Today, we’re so excited to premiere Sophia Angeles’ latest single “The Cost Of Being Perfect,” a song that gracefully explores self-worth.
In a world inundated with airbrushed, unrealistic photos, it’s hard not to compare ourselves to the standard of beauty that we often see every day. Isn’t it exhausting to constantly try to measure up to the photos we see on social media? Or even to measure up to the ideal image of yourself that you have in your mind. It hurts to feel like you’re not good enough, not attractive enough, or just not enough. This is the feeling that Sophia Angeles captures in her single, “The Cost of Being Perfect.”
“So many people, especially women, feel this way and it’s sad that it’s such a common issue. Most of my friends have struggled with the same thing and ultimately I’d love for my song to bring awareness to this feeling and inspire people to stop being so hard on themselves because society’s idea of beauty I feel like isn’t attainable.”
Sophia Angeles
Angeles’ career has already seen success, with over 50 million views on Youtube and several placements on Spotify’s curated “up-and-coming” playlists. It’s no surprise that her new single is a hit in the making, consisting of an understatedly beautiful melody and lyrics that are refreshing and genuine.
Known for her unforgettable pop melodies and powerful lyrics, Angeles’ music focuses on the parts of us that we don’t always want to talk about, but often need to. Her brand is relatable, with vulnerable lyrics juxtaposed with catchy, memorable tunes, and it clearly works for her.
With a melancholy, sincere melody and lyrics that are straight from the heart, “The Cost of Being Perfect,” tells a story about something that many of us are familiar with; self-worth.
“I originally wrote most of the song pretty quickly because I was going through a lot emotionally at the time and I just needed to get all of my feelings out. Chelsea Balan, one of my co-writers then helped me finish it and I knew that it was a song that I’d release.”
Sophia Angeles
The song starts out with a contemplative question; “why am I so hard on myself?” We are our own worst critics, and we often only see the parts of ourselves that we’re insecure about when we look into the mirror. Angeles does a great job of portraying how this really feels, and the melody of the song complements the emotion behind the lyrics she sings.
She goes on to sing “counting up all my calories, / ‘cause I can’t fit into my jeans, / comparing pictures on a screen.” The lyrics represent the many ways that we try to “fit in,” both literally and figuratively. She struggles to fit into her jeans, just as many of us often struggle to fit into the image that we feel we’re supposed to look like.
“Summer has always been the time of year that brought out the worst of my body image issues. I think bikini season and the trend of everyone getting in shape for summer creates a lot of pressure and I felt like it’s an important time to share the song.”
Sophia Angeles
The lyrics “chasing after an image, so self-destructive” point to the vicious cycle that often follows us on social media. We see an image, compare ourselves, come up short, and feel like we’re not enough.
The images we see in the media often leave us feeling like we need to be thinner, look prettier, have perfect skin, have better hair, wear better clothes, have a different body shape, or look completely different altogether. But is it worth it, being so hard on ourselves to try and achieve this unattainable perfection?
“I feel like I’ve wanted to write this song for years but I never had the right way to say it. I’ve struggled with weight/body image issues since I was young and it’s been something that has affected me throughout my life. When I wrote the song I wasn’t in a healthy place. I was counting every calorie I ate, body checking and constantly comparing myself to other people.”
Sophia Angeles
This is the question at the end of the chorus that Angeles asks herself and invites us to ask of ourselves. “Is it really even worth it, the cost of being perfect?” This song gets to the heart of a struggle that many of us face every single day; how do we love ourselves exactly as we are? And what is the cost if we don’t? A question worth asking, these are the lessons hidden within the lyrics of the song.
Angeles points to a universal struggle later in the song when she sings “feels like I’m a mean girl at school, telling myself that I’m not cool, picking apart the broken parts of me.” This insightful lyric points to the ways in which we are unkind to ourselves, especially when we pick ourselves apart over our insecurities. We are bullying ourselves internally, being cruel to ourselves like a school bully would. Angeles begins to realize through the process of asking herself “is it really even worth it?” that the cost of being perfect is far too high.
“The last line of the song is “I know it isn’t worth it the cost of being perfect” I wanted to end the song with that lyric because I realized that everything I was doing to look perfect was actually making me feel worse about myself. I want everyone who listens to the song to feel less alone if they relate to it hopefully.”
Sophia Angeles
By the last refrain, Angeles reaches the moral of her story in a poignant and powerful statement: “I just wanna feel, feel like I’m good enough. / But I know it isn’t worth it, / the cost of being perfect.” At the end of the day, the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to accept that we are worthy and we are enough, exactly as we are.
Sophia Angeles captures this all-important and timely message in a beautiful, thoughtful, and moving song that perfectly encapsulates the struggle to find self-love and acceptance.
Listen to “The Cost Of Being Perfect”
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