Why do you have to "Try" so hard?

How does music in society shape how women and men think of women? Men think that we dress up, look nice, and wear certain clothes for them. But they never think that women do it for themselves, to please and be happy with themselves. The ideology of looking perfect for everyone else is printed into our heads. Society today makes the songs that are objectifying women the best songs. Yet the songs that have the best meanings and motifs are the ones that go unheard or unpopular. "Try” by Colbie Caillat is a song from a feminist perspective that lives in society today. The song is expressing how women aren't seen as real people. This piece of work shows the gender ideologies of women in society. Such as the way we dress, how we present ourselves, and the things we do to be "approved by men". They are far from realistic but the society build us to believe them to be true.

The very first lines of the songs have to do with making yourself pretty and getting glammed up, but for who? Not yourself! The feminist perspective of Colbie Caillat sings about getting glammed up for other people, "Put your makeup on, get your nails done, curl your hair, run the extra mile, Keep it slim so they like you, do you like you?" These are the small things that women go out of their way to do. The song starts with the expectations of women and how they are seen in society. Women take forever to get ready to the point that they think they are presentable. But why do men want a fake girl? Fake is the new real. Society has taught women that they only accept the people that have a face full of makeup, glammed up, but that is not the real them. The real women are hiding under all the makeup. This is why women have so many insecurities in society, the ideologies of putting makeup on and dressing nice are put into a woman's head and that is all females think about. The chorus of the song keeps repeating that "you don't have to try so hard" That is what women want to hear. Women want to hear that they can be accepted for who they are not the unrealistic version of themselves. It sometimes stinks to be a women because of these ideologies and expectations that society has put on women. Women are surrounded by four inescapable walls that will always hold a women back.

Songs nowadays subjectify women. They are typically being paraded around, near a man, basically a girl has a role in music videos to be an object of attraction. There are never times that a women is actually noticed for their personality. Colbie Caillat exploits the fact that not only do females in society go out of their way to make themselves "presentable" face wise but they go out of their way to look pretty in clothes.The song has a few little points of emphasis, "Get your shopping on, at the mall, max your credit cards You don't have to choose, buy it all, so they like you, Do they like you?" It is only socially acceptable to have the highest name brands, the nicest leggings, and most fashionable things. That is why Colbie Caillat tries to emphasize the fact that you need to like yourself before anyone else can like you. Females won't accept anyone else's approval unless it's by a man's attention.

Females in society look for the approval of other people rather than themselves, but growing up in this day and age you can't rely on other people to make you feel good. Their will always be you, whenever you're alone it's only you. Yet the fact is that when you're alone, do you appreciate yourself. Colbie Caillat big moral of the song is liking yourself, and accepting yourself, "Take your makeup off, Let your hair down, Take a breath, Look into the mirror, at yourself, Don't you like you? ,'Cause I like you". Women today in society need to accept the fact that there will always be something about them that won't be accepted, no matter how many people you come across. That is what Colbie Caillat is trying to say throughout the whole song, the fact that if you don't like yourself, there won't be a time that you will let other people accept you. Women don't realize that we don't need someones else's approval to be okay. Also the fact that when you put makeup on and get dolled up, that isn't yourself. That is an unrealistic expectation that society has set.

The pressure of being accepted is a problem from the youngest people to the oldest people. That will be a running problem because of the walls that society has put on women. The fact that some people aren't confident enough to walk out without makeup, is the problem. Why can't women be okay in their own skin. Females walk around an unrealistic version of themselves. But that is not worth anyone's money to spend $100 on leggings, or $200 on a pair of shoes. That is the damage that society has impacted on people. It makes people feel secure in the fact that they have money to blow on these clothes but the highest shoes, brands and clothes won't get you anywhere. The only thing that will make a woman secure in society today is that if other people notice what they are doing to look presentable. Yet that is not reality to the fact that no one will ever be accepted for themselves, their glammed up version will be accepted but that's not reality. There is a set way that society has made socially acceptable to what kind of clothes to put on your body. Typically women will never be good enough no matter what they buy or put on their body.

That is what they are accepting, to be paraded around in a society, yet that is not the real them. The real them is under the makeup, and behind the fake smile that we put on thinking we are happy in our own skin. "Try by Colbie Caillat" is all about the expectations and what we want to be. But the true meaning is to like yourself when you're alone, and when you're natural. The goal is to break the barriers that society has put women and live confident, liking yourself.