For the Feminist Mixtape assignment, I chose the song Try by Colbie Caillat. She wrote it as a rebellion against beauty standards, and the song resonated with both men and women. While the song may be viewed as merely that women should not wear makeup to feel beautiful, Caillat says that there is a deeper message– that everyone should learn to love themselves despite their imperfections. No one should have to change their appearance in order to please others. In the music video, a diverse set of women are shown with their makeup and hair done, and then as the song progresses, they (and Caillat) take off their makeup and reveal their true selves. They embrace the wrinkles, the smile lines, the messy hair. The song is empowering, and it aligns with the ideas of feminism.

In class, we learned about the pressures that society puts on people, especially women, to fit a certain standard of beauty. Specifically, we analyzed the discipline of bodies, make-up, and hygiene through a Foucauldian framework, and how fat-shaming influences our perceptions of beauty. Jean Kilbourne’s Ted Talk that we watched talked about how the media– and specifically advertisements– portray women and reinforce the idea that skinny women are beautiful. We also read a few articles on how we as consumers have been told that we need certain products to be attractive. In a way, Caillat is promoting her own No Product Day challenge. This seems to be mainstream feminism.

A limitation of the song is that Caillat is still a woman who fits into the idealized standards of beauty– she is white, blonde, thin, and attractive. It may be easier for her to sing this “rebellion song” than someone who does not fit into our society’s standards of beauty.