I love all of these musicians so much and I am so happy for them and proud of them for sharing their journey and experiences with their fans. I have so many other favorite artists and musicians that I didn't put on this list and I'm not throwing shade at anyone, I promise. I just wanted to take a moment and thank all of the badass women for being so upfront and real about some tough issues.
1. Lady Gaga
Gaga played the Superbowl halftime show in 2017 and received so much criticism for her tummy showing and her hip surgery scar from 2013. In the past, Gaga has been very open about her previous bulimia disorder and her mental health. She says all the time that she is proud of her body and that we all should be comfortable in our own skin and to be who we are. In 2011, she had an album and a single called "Born This Way" with the lyrics "I'm beautiful in my way, God makes no mistakes. I'm on the right track baby I was born this way."
2. Demi Lovato
Demi has had a rough past couple of years since she OD'ed, but she has always had a huge heart in helping others. She herself has battled an eating disorder on and off since her teenage years but she has proved that it is OK to be happy in your own skin and it's OK to get help when we need it. There should be no bad stigma around mental health and eating disorders. Demi has so many empowering anthems but one of my personal favorites is "Confident" with "what's wrong with being confident?"
3. Selena Gomez
Selena had a kidney transplant in 2017 when she found out that she was diagnosed with Lupus, (which is also the same disease that Lady Gaga's aunt had), Selena's best friend became her kidney donor. That summer and in the years since then, she's received criticism for wearing bikinis on the beach that show her kidney scar. Selena is proud of this scar because it shows her struggles and her recovery from the disease that she thought she was going to die from. This is so inspiring for everyone to show off our scars and be proud of our battles and to not let what people say about us bother us. "Kill 'em with kindness."
4. Taylor Swift
In Taylor's documentary "Miss Americana," she confessed that she had an eating disorder and that the team of people around her had controlled her food intake. She admitted how unhealthy and toxic this was and uncomfortable it made her feel. She was exercising a lot but not eating a lot and she realized this is unhealthy and started to make changes around her. From her first self-named album called "Stay," "you're beautiful, every little piece love, and don't you know you know you're really gonna be someone. Ask anyone."
5. Rihanna
Rihanna released her makeup brand, Fenty, in 2017 and was the first makeup brand to have forty different shades of foundations (which she now has expanded to fifty shades). People went crazy over this because we all know how tough the makeup world is when trying to find a foundation or concealer to match our skin tones — Rihanna made that possible for so many people. Rihanna wants people to cover up the imperfect parts of themselves with her makeup, she wants us to be inspired by it. She encourages plus size and curvy women to step forward to create a difference in the world because we all are not born to be skinny forever. She has the saying "if you want a butt, then you have a gut" and that's honestly true. "Life's too short to be sittin' round miserable, people gon' talk whether you doing bad or good" -"Cheers" ("Drink To That").
6. Shakira
When Shakira crossed over into voice acting she demanded that her character be redesigned to look more like her body type and not be super skinny. She wanted to set realistic examples of body types. "You know my hips don't lie."
7. Lizzo
Her album, "Cuz I Love You" has a nude picture as a cover image. From her song "Good As Hell," "if he don't love you anymore, just walk your fine ass out the door." She is obviously proud of her body and encourages others to love themselves and their bodies for the way they are. To not change any part of us just because someone else doesn't like it. We are who we are.
8. Adele
Adele had her son in 2012, had gotten married in 2016, and then divorced in 2019. Recently she posted a picture on Instagram of her incredible weight loss journey and she looks so happy! One of my most played Adele songs is "Water Under the Bridge" because that song has such an incredibly deep message. It's literally about the saying water under the bridge which means to let go of the past and don't worry about it anymore because it's no longer important. "Why have we been through what we have been through?"
9. Alessia Cara
In 2015, she came out with the single "Scars To Your Beautiful" that was all about embracing yourself and your body type. "She just wants to be beautiful, she goes unnoticed, she knows no limits, she craves attention, she praises an image" This song is literally a woman powered anthem.
10. Hailee Steinfeld
Hailee is 5'8" and she felt like she always the tallest girl in the room and she hated the attention that it brought her. Now she loves it because she's more comfortable and doesn't mind showing off her long legs. Her song "Most Girls" is so inspiring and has a specific meaningful lyric: "you know some days you feel so good in your own skin. But it's OK if you wanna change the body that you came in."
11. Meghan Trainor
Meghan's song "All About That Bass" became a body-positive anthem with the famous lyric: "I know you think you're fat, but I'm here to tell you every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top."
12. Kesha
I think this is pretty common knowledge but Kesha has been in a legal battle for over six years and it's still going on with a former producer, Dr. Luke, and she wasn't allowed to record or release music. She did release a couple of songs like "Praying" and "Rich, White, Straight Men" on YouTube when she wasn't allowed to release on Spotify or Apple music to get around the legal loophole. From "Praying," one of my favorite lyrics is "cause you brought the flames and you put me through hell, I had to learn how to fight for myself." In January of 2020, she released a new album called "High Road" which I 10/10 recommend.
13. Beyonce
Everyone loves Beyonce and she's just so iconic so I don't think she really needs much explanation. She wants men and women to appreciate the beautify in their natural bodies and be confident in themselves. Out of all the celebrities and musicians that I've mentioned, I have to say it but Beyonce is the OG of them all since day one. From one of my favorite songs from Beyonce, "Pretty Hurts," "perfection is the disease of a nation."
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