Singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat knows just how hard it is to be celebrity-perfect -- and how vulnerable a woman can feel when she isn’t: “When I see gorgeous models and singers and they look perfect on their album covers, it makes me want to look like that, too, and it makes me feel like if I don’t Photoshop my skin on my album cover, I’m the one who’s going to look a little off and everyone else is going to look perfect.” In her new song, “Try”, Caillat challenges these unrealistic beauty standards and encourages girls and women to “take your make up off / let your hair down” and ask themselves a critical question: “When youre all alone, by yourself, do you like you?” Speaking to Elle magazine, Caillat explained the inspiration for the song: “I went into the recording studio with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and I told him that I was getting a lot of pressure to be someone I’m not, both musically and image-wise... We started checking off all these things that all of us girls do every day to get ready to go out... And the thing is that I like myself when I’m not that way, but I feel like other people might not like me that way. And I know that most women go through that. When you have blemishes on your skin, gain weight, or my friend has crooked teeth, or my mom’s roots are going gray. And everyone is trying to hide their faults from each other when we all have it.” For the music video for “Try”, women of a variety of ages, ethnicities, and appearances -- including Caillat -- appear in heavy makeup and carefully done hair, then slowly remove them to reveal their true selves. Caillat says, “We shot the video in reverse, we started bare, and by the end we finished with the full hair and makeup, and then reversed the film for the finished product….When I shot the first scene with no hair and makeup on in front of an HD camera in my face, flashed with bright lights, everyone was watching. I thought, ‘Oh my god, I bet they’re all looking at my blemishes, thinking that I should cover them up, or that I should put some volume in my hair.’ But it also felt really cool to be on camera with zero on, like literally nothing on. And then when it got to the full hair and makeup, I actually felt gross. I was just so caked on. “ Caillat wants to encourage her fellow artists to show more of their true faces as well. “When I did the lyric video for ‘Try,’ and I asked some of my celebrity friends if they would send a picture of themselves, you have no idea how difficult it was,” she says. “Some of them said no, some of them said they’ll send me a picture in a couple of days because they have a pimple on their chin, and they didn’t want it showing in the picture. And I was like, no, no, no! That’s good! Let’s let all of our fans know that we get them too, because otherwise they’re just think that they’re the only ones... you can go so far down the rabbit hole of altering yourself to where you’re not happy anymore.” You can watch Caillat’s music video for “Try” below or download the song and read our notes to parents about it at amightygirl/try To read more of her interview with Elle, visit bit.ly/1oAIZ8L For more Mighty Girl songs that address body image, visit our Body Image music section at amightygirl/music?music_theme=56 For a great book for tweens that explores the unrealistic nature of the media messages they encounter related to beauty and body image, check out Real Beauty: 101 Ways to Feel Great about You for ages 8 to 12 at For body image-related books for Mighty Girls of all ages, visit our “Body Image” section at amightygirl/books/personal-development/life-challenges?cat=378 And, for books for parents that address body image issues, including the helpful guide 101 Ways to Help Your Daughter Love Her Body, visit our Body Image / Self-Esteem parenting section at amightygirl/parenting?cat=448
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 21:23:44 +0000
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