Oh-oh you don’t know you’re beautiful

The invigorating hums of the bass, mixed with the juvenile voices of Harry, Zayn, Niall, Liam, and Louis. A track by One Direction released back in 2011, What Makes You Beautiful, is my song of the summer. As I have discovered a melody to sing along to and a rhythm to tap my feet to, however, I have simultaneously started to question the lyrics of this track; the song, seemingly of pure empowerment, reassuring a girl of her beauty and talking about what makes her beautiful, goes beyond, and tells beyond.

If only you saw what I can see you’ll understand why I want you so desperately, the members sing, as they proceed to You don’t know you’re beautiful. That’s what makes you beautiful. If she sees what he sees, the beauty of her own, however, would she remain beautiful and wanted, as what makes her beautiful and wanted is her obliviousness to the beauty of her own. Being the way that you are is enough, the boys sing. The line is, in this sense, likely telling her that her being the way that she is, insecure, is enough to satisfy a boy’s desires. What makes her beautiful and enough to him is her obliviousness to the beauty of her own. If this trait gets lost, so will her beauty, wouldn’t it?

I am not the only one to think this way. Many online have expressed confusion around the song’s words. Rather than the song being of a cruel nature, however, perhaps, it may be that in a matter of 13 years, our perception of “beautiful”, an adjective the 2011 song centers, has drastically changed. 2011, the year the One Direction song was released, was a year when female long-held ideologies around femininity and beauty were more prominent than it is today. Humility has historically been one of the biggest factors of femininity. In modern society, however, girls are encouraged to love themselves for what they are, with body positivity, independence, feminism, self-love, and self-care being promoted on social media platforms. Given the societal context in 2011, appraising a girl for her humility may have been an act of pure adoration, rather than of disguised intent as many may think today.

Given the societal context, is this song any better or worse understood? Despite some historical context, is this song inept for modern society, as it channels and promotes a mindset considered “toxic” nowadays? Some, specifically girls, may be uncomfortable listening to this song of a rather outdated hue in lyrics. However, I think that appreciating forms of art with context will give us perspective. Canceling the song for its irrelevance in lyrics to modern society formed out of what we deem is appropriate also means canceling a work of art and the production of, by, and for, people. Listening to the song with the outdatedness in lyrics in mind may allow us to reflect on our past, appreciate the progress we have made thus far, and strive to continue to empower girls to be their authentic selves.