8 Deceptively Unromantic "Love" Songs

4. One Direction - "What Makes You Beautiful"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJO3ROT-A4E The Song You Know An anthem for teenage girls that says modesty is an important quality, but also that beauty comes in many forms. And sometimes we don't see the good things in ourselves that others see. And if you want One Direction to like you, learn how to flip your hair in a way that's appealing. Why It's Not So Romantic This is basically one big M.C. Escher painting put into a song. As Stephen Colbert correctly pointed out on The Colbert Report, One Direction's mega-hit is quite a confounding enigma. It goes like this: The girl in the song isn't aware that she's beautiful. Which is sad. But there's a silver lining here because the fact that she doesn't know she's beautiful actually makes her beautiful. BUT since the boys in One Direction are now telling her (and the rest of the world) that she is beautiful, this would once again make her not beautiful, since the ignorance of her own beauty was actually the only thing making her attractive in the first (second?) place. Now, since she understands the rules as put forth by 1D, it would stand to reason that this girl would now realize she's ugly again (since she thought was was beautiful just moments ago, which is of course the cardinal sin of REAL beauty). Annnnnnd welcome to her new hell: trapped in a constant stat of flux, never knowing if she's the type of girl the hottest boy band in the world wants to be with or if she's just a repulsive egomaniac who thinks entirely too much of herself. If she doesn't require weekly sessions with a therapist after that, it would be astounding.
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Bruno Mars
 
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Jacob is a part-time contributor for WhatCulture, specializing in music, movies, and really, really dumb humor.