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Everyday it feels like I'm fighting an unseen battle with a world that keeps trying to tell me, "You're not enough." Between E! trying to convince me I need Kim Kardashian's curves, the Real Housewives propagandizing plastic, and scripted reality shows attempting to sell me real... the media makes it oh-so easy to tune out of yourself and into somebody else.
Somebody else. I'm an American woman and am lucky enough to live in a country where my voice can be my own, and all I hear is be somebody else? No. That can't be right. The signals must have gotten mixed up somewhere. What I'm really hearing is "look like somebody else." Paper bag your personality, it's your face that counts, and don't forget the size of your bra too, duh.
I was raised with the traditional American belief that if you work hard, you can get what you want. Now, I'm subliminally being told that if you don't look a certain way, if you don't allude a certain way, you just won't get what you want. Hike up your skirt, let your eyelashes flirt, and make sure your Facebook default photo screams "SEX!" -- that's how you get what you want.
So, how does that saying go again? If you can't beat them, join 'em?
Hmm. No, thank you. What about, "If you can't beat them, change the game?"
I'm a singer/songwriter in an industry where the presentation of your person matters more than the message of your music, so let's be real here, sex sells will probably never go out of style. They say times have changed, but it's still the same, and I am fully aware that sex sells is not going anywhere.
But what happens when you use sex appeal for your advantage? Projecting sex appeal as strength, rather than just drawing attention for attention's sake, is the ultimate game-changer. A woman's body should never be used to sit and look pretty, but to stand tall and stand up for herself. A seductive allure with a strong voice behind it, forces sex sells to graduate from object, to subject.
I'm not saying we should do a cultural flip-flop and think less tramp, more geek. Instead, I'm thinking chic, women clothed in both strength and dignity. Iconic females like Adele, Beyonce, and Gwen Stefani, all know that junk in the trunk and brains can go a lot further than junk in the trunk and humps alone. Beauty can be in the mirror and the mind, at the same time. What makes a respectable modern day woman, is a female who doesn't have to trade in her sex appeal to be considered strong, and doesn't have to trade in her brains to be sexy. We are now both.
Being that I am so passionate about this subject, I ended up writing a song about the emotional struggle I've been through in today's ever-changing music industry. How cliché of me. It mirrors the constant battle that females are faced with between having the ability and talent to succeed in your dreams, versus what the world says you should be in order to see those dreams realized. In many cases, I feel this struggle is felt by many different kinds of people across the board, across the world. I write my music from an honest heart and with a voice that speaks, so I hope you enjoy my song, "Notice Me." - Huffington Post
Everyday it feels like I'm fighting an unseen battle with a world that keeps trying to tell me, "You're not enough." Between E! trying to convince me I need Kim Kardashian's curves, the Real Housewives propagandizing plastic, and scripted reality shows attempting to sell me real... the media makes it oh-so easy to tune out of yourself and into somebody else.
Somebody else. I'm an American woman and am lucky enough to live in a country where my voice can be my own, and all I hear is be somebody else? No. That can't be right. The signals must have gotten mixed up somewhere. What I'm really hearing is "look like somebody else." Paper bag your personality, it's your face that counts, and don't forget the size of your bra too, duh.
I was raised with the traditional American belief that if you work hard, you can get what you want. Now, I'm subliminally being told that if you don't look a certain way, if you don't allude a certain way, you just won't get what you want. Hike up your skirt, let your eyelashes flirt, and make sure your Facebook default photo screams "SEX!" -- that's how you get what you want.
So, how does that saying go again? If you can't beat them, join 'em?
Hmm. No, thank you. What about, "If you can't beat them, change the game?"
I'm a singer/songwriter in an industry where the presentation of your person matters more than the message of your music, so let's be real here, sex sells will probably never go out of style. They say times have changed, but it's still the same, and I am fully aware that sex sells is not going anywhere.
But what happens when you use sex appeal for your advantage? Projecting sex appeal as strength, rather than just drawing attention for attention's sake, is the ultimate game-changer. A woman's body should never be used to sit and look pretty, but to stand tall and stand up for herself. A seductive allure with a strong voice behind it, forces sex sells to graduate from object, to subject.
I'm not saying we should do a cultural flip-flop and think less tramp, more geek. Instead, I'm thinking chic, women clothed in both strength and dignity. Iconic females like Adele, Beyonce, and Gwen Stefani, all know that junk in the trunk and brains can go a lot further than junk in the trunk and humps alone. Beauty can be in the mirror and the mind, at the same time. What makes a respectable modern day woman, is a female who doesn't have to trade in her sex appeal to be considered strong, and doesn't have to trade in her brains to be sexy. We are now both.
Being that I am so passionate about this subject, I ended up writing a song about the emotional struggle I've been through in today's ever-changing music industry. How cliché of me. It mirrors the constant battle that females are faced with between having the ability and talent to succeed in your dreams, versus what the world says you should be in order to see those dreams realized. In many cases, I feel this struggle is felt by many different kinds of people across the board, across the world. I write my music from an honest heart and with a voice that speaks, so I hope you enjoy my song, "Notice Me." - Huffington Post
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
Brittany McDonald
Brittany McDonald is the girl next door… with a punk/pop attitude. As a singer/songwriter, her music is full of sass and attitude that reflects her desire to be, well, Brittany.
Growing up in southern California, Brittany McDonald is as much a reflection of playful energy as she is the voice of a woman challenging our airbrushed perception of the ideal American girl.
It was her song “Another Wanna Be” that became her signature release, downloading its way to more than 8 million Sony Walkman’s around the world. It was in that tune that she set the standards for her belief that she would always reject efforts to remake her into a mindless sex symbol.
Her song (title here) has been heard on television shows like Modern Family & Guiding Light, and her latest self-release, “Notice Me,” is a perfect example of why pop music blog PopJustic hailed her as “unsigned gold.”
There is no doubt that Brittany has caused quite the infectious stir, receiving nods from major industry A&R websites and even from celebrity critics such as Perez Hilton.
Brittany McDonald is no stranger to the music scene. She was singing before she could talk, wrote her first song at age 8, and can’t recall a single day not knowing that music would be her future.
After high school (where she was a member of a nationally ranked cheer squad), Brittany found her way to USC where she kept her music alive as a member of the famed SoCal VoCals a capella group. After graduating with a degree in psychology, she packed her bags and moved to Nashville where she “wrote songs like mad” and began to get noticed around the music scene.
Just like her dreams, the allure of the sun and a bright future brought her back to California. “When you’re born to do something, there are no doubts, you just know,” Brittany says. “No matter what life throws at you, the dream always finds its way back.”
Throughout her life, Brittany McDonald has been influenced by her heroes of self-expression; first Shirley Temple and Audrey Hepburn, and later the likes of Michael Jackson, Madonna and Gwen Stefani. “I was absolutely fascinated by Gwen’s raw ability to playfully challenge societal views of women. I was 11 years old listening to “Just A Girl” and remember thinking, ‘She’s not just singing, she’s changing the way people think. One day that’s what I’m gonna do,’ ” she says.
Today, Brittany McDonald is ever-closer to her dream. Arianna Huffington recently saw the “Notice Me” video and gave Brittany her own blog on the Huffington Post.
Her determination and talent are reflected in her works. “If the music doesn’t speak, if what I write doesn’t speak to me, it won’t speak to anyone. I feel like it is my responsibility to create music that has pizzazz, character, intelligence, and spirit; music that contributes to people’s everyday lives.”
Brittany McDonald is a talent that pushes back against being anyone else but herself. She does not want to play by the rules, she wants to change the game.
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