Fabulously successful and powerful women like news reporter Robin Roberts or olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglass, who have been criticized about their hair should be able to hear this song–we should all, no matter our race or gender or any other socially constructed category for that mater, be able to hear this song. I believe, however, that this song should be heard at massive level because it has a message so relevant to our materialistic, racist, sexist culture. Furthermore, as you may have noticed, there are no animated gifs in this post, and that’s because they didn’t already exist for these reasons (and I’m technically challenged and couldn’t make one myself). Additionally, the original version of this song was supposed to just be her, her acoustic guitar and maybe a bass, but her record told her she had to feature Akon so the record would sell. It’s obvious that India.Arie is talented–however, her feminist narratives and refusal to conform to the music industry’s beauty ideal have kept her out of the mainstream music world. One problem, however, comes back to ratings and the music video. This is a pretty big deal because I don’t think that has happened since I started writing this blog. Now I don’t have any complaints about this song, and I don’t see any contradictions. Singing out to the whole wide world like HEY… ha ha ha haĭoes the way I wear my hair make me a better person?ĭoes the way I wear my hair make me a better friend? Ohĭoes the way I wear my hair determine my integrity? What’d she do to her hair? I don’t know it look crazy “I Am Not My Hair” was released in 2006 on her third studio album it was the only song from the album that charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #97 (more on this later!) The lyrics of this song tell a similar narrative as”Video”–it calls out beauty expectations especially the expectations for women of color and promotes a positive dialogue about beauty and worth. However, I decided that because this song is so well known, and honestly an obvious pick for this blog (even though still awesome!) I wanted to highlight another one of her really powerful songs. If you don’t know it be sure to watch the video bellow: It was one of my go to favorite girl power songs when I was younger (and still is!). She goes further to reassert that her beauty is not her only worth, but also her brains and thoughts, and she refuses to buy into materialistic American culture. I’m sure most everyone is familiar with her 2001 song “Video” where she does some positive body image work–stating that she sometimes doesn’t shave her legs, isn’t built like a supermodel but she is still beautiful and still a queen. I mentioned a while ago, how I wanted to pay homage to one of the music industry’s most outspoken feminist: India.Arie.
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