Part B: Essay discussing the TWO songs

The two songs ‘You Never Know by BLACKPINK’ and ‘Scars to your Beautiful’ by
Alessia Cara both incorporate the concepts of persons, power, identity and culture
which expresses the impacts on society reflected from the social and cultural issues
being revealed through the song lyrics. The themes and issues of mental health,
cyberbullying and perceiving body image can affect the relationships and interactions
between social and cultural groups through the micro, meso and macro levels of
society. Both songs have shown a range of similarities through the themes by
discussing the problems of living up to society’s critiques, standards and expectations.

“You Never Know” by BLACKPINK was a song released on October 2nd, 2020 which
was during the COVID-19 global pandemic which stipulated many social issues through
the media during lockdown. The concept of ‘persons’ was identified through the lyrics of
“But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoеs, You'll never know, my tangled
strings” reveals how people can be quick to judge others when they have not
experienced the difficulties they might be going through in their personal lives. Due to
the impulsive judgements that people often make about others creates the social issue
of cyberbullying through various influences impacting an individual’s mental health. The
theme of cyberbullying explores how people try to ignore and disregard all of the shade
and negativity from the haters which forms the interactions between the two social
groups within their meso world.

The idea of power is also evident throughout the song along the lines of “I’ve heard
enough, I’ve heard enough, Of the things that I’m not” as this refers to how hearing what
seem to be harmless comments that people make can really influence and manipulate
someone to think negatively about themselves. The power of society has the capability
to influence people’s personal thoughts and actions which relates to the themes of
cyberbullying and mental health. The social issues of cyberbullying and mental health
gives insight to how one person with their own set of opinions, expectations, values or
beliefs can be of a major influence on how society perceives and responds to certain
topics and problems.
The concept of identity can be expressed through the song. For example this can be
portrayed in the text of “Wonderin' if I gotta try and pretend” and “I'm afraid I'll find
myself hoping to know”. This refers to a person who questions whether they have to
pretend to be someone else which can cause the individual to disconnect from
themselves as part of their identity has been disoriented. This stems from being unable
to be their authentic selves as they are underappreciated by the people around them.
The absence of someone’s identity can be related to the effects of mental health
problems such as depression. Social issues involving a low state of mental well being
have affected how people think about themselves and others. Being in a low state of
mental well being can be managing emotional breakdowns or being committed to do
normal everyday activities and hobbies can be challenging. All of these form the
interactions within their micro world.

“Scars to your Beautiful” by Alessia Cara was released on November 13th, 2015 and
was written for the purpose of raising awareness in fighting for women’s rights as it
became a prevalent social issue during that period of time. The idea of persons can be
found in the song as a reference to “She craves attention” and “She prays to be
sculpted by the sculptor” which shows how people crave the attention of others. During
the process of seeking the wanted attention of others, people find ways to change
themselves and their appearance in order to gain that acceptance and appreciation
from their peers. The thought of having to appear a certain way for the approval of
others can relate to the social and cultural issue of body image which can impact
people’s sense of self worth and confidence. The effects of a person being self
conscious about their body can be influenced by their interactions with people within
their social circle and popular influencers on social media as people often develop their
views, interests, behaviours, values and expectations from connecting with others.
Consequently these interactions form the relationships within a person’s meso world.

The concept of culture is evident through the song along the lines of “Cause covergirls
don't cry, After their face is made”. This conveys the idea of having to be molded a
certain way in order to be beautiful and happy about yourself. It encourages people to
think that the only solution to beauty is by getting plastic surgery, whether it is to achieve
society’s perception of Western or Asian beauty standards. These societal and cultural
expectations can be a contagious influence to a negative mental health as media
representation and the traditional history of passing on beauty standards from different
cultures have taught people to ingrain these unrealistic expectations and as a result
develop the interactions between the people and society within their macro world.
Identity is clearly recognised through the lyrics of “I can go a little while longer, she
fades away” as it tells us how often women and young girls are blinded by society’s
beauty standards to the extent of starving themselves and developing unhealthy habits
in order to achieve an ideal body type. This can greatly take away a part of one’s unique
identity as they do not realise that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes and colours. The
idea of society encouraging people to follow beauty trends can be related to body image
and how changing their appearance can cause someone to have serious physical and
mental health issues. Health problems can include developing eating disorders from
prolonged starvation while a person’s mental well being can be fractured as they will
often experience mental mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. These all
form the interactions of people within their micro world.

