1. Lady Gaga
Watch this video. I get chills. She’s so raw, so real, and she truly gets to the core of humanity in such an elegant and simple way. If you don’t watch it all at least watch everything after nine minutes. She touches upon something we don’t talk about as a society: an individual’s right to defy the norm by saying “no.”
“I realized that part of my identity is saying no to things I don’t want to do," says Lady Gaga. "And you are all in school and you all have a lot of teachers and a lot of people around you that tell all day what you have to do; but it’s your right to choose what you do and what you don’t do. It is your right to choose what you believe in and what you don’t believe in. It is your right to curate your life and your own perspective. You are not here to be a puppet…”
2. Ashton Kutcher
“The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart," says Kutcher in the video below. "And being thoughtful and being generous. Everything else is crap. I promise you. Its just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don’t buy it. Be smart. Be thoughtful and be generous.”
I watch this video all the time. I need it when I feel like I’m not skinny enough. I need it when I feel like being “hot” is the only thing we, as a society, want from each other. I watch it and understand that “sexiness,” is not found in Photoshop. It’s not lingerie, lipstick, skipping carbs, one-night-stands. It’s not Kim Kardashian’s curves. It’s working hard, being nice to others, studying for your Biology test really hard. Mopping floors at restaurants for minimum wage. Building houses for the poor. Texting your mom “I love you,” for no particular reason.
3. Demi Lovato
“When I think of confident, I think of many things but one thing in particular is feeling comfortable in your own skin," says Demi Lovato in the video below. "I thought it was incredible the idea of no make up whatsoever, no clothes, and no retouching.”
In the video, Demi gets real with her fans. She talks about her past struggles, such as cutting and eating disorders. She reminds us that it’s OK to be sad. It’s OK to have emotions. But it’s also empowering to enable yourself to do something about it. You have the ability to get help, becoming a better version of yourself, to enjoy life.
4. John Lennon
John Lennon said, “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an old man in the sky. I believe that what people call God is something in all of us. I believe that what Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and all the rest said was right. It's just that the translations have gone wrong.” This one speaks to me. He presents religion in the sense that faith is real, but human expression of faith causes disruption.
5. Pink
We love to ugly-sing to “So What,” in the car with our friends, or “U + UR Hand,” when we’re feeling extra single. But Pink makes it clear that she’s not just a famous pop-rock singer. She has a lot to say when she’s not singing about breakups and “stupid girls.” She talks about the media in the sense that she doesn’t let them win. In her interview with "The View,” she discusses that she aims to define herself before the media defines her. She has no problem expressing her “crazy,” to the media before the media can define her as crazy. I think this is an important lesson. She’s basically saying that each person should have the ability to express their individuality without society defining them.
Her best quote? “They want you to fail so much. They don’t look for how beautiful you are; they look for cellulite. If you want crazy, here’s crazy. Here’s all of it.”
6. Taylor Swift
OK, we all know she writes songs about boys who do her wrong. People like to call her out for that. They call her crazy or obsessive and sometimes even pathetic. Why is this important? She teaches us that there is a double standard.
Here’s a video of some (funny) responses she has for sexist interview questions.
