckin club.” What’s she’s saying is that “MEN love REAL women with curves, not skinny silicone bitches.” So she’s just furthering the patriarchy, which does us not a damn bit of good.
I woke up with this annoying song in my head today and I thought I beat the earworm till I read this article. Now it’s back with a vengeance. I had no clue who sang this song, but I regret clicking on the link.
Yeah when my skinny tween/teen daughters hear these songs and their friends talking about “skinny bitches” they don’t think, “go girl! strike back at society”, they hear a personal attack and are hurt. They don’t use “fat bitch” to hit back at the rampant obesity problem in this country.
I actually found the hanging up on the Prom Date party not funny, but quite rude. He congratulated her on her success and she hung up.
Thank you! I’m sorry that she’s not impressed that he’s still living in his hometown at 20. I think her “fame” as gotten to her head. He was just being nice.
The kid is 20…Wow!
I didn’t catch that he was only 20! That makes her judgment even more absurd.
I agree. She acts like he was trying to borrow money or something. Rude.
I agree. Living in the town where you grew up doesn’t make you a loser. Sometimes it makes you stable and family-loving.
Considering her hometown is a posh Massachusetts island, he could be doing worse.
I agree. I am from “the heartland” and moved to a larger city, but I would never judge my old neighbors for staying there.
It goes both ways, though. People like Meghan scoff at people for choosing to live in a small town, but at the same time other people claim to be of better character because they don’t live on a coast, or a big city, etc.(especially during Presidential election season!) Where you live doesn’t determine your character. It is a GOOD thing that we have people that prefer to live in small more out of the way places and that we have other people who want to live in larger cities. Our economy and society needs both types of people.
Perfectly said.
Thank you, Slim Charles!
Yeah, she sounds like a real gem.
Thank you, Bedhead, for pointing this out. I actually get annoyed when I hear people saying “f*ck those skinny bitches” and etc. I’m thin but I’m not anorexic / bulimic, I’ve never fat-shamed anyone in my life and I would never think of doing it either. I eat like a normal person and I am certainly no size 2; I am comfortable in my body.
Why is it ok to make fun of thin women all of a sudden? I understand that heavier women have often been the butt of jokes (no pun intended) but turning it around doesn’t make it alright, at least not IMHO. To me, there’s a difference between being proud of who you are and what you look like, and making fun of those who don’t look like you…and I think Meghan’s song crosses over that line.
Because being thin is the socially acceptable thing. Like everyone “aspires” to be thin, so that’s why it’s okay (I know they don’t, but overall, thinness is what is appreciated in this country and what is considered attractive). So therefore, “making fun of” people who are “lucky” to be born thin isn’t that bad. It’s just like the current trend of calling people basic bitches (which always refers to white girls) or all those buzzfeed articles that are like “things all white people say”. You would get a totally different reaction if that said “things all black women say”
Being thin is for sure the “desirable” thing for a lot of women, ITA with you there (as good or bad as it might be). I just don’t see how making fun of thin women – or fat women or hairy women or whatever – is okay. The justification just seems a bit weak, to me at least.
Just because something is commonly accepted, that doesn’t make it right or okay. Any body-shaming is awful, period. Let’s stop trying to justify tearing each other down and work on building each other up (really not trying to sound cliche or cheesy there, but women really do get enough crap from men, so we could at least support one another). All women have insecurities, even skinny ones. Nobody needs to add to it.
@Fran you’re using some tortured logic. I too have always been thin and have never fat ashamed anyone. It HURTS when heavier women triumphantly comment on my lack of curves or imply that I have an eating disorder. Mean is mean.
To be fair, I don’t know if Fran is justifying or agreeing with the insulting of thin women, I think she might be trying to just explain why the reactions are different. But maybe I am wrong, it happens! 🙂
I agree, mystified. I was told a lot when I was younger by boys older than me that “boys like girls with meat on their bones”, and it really affected me for a long time. I realize now it is because their sister (my friend) was more muscular than I was and she was struggling with acceptance of her own body, so they were trying to build her up by putting me down. I still hurt at the time, though!
