On March 28th, 2016, pop-punk band The Maine released a music video for one of the more popular songs off of their latest album, American Candy, released in Spring of 2015. “Am I Pretty?” has to be one of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard with incredible harmonies and killer instrumentals, but the lyrics take a forefront. Before they even begin with the music and lyrics, a montage of people with differing lifestyles, body types, cultural backgrounds, and sexualities gives the song a whole new meaning. The influence behind this video and the quote that the band posted along with it regarding true beauty, and what makes a person beautiful, has more than likely remade the song for many day-one fans and probably some first time listeners.
“If you don't like just what I do/ Do what you like/ So maybe then you'll want me/ Maybe then you'll want me,” in the first verse of the song a real problem, that I know many people face daily, is addressed aggressively. I’ve watched many friends and family members and myself search everywhere for approval and acceptance. I’ve watched many friends and family members including myself get put down and disregarded for one reason or another. We are human, whether we want to believe it or not we are made for love. Being made for love means that somewhere inside we have a drive for love and once we start searching, we won’t stop until we get that love. We seek approval and acceptance in the wrong places, though. “Am I pretty? Do people like me?” how many times do we ask ourselves these questions every single f**king day? And when will we stop asking those questions?
Let us not forget to thank The Maine for the amazing bridge in this song, “There's beauty and grace in the flaws of your face/ All candor and style in the crook of your smile,” see, the love you seek comes from you. Your soul is the only soul that can save you. Your heart is a heart that deserves to flourish, not a heart that deserves to be contorted to fit somebody’s expectations or stomped on by the person you (God knows why) wish you were. There is literal endless beauty and bountiful grace in the perfectly imperfect flaws of your face. There is honesty and precious vulnerability, and effortless elegance in the crook your mouth makes when you smile (all of which is still noticeable in a fake smile).
I will never not love The Maine, they’ve been part of my heart since their 2008 release Can’t Stop Won’t Stop and have sent that same heart of mine soaring with this video to Am I Pretty? Ask me if you’re pretty and I’ll never lie to you because quite frankly, no matter who you are or what you believe, every single thing on this planet, living and breathing or inanimate, is beautiful in its own way.
Thank you, John, Kennedy, Pat, Alex, Garrett, and Jared you’ve been rocking my socks and stealing my heart for almost seven years.
