Overall score: 7.58
High score: 10 (helloDer, Heroine, JakeKills, Superpower, Seffers, justin464, Konichiwa, Kool_Aid_King, romonster, KarlosVzla, Яeo., VJoker, Quicksand, Deemy, Giselle)
Low score: 1 (M!X, Jdella11)
Listen to "Pretty Hurts" You’ll have to ask a woman what she makes of a physically perfect specimen railing against society’s toxic beauty standards; ATRL is probably not the place to asses the intended impact of “Pretty Hurts.” As a song, though, this self-empowerment anthem is definitely successful, with Beyoncé’s forceful vocal performance keeping the swelling orchestration and earnest sentiment from crossing into cheesy territory. It’s no “Unpretty,” but this will do for the next generation.
ATRL says...: "Sia sucks but Beyoncé is awesome so I have mixed feelings about this song,"
madonnas wrote.
JakeKills disagreed: "This song—and this song alone—validates Sia's existence as a songwriter as far as I'm concerned."
Eternium thought "the verses are a ten, but that damn chorus."
lovesong called the song "good in terms of an album opener," but "basic compared to the others."
August was going through some kind of whiplash: "I declared this the greatest song I have ever heard around 9PM on December 13th, but shortly realized that was just the my-fave-just-released-a-****ing-surprise-album-hype talking." But
helloDer really thought "Pretty Hurts" was an all-time Beyoncé highlight. "Underrated by stans," he wrote. "One of the best songs on the best album of Bey’s career. The video is also one of her best."
Best bit: "Just another stage/Pageant the pain away"—a fantastic thematic metaphor
Puke.
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A nice position for PR though.