“Basic bitches” does not always mean white girls. It is an unfortunate insult in the same vein as saying someone is “thirsty” or “trifling”. It’s not a racial thing at all.
So agree. I struggle with my weight, but I would never use the expression “skinny bitch.” That’s just a different type of body shaming.
Totally agree with the other posters here – she ain’t big. Not ridiculously teeny-tiny, but definitely not big.
I hate that this crap song is being heralded as a body acceptance anthem. All it’s about is ‘I may not be skinny but I still have tits and ass and boys still want to do me.’ That’s not body acceptance. That’s holding females down as nothing more than a sexual plaything for men. Why are we still basing our worth as women on if men want to screw us? I hate this farking song. I replace the words with ‘I’m all about my brains bout my brains I’m no dummy. My mama she told me don’t worry about your size cuz what really matters is what’s on the inside.’ If I ever saw Meghan I’d smack her AND her mama! We are more than our curves, bitches!!
A very emphatic +1 from me! Except for the hitting her part. 😉 She’s young, so she gets a bit of a pass on some things from me.
Thank you, exactly.
Men want some booty to hold at night? PUH-LEEZE. I’m more than a booty.
“My mama she told me don’t worry about your size cuz what really matters is what’s on the inside.’ ” This is what my mom always told me growing up but instead of size she said “appearance” in general. It’s actually taken me a long time to accept what she told me all along…how we are on the ‘inside’ really is more important than how we look.
I also agree about being frustrated that this song is heralded as a body-acceptance song.
If I could, I’d send you a fruit basket for this comment.
That’s it in a nutshell! So irritating, just like her views on what she thinks of as feminisism.
This song isn’t about body acceptance. It’s about a competition to be desirable to men. Based on her logic, someone with a bigger butt would be even more attractive than her.
well said, Mzizkrizten!
Exactly. Todd in the Shadows sums it up perfectly when he points out the line “shake it like I’m supposed to” sounds exactly like the heinous Jason DeRulo song “Wiggle”. We’re SUPPOSED to shake our asses?
That line rubs me the wrong way too. It sounds like a job.
When I heard the song, I thought the singer would be bigger than her! What the hell?
And yeah, I loved the song until the line about skinny bitches. I was so dismayed by that. So we can’t just accept ourselves the way we are without putting others down? STILL?
Whatever.
She’s a singer? I thought this was Al Gore’s ex wife. I should read the headline first next time.
Wow my first thought was hmm she is kinda a skinny bitch. I was expecting a girl more the size of Adele or Missy Elliot.
No one should body shame anyone (see Kim K or threads about Clooney’s wife for example).
It’s gross, sexist, and misogynistic (note: we’re all guilty of this, myself included).
It’s really a vicious ugly cycle.
She seems very vapid and dim to me. She bases “loving herself” on the fact that men find her attractive despite her enormous size six body. Ugh. Go away.
Right! Just have a seat. Anywhere will do, but sit down non singing singing girl.
She is writing about her body the same was Taylor Swift is writing about relationships.
Talk about “Problem Zone”.
I’ve never had a problem with the song. I’m on the petite side 5’2″, 110 pounds, a size 0-2 in most stores. I do have a booty, so it made the song a little more fun… but for the most part I thought people who took offense to the “skinny bitches” part were being overly sensitive. I mean, seriously, being thin is much more of an advantage than it is a disadvantage.
However, I was at a wedding this weekend and I was hanging out with two girls who are roughly the same height as I am, but built even more petite. We were dancing and having fun but when the song came on during the band’s break, there was a visible change to their faces and both of them kind of stopped. One of them finally said something, “What about the girls who don’t have any bass? There are never any songs about girls like me… and I feel weird when I dance to songs like this. Like I shouldn’t. It makes me feel sad!”
