TLC: Unpretty

Remarks:

This is by far my favourite TLC song. In 1999 it went to #4 on the US R&B chart and was a top-ten hit throughout the Anglosphere. For Stefani Germanotta, a 13-year-old outcast at her school in New York, it changed her life. We now know her as Lady Gaga.

It is based on a poem by T-Boz (the blonde in the video):

“I’m a very petite woman, and was never extra developed like how most girls in high school were. I wanted bigger boobs and all that. So that’s why when we shot the video, it was personal to me to tell that story. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you feeling like you want to get a breast job or reduction. But the most important part is it needs to happen because that’s something you want for yourself, not someone else. Not some guy telling you that you’ll look better if this was bigger. If they do say that, just drop them.”

See also:

• songs: the 1990s
• R&B Time Warp – TLC holds it down for 1999
• Christina Aguilera: The Voice Within
• female beauty – take a trip back to the cringey depths of this blog
• anorexia

Lyrics:

[Verse 1: T-Boz]
I wish I could tie you up in my shoes
Make you feel unpretty too
I was told I was beautiful
But what does that mean to you?
Look into the mirror, who’s inside there
The one with the long hair
Same old me again today, yeah

[Pre-Chorus: Chilli]
My outsides look cool
My insides are blue
Everytime I think I’m through
It’s because of you
I try different ways
But it’s all the same
At the end of the day
I have myself to blame
I’m just trippin’

[Chorus]
You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the make-up
That M.A.C. can make, but if
You can’t look inside you
Find out who am I to
Be in the position that make me feel
So damn unpretty

I’ll make you feel unpretty too

[Verse 2: T-Boz]
Never insecure until I met you
Now I’m bein’ stupid
I used to be so cute to me
Just a little bit skinny
Why do I look to all these things
To keep you happy?
Maybe get rid of you
And then I’ll get back to me, yeah

[Pre-Chorus: Chilli]
My outsides look cool
My insides are blue
Everytime I think I’m through
It’s because of you
I try different ways
But it’s all the same
At the end of the day
I have myself to blame
Can’t believe I’m trippin’

[Chorus]
You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the make-up
That M.A.C. can make, but if
You can’t look inside you
Find out who am I to
Be in the position that make me feel
So damn unpretty

You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the make-up
That M.A.C. can make, but if
You can’t look inside you
Find out who am I to
Be in the position that make me feel
So damn unpretty

And make you feel unpretty too
And make you feel unpretty
(Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh)

[Chorus]
You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
You can fix your nose if he says so
You can buy all the make-up
That M.A.C. can make, but if
You can’t look inside you
Find out who am I to
Be in the position that make me feel
So damn unpretty
You can buy your hair if it won’t grow
(Hahahaha)
You can buy all the make-up
That M.A.C. can make, but if
You can’t look inside you
Be in the position that make me feel so

Source: Genius Lyrics.