Side 1:
In the summer of 2017, “Most Girls,” by Hailee Steinfeild plagued the radios. I would enter the car in a good mood, ready to take on the world, but instead I was attacked by the pop song. I’m sure by now that many of you have interpreted “Most Girls” as a feminist anthym, suporting women of all kind, no matter how they dress or act; however, this seems far from the truth.
As a person living in the 21st century, I’m sure you are familiar with the term “Pick Me Girl”. Pick Me Girls are simply defined as a girl who claims to be different from other girls in order to get attention from men. Typically, Pick Me Girls say phrases like “I’m not like other girls”, expecting to get more male attention. Most of the time, much to their dismay, Pick Me Girls do not receive the attention that they are so desperately seeking from their behavior.
As I listen to the three minutes and twenty five seconds of the song, I cringe at the lyrics in which Hailee is saying “Most Girls,” finding the lyrics to be eerily similar to the phrases most said by Pick Me Girls. While Hailee is talking about “most girls,” she is pointing out flaws in each of the kinds of girls, showing that she views each of these girls as far different from her own. The lines in which Hailee is describing different kinds of girls, from girls who go out partying to those that prefer to curl up in bed to read a book, are not feminist icons and so perpetuate internalized misogyny.
When the song turns from Hailee’s ruthless tearing down of other girls, she tries to change her message to be more positive. “Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful” she says, but the damage has been done. As Hailee tries to go towards her more positive message, she continues to use the term “Most girls” while trying to celebrate women for being different and resilient to the sexism that we face everyday, implying that there are “some girls” that don’t fit into this category of “most girls”. If Hailee’s message was to spread love across different women, she is doing a horrible job, for she is implying that there is a certain type of woman that is not strong enough to face the challenges of misogyny, not beautiful enough for society, and not smart enough to achieve great things.
Although some might say that Hailee’s song “Most Girls,” was curated to celebrate what makes each woman different and equally special, Hailee’s song is a stark reminder of Pick Me Girl culture and a bleak attempt to address deeply internalized misogyny.
Side 2:
Most Girls is a song by Hailee Steinfeld about female empowerment. It counters the “Not Like Other Girls” trope, saying that contrary to what misogyny would have us believe, being like “most girls” is the standard we should aspire to. The beginning of the Most Girls music video perfectly emulates this. It shows two people on a date, and the man saying “you’re just… you’re just not like most girls,” and the woman responding “umm, I gotta go” and then singing this song. This interaction exemplifies the belief that being like “most girls” is a bad thing, and it is better to be different from “most girls”.
The song takes this line, and flips it on it’s head, saying “Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful, Most girls, work hard, go far, we are unstoppable.” This isn’t saying that not every girl is smart or strong, but rather using the term “most girls” to make a point that being like most girls, with all of their amazing traits, should be our standard to aspire to. It counters the idea perpetrated in internalized misogyny that femininity and being like most girls is negative. It also fights against the stereotypes and generalizations of most girls popularized in the “Not Like Other Girls” trope, where “Other Girls” wear makeup, are shallow, and boy obsessed whereas the standout likes books or is athletic or has some other characteristic that is not traditionally feminine. In this trope, “other girls” fall into a very narrowly defined category about what is feminine and these traits are condemned as bad traits.
However, Most Girls recognizes and celebrates individuality. “Some girls, like to keep their physique real private, Some girls, wear jeans so tight 'cause it feels so right, yeah.” This song recognizes women’s diverse interests and characteristics and reflects on how they are all valid, and how having these traits, or any others, are not worthy of condemnation. By recognizing the differences, the song breaks down the idea that “most girls” are all identical and identically distasteful, recognizing the diverse interests that girls have. It relates how all women can fit in with “most girls,” because “most girls” aren’t any one thing to be despised, but rather a collection of people forced under a label to divide them, and uses this same label to unite.
This is both reclaiming the idea that being like “Most Girls” is positive, therefore breaking down the divisive culture where women hate other women, and also recognizing that women aren’t a monolith and have diverse interests and thoughts. Because of these two critical characteristics, Most Girls is permeated by thoroughly feminist themes.