Then I got it. It’s not about calling girls skinny bitches, it’s about making a certain set of women feel less valuable.
Goodness, I detest her song and her voice, but more importantly, I don’t like the message. Why do women feel the need to shame one body type in order to elevate another, if her song is about body acceptance from her own personal experiences, then why take a dig at thin women, while praising herself for her curvier body?
I can’t stand the ”real women have curves campaign” because it’s not empowering, not even on a superficial level. As people, we are built and born with different body types, and as long as your healthy, then that’s all that really matters. Speaking for myself, I am a size 2 and I come by it naturally and I can’t stand when someone tells me I can afford to eat more, the wind could blow me away, or how I need to gain weight. Last time I checked, I am the exact weight I should be for someone my height. There is definitely a trend currently when it comes to insulting thinner framed women and it does have a negative impact. If women like Megan really cared about positive body image, they would embrace all body types and not just their own.
I couldn’t agree more. I am naturally very tall and very thin and I get comments ALL the time from complete strangers about my weight. Why do people seem to think it’s acceptable to comment on my body or what I eat?! I HATE the real women have curves campaign! I have given birth to two children and nursed both of them; sure I don’t have many curves, but if that doesn’t make me a woman I don’t know what does!!
Yes, real women are real women, end of the story, please don’t define us by our body types.
Well said!
I agree, she’s probably not the sharpest knife in the drawer and of course body shaming is bad, but I don’t get people getting all worked up over the lyrics to a catchy little pop song. She may be referring to some specific skinny bitches who bullied her in the past, but I don’t think it’s intended to be the God’s honest truth. It’s a song, poetic license and all that. Elton John isn’t really a rocket man, either. But if you think he is, I have some ocean front property to sell you, in AR-I-ZO-NA.
I love this song and not just because I’m no longer a size 4. If skinny women can dominate the media (and they do), what is the big deal about this harmless pop song? It’s fun, catchy and she sounds great singing it. It should just end there. Every other song on the radio is screaming “Do me in the bathroom stall” or “whip me Cuz I like it” and no one is taking offense.
If we really need to dissect the lyrics, she says to skinny girls I know you think you’re fat but you’re beautiful as you are. And that’s true of too many young girls and women today. They may be a size 6 and still think they’re fat. Or media tells them they’re fat because they’re not a size 2 or less.
+10000 Other Renee. My entire life I’ve been a very short curvy girl with an hour glass figure, and have fluctuated between a 6-12. Even at a size 6 I would get constantly teased by boyfriends AND my thinner size 0 friends about my big bottom and top. They would say I would look SO much better if I just lost a few lbs. It drives me crazy. I exercise, play soccer & eat healthy, always have. I’ll NEVER be a size 2 in the pants no matter how much I starve myself. As a teenager I so wished I could fit a size zero like my friends and developed an eating disorder. That was 15 years ago, but I still feel the pressure now, and STILL struggle to accept my figure. I cannot shop in normal stores my friends can because of my “junk in the trunk” and small waist. While I understand no body shape should be criticized, us curvy girls are pummeled EVERY DAY by TV, movies, magazines etc with the “you are only pretty/hot/desirable” if you are a size 2″ message. That’s the end of my rant lol.
Skinny women do not dominate media. The straight male gaze dominates media. This song does nothing but pit women against each other in an attempt to gain the approval of the male gaze.
Emily C.–perfectly said.
Body shaming ANYONE is never going to make you feel better about yourself, and this is a very stupid song anyway. And let’s be honest, she’s not Adele, so soon she’ll feel the pressure to be a “skinny bitch” if she wants to keep a semblance of a career in a very superficial industry. Don’t set yourself up to eat your own words later, girl.
In this day and age we need creative ways to tell girls to accept themselves and stop attacking each other, not finding new ways to say me >>>> you. At the end of the day, I doubt this girl doesn’t have her own insecurities. If someone made a song like “all you fat bitches, stop freebasing gravy” she wouldn’t like that. Who would.
