“Everyone is trying to hide their faults from each other when we all have it.” – Colbie Caillat
Singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat was in the studio with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds working on her latest album Gypsy, when she opened up to him about social and industry pressure to be something she is not.
Edmonds encourage Caillat to write about her own experience – anything from feeling the pressure to be thin and be “ready” all the time, to her mother’s hair going gray, and what it all means in our culture.
Caillat will be the first to tell you that she enjoys getting dolled up, and while there is nothing wrong with putting time into your appearance, it becomes a problem when you are trying to live up to other people’s expectations. And that is exactly what she is expressing in her new track, “Try.”
For me, this single and video celebrates certain social norms as being “normal” (although, having fun with clothes and make-up is a social construct, and that doesn’t make it wrong), while also challenging the audience to incorporate a broader idea of what is “normal” and “beautiful.” The goal would be that women like Caillat would not be labeled as “brave” for doing something like opting not to wear makeup in public. In a sense, we need to re-normalize our “physical humanness.”
