"Brave, Honest, Beautiful" - Stephanie Amezcua

Incredible Song You Would Ever Hear

The first time I heard " Brave, Honest, Beautiful" by Fifth Harmony was when I was in the computer lab at my school Everett. A few weeks ago, I woke up in a bad mood. I did not want to go to school. I felt stressed out. I only had a month and a half until I graduated from eighth grade, I was looking for a good song so I could write about it in Ms.Carnes class. My friend Elysia introduced the song for me. When, I first heard the song, I exclaimed, " Yay I found my song." In the first few seconds I already liked the song, it has an upbeat sound, which made you want to dance. My mood instantly turned from a lazy feeling into a cheerful mood. It brighten up my day. It brightened up like a sun. The tons of weight that I had on my back has been lifted. As I keep listening, I started to listen the lyrics closely . I knew at the moment I had found my song.

Fifth Harmony all started on the X-factor. Five talented teenage girls entered at the show, when they were  between 15 and 16. They were selected to be a group: Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei, Hamilton, Lauren Jauregui, Allyson Brooke Hernandez, and Dinah Jane Hansen. Even though they won third place, they still continue their music career as a group. Signed to Epic Records, and Cowell's Syco Records, they have been singing songs that empowered youth. Although singing songs that are R&B style, they still have different role models that sing other type genre. Etta James, Taylor Swift, and more artist inspired Fifth Harmony. Since Fifth Harmony started, they have been affecting youth on a positive way. One song that is powerful is " Brave, Honest, Beautiful" ft Meghan Trainor, released on the album Reflection. The album was released on January 30th, 2015.

Fifth Harmony uses allusion and rhyme throughout the song to convey the important message that don't hide your true beauty (identity), and show the world who you really are because you are beautiful on your own unique way, and no one could stop that.

By working  with  allusions, Fifth Harmony uses this so listeners can learn that you should not hide yourself so people can know who you really are. In the song’s chorus, Fifth Harmony demonstrate that being confident can make you shine, and be different from others. When Fifth Harmony repeats: "You can dance like Beyonce/ You can shake like Shakira." ( Brave- 20-22) In this line, Fifth Harmony states get artist influences name to show how everybody knows who is Shakira, and Beyonce. Fifth Harmony alludes to Shakira, who is an artist that sing songs that motivate people to dance,and who can do dances of moving her hips which is hard to do. They also allude Beyonce, she is an artist who sings songs that are upbeat, and can make people dance. She is a really good dancer just like Shakira. This reveals the theme that don't hide your true beauty, because you are beautiful on your own unique way by bringing up that being confident can show off your style.

In addition, Fifth Harmony uses rhyme to help convey their message that you should be confident on who you are, and not let your imperfections win you. In the second verse, Fifth Harmony is focusing on how teenagers are affected by their looks,and how they should be perfect. How social media, and the world portrayed on what is beautiful and what is not. In the staged of being a teenager, we care about our looks, and how people sees us, but we just need to remind ourselves that : " Don't go and waste your precious time / With all to nonsense on your mind. " ("Brave" 17-18) By rhyming "time" with "mind", Fifth Harmony is contrasting the idea of people are wasting time with the fact the most people are always thinking about their imperfections. This reveals the theme that be confident on who you are, because all your imperfections can’t match with your true beauty by telling us that we don’t value time, because we are always complaining about our imperfections, and not realizing our beauty.

The most intriguing aspect of the song is the tone, Fifth Harmony uses. Since the beginning Fifth Harmony has a strong, confident, encouraging, compassionate, and cheerful tone throughout her song. For instance, when Camila sings: “ That you’re amazing babe/ You’re breaking down in everyday/ Could be smiling everyday/ Just gotta remind yourself.” ( Brave 16-18) This strengthens the song by influencing the song to not be sad or sympathetic. It’s motivating people to feel proud of themselves. Although the song has a great tone, a particular weakness of the song is the choices of artist Fifth Harmony symbolize. Fifth Harmony only symbolize famous singers. This is evident when Fifth Harmony sings “ So whine like Rihanna/ Go and pose like Madonna.” ( Brave 24-25) The song would have been stronger if Fifth Harmony symbolize other type of artist such as Michelle Obama, or Frida Kahlo, because it will show that you don’t have to be a singer in order to be a strong person.

It is clear that “ Brave, Honest, Beautiful” is a great song that conveys a universal message that most people have to learn once in their life: don’t hide your true beauty (identity), and show the world who you really are, because you are beautiful on your own unique way, and no one could stop that. This reminds me of my own life, because as a teenager, I never like being open, I was afraid people judging me. I was always the quiet girl. I seen my classmates laugh at one of my classmate just because she was being herself. That made more scare to show who I was in the inside. But just as Fifth Harmony motivate others to not hide. I realized that I’m perfect on who I am, and not let society win me, and feel that my community won’t approve me. So I started to be more open, and have gotten a lot of friends over the years. Nowadays, teenagers has to go a phase of caring about our looks, and if we should act on some point of way. We have to be careful of not doing something stupid, and wear something that society would approve. I recommend that people who are still on a phase of accepting who they are, should listen more songs that has a positive message, and not listen songs that have bias, or stereotypes. Listen more to Fifth Harmony songs or similar artist songs. Also, to not forget to recommend this song to other people!