Trying to analyze a Beyoncé performance is a hard task to accomplish. And more recently, Beyoncé performances have become harder to watch. The raw emotion behind her film “Lemonade” is tangible and leaves the audience breathless while at the same time bringing the lyrics to life. But I won’t be using her film as my subject for this post. I decided to focus on “Pretty Hurts” from her 2014 album Beyoncé. The song itself is powerful but I think that the performances in the music video add a deeper meaning to the song. The song deals with the impossible beauty standards placed upon both men and women, and how the unrealistic ideals of perfection can not be met because they are abstract.

Beyoncé and the director decided to portray this struggle through beauty pageants, the perfect example in my opinion. The music video doesn’t alter the meaning behind the lyrics, but emphasizes them in a creative light. The lines “pageant the pain away” seem to have been the inspiration for the video. The lyrics “this time I’m gonna take the crown without falling down, down, down” are brought to life when she tells the host “my aspiration in life would be… to be happy.” Here she means that she’s going to overcome the impractical standards and focus on herself without letting the pressure bring her down. The song ends with the question “are you happy with yourself?” and Beyoncé’s gentle, honest smile towards the camera seem to answer that question (see below gif). Yes, even though she didn’t win the pageant, she realizes that all she needs is to be happy with herself rather than focusing on what others think. When just listening to the song, you don’t get the same resolve at the end.

Pretty Hurts  (TW: This music video has scenes dealing with body image issues in explicit ways)                                                                                                     Lyrics