Is it bad to be "All About That Bass"?

Meghan Trainor’s super-catchy ‘All About That Bass’ has been “getting flak” (as she puts it) from all angles, from people of all walks of life, all of whom seem to have something to say about this seemingly body-positive bubblegum pop song.

With the number of people jumping on the bandwagon of hating on this song, it would be really easy to write an article picking at all the flaws in the arguments against this song. Of course, it’s easy for them to say that the opening line:

“Because you know I’m all about that bass ‘Bout that bass, no treble”,

is completely ridiculous, given that the song in fact, is not entirely bass based. But petty niggles aside, the song can have an entirely different interpretation, depending how pragmatic or fastidious you choose to be.

It's incredibly rare to see music aimed at the acceptance of curvier women [...], so why not let us bigger girls have this one?

Trainor, who claims not to consider herself a feminist, puts it simply: “we wanted to write a fun song for the world, and we thought, why not do a song about loving yourself and loving your body, because I don’t think girls really love themselves as much as they should”.

“I see the magazine workin’ that Photoshop We know that shit ain’t real C’mon now, make it stop If you got beauty, beauty, just raise ‘em up ‘Cause every inch of you is perfect From the bottom to the top”

On the surface, Meghan Trainor appears to succeed. It doesn’t take a feminist to recognise that promoting the idea of beauty not being defined by the photoshopped images we see so frequently in the media is undeniably positive and empowering.

If you haven’t heard this song, by some miracle, you might not know that the message is aimed mainly at girls and women who “ain’t no size two”. But where the song tends to fall down and be reprimanded by feminists, is in the choruses.

“Yeah, my mama she told me don’t worry about your size She says, ‘Boys like a little more booty to hold at night’.”

Now of course, this isn’t great. It’s never a good idea to base your self-esteem on your attractiveness to the opposite sex. While I disagree heartily with needing male validation for self-acceptance, it is true that women who are, as one article berating the song describes it, “pleasantly chubby”, are constantly told that they are unattractive and unworthy throughout their lives. They often grow up being told that no one will ever be attracted to them, and it can take a long time to organically gain enough self-confidence to fight this, and accept that they are worthy of respect. For once, it’s nice to be told, truthfully, that (some) men will fancy you, whether you’re a size six or a sixteen or a twenty-six.

Trainor doesn’t generally engage in feminist discussion. It is likely that she, along with the majority of listeners of this song, aren’t reading into this song with the same ferocity and vigilance as those who with to rebuke it. When Trainor says:

“You know I won’t be no stick figure silicone Barbie doll So if that’s what you’re into then go ahead and move along”,

she isn’t saying that it’s wrong for any heterosexual man to be attracted to any woman who doesn’t fit her body type, or indeed that all men will find her attractive. What she’s in fact saying is that she is the way she is, she is attractive, and if you don’t think so, then that’s not her problem. When you take it on a basic level, as written by someone who really just wants curvy girls to feel good about themselves, that’s pretty body-positive, isn’t it?

Of course, this isn’t the only problem that people are finding with this song.

_ “I’m bringing booty back Go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that No I’m just playing. I know you think you’re fat But I’m here to tell ya Every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top”_

The question that arises here is whether or not this is name-calling or skinny-shaming. I don’t think, and I’m sure that the writers of this track don’t think, that this addresses all skinny girls as bitches. This addresses the subset of people who may have something vindictive to say about voluptuous girls, who, by and large, will not be of a full-figured body type. This comment is aimed at those, particularly those who are skinny, who may consider themselves superior because of their diminutive size. This isn’t an attack on all skinny women, suggesting that they only have a right to feel good about themselves as they have the same body insecurities as larger women. It doesn’t force a limited definition of attractiveness, it just points out that women (whose attractiveness is often marginalised) can be just as hot as those prescribed by the media, and deserve to know it.

In my opinion, this song is empowering to women who don’t fit the culturally preferred norm of minimised curves. While the song might not be perfect, it doesn’t encourage fatter women to start slinging mud at skinny girls. It may contain concepts that are problematic when examined under the microscope, but it’s certainly far from toxic. It’s incredibly rare to see music aimed at the acceptance of curvier women (while big booty pride is everywhere at the moment, it’s mostly within the realms of complimenting a itty bitty waist), so why not just let us bigger girls have this one?

Those who criticise this song seem to think that nothing that preaches acceptance is valid, unless it preaches consistent acceptance on all levels. This is a gallant aim, but it simply doesn’t exist. Meghan Trainor is using her personal identification as a curvy girl to encourage other girls to feel good about themselves, and if even one person who has low self-esteem feels even a little bit more confident about themselves in any way whatsoever, then this song is a positive influence. Calling for the song to be banned serves only to deny girls who identify with it any outlet for their personal acceptance, which is by no means fair.