Therefore both songs “You Never Know” by BLACKPINK and “Scars to your Beautiful”
by Alessia Cara incorporates the concepts of persons, power, identity and culture
through the lyrics to convey the social and cultural issues of mental health,
cyberbullying and body image through the interactions between social and cultural
groups within the micro, meso and macro levels of society. BLACKPINK utilises themes
to express the impact that cyberbullying has between the individuals connections with
the social groups of society. Alessia Cara also portrays ideas to communicate the
effects of developing body image expectations through a person’s connection and
relationship within the social and cultural communities in society.
Secondary Research

You Never Know

Miss Tea’sMosa:

● A song that inspires people not to be influenced by other people’s opinions.

● Talks about how mean comments might be surface level but in reality it greatly
impacts a person’s mental health overtime.

● It communicates how people should stay true to themselves despite the hateful
comments being thrown at them.

● “Sunday night, I’ve been swallowed by my bed” refers to how the criticism can
cause artists to be consumed by the negative thoughts in their head. And
wanting to be ‘swallowed by bed’ can represent the moments when they just
want to disconnect from the outside world.

KayePopReactions:

● “It's easier to judge me than to believe” shows how difficult it is for people to
understand how painful the situation or hardship was when they have never
experienced it.

● The lyrics reveal the problems of trying to become another person in order to
please people.

● “The brighter that light gets, my shadow is getting longer” tells us how an artist's
fame and admiration can be a light of disguise which hides shadows of their
struggles and realities of being famous.
Scars to your Beautiful

Genius Lyrics:

● The song ‘Scars to your Beautiful’ really communicates the idea of self love and
embracing your uniqueness as an individual from the quote: “You don’t have to
change anything about yourself, but others have to change their perception of the
people around them.

NOVA FM:

● The song ‘Scars to your Beautiful' was written by Alessia Cara herself as she
herself has experienced low self esteem during her teen years as well as the
other people around her felt the same way.

The Real Daytime:

● Alessia Cara became part of the ‘I am that girl movement’ during the time when
the song was released.

● The aim of the movement was to encourage girls and women to talk about their
personal insecurities and problems.

● This did not only provide a comfortable zone for females to talk about their
concerns but it taught them how to have empathy and compassion for
themselves and others around them.

● She confessed that she was insecure about how her body looked and as well as
hair loss.

WE Movement:

● The song contradicts the idea that ‘we need to fit into a mold in order to be
successful’.

● Alessia’s inspiration to write this song came from her motivation to fight for
women’s rights as women are usually mistreated by society.

● It inspires women to be empowered by their identity.

Reference List

Cyberbullying (2024) eSafety Commissioner. Available at:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/cyberbullying (Accessed: 06 March 2024).

BLACKPINK (2020) Genius English translations – blackpink - you never know (English
translation), Genius. Available at:
https://genius.com/Genius-english-translations-blackpink-you-never-know-english-translation-lyr
ics (Accessed: 02 October 2020).

Blackpink ‘You never know’ lyrics meaning and song review (the show) (2021a) YouTube.
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gO1uzp-Ffas (Accessed: 03 January 2021).

Poet reacts to Blackpink you never know lyrics (2022) YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SAc1I44BXs (Accessed: 27 May 2022).

Cara, A.C. (2015a) Alessia Cara – Scars to your beautiful, Genius. Available at:
https://genius.com/Alessia-cara-scars-to-your-beautiful-lyrics (Accessed: 13 November 2015).

Cara, A.C. (2017) Alessia Cara gets personal about the meaning behind ‘scars to your
beautiful’, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7G38vL3_Yok (Accessed:
03 March 2017).

Cara, A.C. (2016) Alessia Cara talks promoting self-love, YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uU_gR6QGls (Accessed: 18 October 2016).

Cara, A.C. (2017b) Behind the scenes: Alessia Cara interview at we day, YouTube. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjWJWF_lGqk (Accessed: 19 August 2017).