Scars to Your Beautiful by Alessia Cara

“I can’t take this anymore!” Sonya yells to the mirror in her dressing room. Just then Sonya notices a shadow lingering in the doorway. Again, Sonya whispers to herself, “I can’t take this anymore.”

The shadow steps forward, revealing the hesitant face of Mia, Sonya’s best friend. “What can’t you take anymore, Sonya?” Mia thinks Sonya will blow the question off, so Mia’s startled when Sonya breaks down.

“This! Everything!” Sonya waves her hand around the room. “The pressure, the stress, the diets, the rules, the constant attention.” Sonya wipes her eyes. “All the time: you can’t be in the sun; you have to wear this makeup; you need to lose five pounds by thursday; smile; turn your; head; lift up your chin. I can’t take it!”

Mia, unsure of how to respond to her best friend’s outburst, walks forward and wraps an arm around her Sonya’s thin shoulders.

“Sonya, I… You…” Mia trails off.

Just then, Missy pops her head into the room. “Sonya, five minutes.” As quick as she came, Missy leaves.

Mia turns to Sonya’s face. Mia watches as Sonya steps away, takes a few, deep breaths, and quickly starts to reapply her makeup. Within a minute, Sonya looks like she wasn’t just crying.

“Sonya-” Mia starts.

“Don’t Mia, I’m fine. That happens sometimes, I’m fine, really. Just a lapse of composure.”

“No, Sonya, you’re not okay. You need help. You-”

“Mia, really I’m fine.” Sonya snaps. