Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)

Mika is releasing Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) as a single, and the London papers are currently full of pictures of the video shoot in Croydon last week. Now, it's no Fat Bottomed Girls (they make the rockin' world go round, apparently), but it's interesting.

Photo courtesy of Big Pictures Blog -- many thanks to joelle for the link!

What do you guys think? Positive portrayal of plus women? or vaguely patronising, fat-fetishising anthem?

I'm a little leery of this, partly because within the first four lines we're talking food, pizza specifically - because hey, only big girls eat, and big girls eat pizza! Plus it sets up that whole plus vs. skinny thing with the 'only big girls are real women', as if there's a checklist somewhere for what makes a real woman. Let's play real woman bingo - do you have all the items on the list?!

(Although I do like the 'big balloon' imagery, but that's just cuz I like balloons. Shiny, colourful pretty balloons.)

One other thing - there are a hundred bajillion songs about girls and women and girlfriends and love etc etc etc. Unless they specify height, weight, race, age, hair and eye colour, and shoe size, I like to think they could all apply to me. Why not, right? Take "You're Beautiful" - dreadful song, but there's nothing in there that says it can't be about a plus-size woman, or a buck-toothed buzz-eyed club-footed lass. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right? So maybe there needn't be a special song for pluses, because all the songs are for us, them, you, we - and by separating out songs, Big Girl, Fat Bottomed Girls, Baby Got Back, it suggests I was wrong about all those other songs, and they were actually just about slim women.

Or maybe I read too much into it. At any rate, it's less disgusting than Baby Got Back. Actually, Sir Mix-a-Lot, Cosmo doesn't think I'm fat. And keep your anaconda away from me! (I actually do love that song. But it's gross.)

Here's the Big Girl (You Are Beautiful) lyrics. Tell us what you think. Aside from anything else, the video looks to be cool - the stills I've seen are colourful and fun and filled with gorgeous, beautiful, voluptuous women. Final thought (in a non-creepy Jerry Springer way...): whatever the politics of the song, the positives and the negs, that one idea should always be said, and never be ignored: big girl you are beautiful.

Big girl you are beautiful

Walks in to the room
Feels like a big balloon
I said, 'Hey girls you are beautiful'
Diet coke and a pizza please
Diet coke I'm on my knees
Screaming 'Big girl you are beautiful'

You take your skinny girls
Feel like I'm gonna die
Cos a real woman
Needs a real man is why

You take your girl
And multiply her by four
Now a whole lotta woman
Needs a whole lot more

Get yourself to the Butterfly Lounge
Find yourself a big lady
Big boy come on around
And they'll be calling you baby

No need to fantasise
Since I was in my braces
A watering hole
With the girls around
And curves in all the right places

Big girls you are beautiful (x 4)