Let’s all grow up, now!
Bahahaha, Annie!!! Omg, you just made my crappy day of writing up a dissertation all the better. I really want to work “all you fat bitches, stop freebasing gravy” into the report, but I don’t think it will fly. Can you write that song, please? In all seriousness, I completely agree that women have got to stop attacking women. I’m more insecure about the way I look due to the fact that my circle of female friends are so greatly casual about cutting me down to size–and I’m tiny! I just thought it was bad manners to pick a person to death. Now, at 25, I wish I had spent the first half of my twenties realizing what was good about myself.
freebasing gravy!…I am dying ova here!
I’m fat, I hate gravy, but good lord, that’s hilarious. Bravo! I’ve never listened to this song, don’t plan on it, but must say, this girl has that kind of face. That kind of face you just want to smack.
It’s interesting how some people defend bashing skinny people because they are what society favors. As if being skinny means that everything in life will come easy to you. Not the case at all. You still go for jobs that you don’t get, get crushes on people that don’t like you back, and have mean people say harsh shit to you etc etc. And in turn look in the mirror and see stuff your not happy with since all your freaking life people have made insensitive comments about parts of you that you cannot change.
Just because most magazines are all filled with thin beautiful models who no doubt get treated great by society does not mean all thin people get treated this way too. Most people are not beautiful models.
I can’t stand the song. Yes, the lyrics seriously irk me (and I am not skinny), but there’s something more fundamental that makes the song utterly unlistenable to me. WHAT BASS?! A song that insists, over and over, that it’s all about that bass, that has virtually no bass to speak of musically, causes me so much cognitive dissonance it hurts.
She always looks so stupid. The faces she makes in the video for the song look like she was doing a parody of herself.
But I don’t care. This girl screams OHW. Her song is a vanilla Anaconda trying to pass off as an inspirational anthem. At least Nicki owns her shit and isn’t trying to fool anybody.
As a classically trained pianist, I don’t even understand what “all about that bass” is supposed to mean exactly… Since when was a bass clef supposed to stand for booty or voluptuousness or whatever this girl thinks it does? Because it is round looking? Is this some new kind of lingo I’m missing out on?
YOU ALL NEED TO GET A LIFE!!!!! IT’S JUST A SONG IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT TURN IT OFF!!!! AND IF SHE HAD’NT R HAS’NT HEARD FROM HIM SINCE PROM HE NEEDED TO BE HUNG UP ON!!!!
…….. ok then. *backs away slowly*
It most certainly sounds like she spent no more than 20 minutes writing that garbage, so I believe her.
I am alarmed – flat out alarmed – not about her bad lyrics or misguided view of feminism/body acceptance, but at the fact that this chick is 20 years old. 20! For the love of god she looks like she’s pushing 40. i want to take a damp cloth and rub all that makeup off so she looks more her age and less like Linda Hulgan.
I accept her explanation. We shouldn’t dismiss her experience. As a parent sometimes you have to use dIfferent tactic with your child. I’m sure her mom just don’t say that to her. It’s hard sometime to assure your child that he or she is beautiful inside and outside. I was always skinny before I got pregnant and then I just couldn’t shake the post pregnancy weight and people always have to say something about it. It’s just a fun song and she can write whatever she wants. She will mature and her songwriting and lyrics will mature too. II love the beat(although there is claim that she plagiarise the song from some Korean band and also another band).
One day she might just end up being a skeleton and want some of that fat back! it prevents wrinkles and people look good with a little fat – a hidden ‘secret’ that corporate society doesn’t want women to know about so they will engage in starving themselves to impress one another in the name of impressing straight men (who care little to nothing about female fashion) so it appears the issue women starving themselves to look good mentality is essentially closet lesbians driving eachother to insanity. Her and Minaj could also visit a Cancer ward before they say ‘skinny Btches” because those people are trying desperately to gain weight and have no choice but to be skinny.