Behind the Meaning of “pretty isn’t pretty” by Olivia Rodrigo

Olivia Rodrigo has commented on the effects of negative self-image several times. Her latest message in that vein is “pretty isn’t pretty” taken from her new album, GUTS. Bought a bunch of makeup, tryna cover up my face / I started to skip lunch, stopped eatin’ cake on birthdays, she sings in the opening verse. Like “jealousy, jealousy,” Rodrigo speaks to the presence of media and its effects in this song. Dissect the meaning behind the song with us, below.

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Behind the Meaning

“pretty isn’t pretty” is Rodrigo’s pushback at societal expectations. In the opening verse, she lists all the ways she has tried to conform. She puts on makeup, she skips meals, and when all of that doesn’t make her “pretty enough,” what does she do? She resorts to mood-altering medication to fill whatever is missing.

I bought a new prescription to try and stay calm
‘Cause there’s always somethin’ missin’
There’s always somethin’ in the mirror that I think looks wrong

In the chorus, she talks about the isolating feeling of insecurity. Everybody’s keepin’ it up, so you think it’s you, she sings. In the end, she resigns that it is a futile task. I could change up my body and change up my face / I could try every lipstick in every shade / But I’d always feel the same / ‘Cause pretty isn’t pretty enough anyway, the lyrics read.

The lyrics are a commentary on the vicious cycle of beauty. The amount of effort one has to go through to attain beauty is, in itself, not a pretty process. Rodrigo decides to avoid the fight altogether, paving a new way forward. I chased some dumb ideal my whole fucking life / And none of it matters and none of it ends / You just feel like shit over and over again, she sings in the seething bridge.

You can win the battle, but you’ll never win the war
You fix thе things you hated and you’d still feel so insecure
And I try to ignorе it, but it’s everythin’ I see
It’s on the poster on the wall, it’s in the shitty magazines
It’s in my phone, it’s in my head, it’s in the boys I bring to bed
It’s all around, it’s all the time, I don’t know why I even try

When pretty isn’t pretty enough, what do you do?
And everybody’s keepin’ it up, so you think it’s you
I could change up my body and change up my face
I could try every lipstick in every shade
But I’d always feel the same
‘Cause pretty isn’t pretty enough anyway

(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)