I vividly remember the first time I saw the music video for Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful,” which came out when I was 12. If you’ve ever seen the original video and if you’ve ever been 12, you can understand why it made an impression.
Now Aguilera has set out to make a whole new generation of 12-year-olds cry by remaking and releasing a new video for the song.
The 2002 video was groundbreaking for its time because, in addition to featuring misfits and teens struggling with body image, it also celebrated people who were still largely marginalised and absent from TV, including two men kissing passionately and a trans woman putting on her makeup. The new, 2022 video is a little more abstract but carries much of the same message. A young girl ponders a vending machine full of diet pills. A group of young girls are putting on makeup in front of smartphone screens and ring lights. I know!
Posting to her Instagram, the singer explained why she chose to update the video, and why she thinks the message of the song is as important today as it ever has been. “We are Beautiful, no matter what they say A message I will always stand by and a message I prioritise to instill in my own children through every chapter of their lives,” she wrote in the caption.
“The original ‘Beautiful’ video set out to bring awareness and a sense of compassion in the face of judgment, criticism, and outside opinions. It still carries an important message to remember our core values outside of what’s being fed to us… to find a sense of balance and accepting ourselves for who we are. ”
Christina Aguilera, you have done it again. Where are my damn tissues?
