How do you cope with bad body image days? My favorite way to cure any bad mood looks a little like this: putting on my headphones, turning the volume up, and dancing around my house to my favorite tunes. It’s more than just fun – music can help us recover from stress responses and dancing releases happy chemicals and endorphins. Listening to positive lyrics can also increase positive emotions and well-being. Especially when jamming out to a playlist of body-positive songs, music is good for our bodies, inside and out!
If you’re looking to upgrade your feel-good playlist, I’ve got your back. Here are 20 empowering songs that promote body positivity and self-love.
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Alessia Cara – Scars To Your Beautiful
Scars To Your Beautiful explores the devastating lengths some of us will go to in order to feel perfect. But maybe it’s the world that should change instead?
“You should know you’re beautiful just the way you are
And you don’t have to change a thing
The world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we’re stars and we’re beautiful”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
P!nk – Perfect
TW: this music video includes some graphic content about self-harm. But the message is so powerful that I thought it deserved a place here anyway. P!nk sings about the rocky quest for perfection that so many of us struggle with.
“Pretty, pretty please
If you ever, ever feel
Like you’re nothing
You are perfect to me”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: 18 Amazing Body Positive Brands That Don’t Retouch Their Models
India.Arie – Video
R&B superstar India.Arie has so many body-positive songs it was hard to pick just one! But eventually, I settled on this one because of its amazing message. We don’t need to be “perfect” to deserve self love.
“I’m not your average girl from your video
And I ain’t built like a supermodel
But I learned to love myself unconditionally
Because I am a queen”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Melanie Martinez – Mrs. Potato Head
With this song, Melanie Martinez takes a dark look at our society’s obsession with just fixing our “flaws” through procedures and plastic surgery. Will a new face really make it better, or does the problem come from inside?
“Oh Mrs. Potato Head tell me
Is it true that pain is beauty?
Does a new face come with a warranty?
Will a pretty face make it better?”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Anne Marie – Perfect To Me
This tune from Anne-Marie embraces finding perfection in all our imperfections. You don’t need to be perfectly put together to love yourself – you just need to be you.
“I’m not a supermodel from a magazine
I’m okay with not being perfect
‘Cause that’s perfect to me”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: 7 Daily Habits That Will Boost Your Body Image + Self-Esteem
Jessie J – Queen
“I love my body
I love my skin
I am a goddess
I am a queen”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
The Regrettes – A Living Human Girl
This tune is one of the most underappreciated body-positive songs out there! This super catchy song celebrates some of the “flaws” that we all deal with… That maybe aren’t flaws at all.
“I’ve got pimples on my face
And grease in my hair
Prickly legs, go ‘head and stare
An ass full of stretch marks and little boobs
A nice full belly that’s filled with food”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: 7 Life-Changing Ways You Can Build a Better Relationship With Yourself
TLC – Unpretty
This TLC bop is one of the most popular body-positive songs for a reason. You can change the outside as much as you like. But sometimes you have to look inside yourself and ask why you felt so unpretty in the first place.
“But if you can’t look inside you
Find out who am I to
Be in the position that make me feel
So damn unpretty”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Mary Lambert – Secrets
Society teaches us to hide our flaws. But… What if we celebrated them instead? That’s what Mary Lambert explores in this self-love bop.
“They tell us from the time we’re young
To hide the things that we don’t like about ourselves
Inside ourselves
I know I’m not the only one who spent so long attempting to be someone else
Well I’m over it”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Colbie Caillat – Try
“Why should you care what they think of you?
When you’re all alone, by yourself
Do you like you? Do you like you?
You don’t have to try so hard”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Beyoncé – Pretty Hurts
“Pretty hurts
We shine the light on whatever’s worst
You’re tryna fix something
But you can’t fix what you can’t see
It’s the soul that needs a surgery”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: Here’s How Body Neutrality Can Give You The Self-Love Breakthrough You Need
Lizzo – Good As Hell
“If he don’t love you anymore
Just walk your fine ass out the door
I do my hair toss, check my nails
Baby how you feelin’?
Feeling good as hell”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Hayley Gene Penner – Smaller
“If I’m smaller and if I’m different, just a little less
Would you love me?
If I wasn’t this with some bigger lips and some smaller hips
Would you love me?”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Hailee Steinfeld – Most Girls
Can we stop using the phrase “not like the other girls”? In this feminist jam Hailee Steinfeld celebrates girls doing whatever makes them feel their best and most confident. Who wouldn’t want to be like most girls when they are so amazing?
“Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful
Most girls, work hard, go far, we are unstoppable
Most girls, our fight to make every day, no two are the same
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: 40 Compliments That Have Nothing to Do With Appearance
Christina Aguilera – Beautiful
Christina Aguilera’s ballad about accepting ourselves despite critizism from others has been inspiring listeners since the early ’00s. It’s the perfect song to belt out in front of the mirror when you’re feeling less that beautiful.
“I am beautiful no matter what they say
Words can’t bring me down
I am beautiful in every single way
Yes, words can’t bring me down, oh no
So don’t you bring me down today”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Selena Gomez – Who Says
“That’s the price of beauty
Who says you’re not pretty?
Who says you’re not beautiful?
Who says?”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Poppy Rose – I Love My Body
“I’ll say a big thank you
To my heart for beating
And my lungs for breathing
I never asked them to, I never asked them to”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Janelle Monáe – Q.U.E.E.N. (feat. Erykah Badu)
“Even if it makes others uncomfortable
I will love who I am”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Little Mix – Strip (feat. Sharaya J)
“Take off all my make-up ’cause I love what’s under it
Rub off all your words, don’t give a uh, I’m over it
Jiggle all this weight, yeah, you know I love all of this
Finally love me naked, sexiest when I’m confident”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Recommended Post: How to be Body Positive as a Mid-Sized Woman
Paloma Faith – My Body
If you’re looking for a dance anthem about body love, this song from Paloma Faith is for you. All our imperfections are actually gifts that make us original.
“It might not work for you, but it works for me
My body
Let’s celebrate it, my mama made it
My body
Tells a story in all its glory”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
MisterWives – SUPERBLOOM
While not specifically about body positivity, this song from MisterWives just makes me want to dance around and celebrate all things self-love. It’s the perfect addition to any positive playlist!
“Resilient little thing, just like mama raised you
So you got that wildfire in your soul
Don’t you ever let it go
Make it burn so bright that they all know”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
JESSIA – I’m Not Pretty
Sometimes, you don’t need a song to tell you that you’re beautiful just the way you are. Sometimes it’s just nice to know that none of us are alone in feeling insecure. That’s exactly what JESSIA says in this body-positive pop song.
“Maybe I’m not pretty, maybe I’m just fun
‘Cause I got a belly and I got a bum
But I can’t be jelly of all the other ones
So I’m falling in love with my rump-ump-ump-um”
Listen on Spotify | Listen on Apple Music
Add the full playlist to your library here!
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Music is SO powerful. Body-positive songs like these can help us connect, reflect, and understand our struggles and triumphs with body image and self-love. Are there any that I’ve forgotten? Comment your favorite body-positive songs so we can keep adding to the playlist! I’m seeing lots of self-love dance parties in your future!
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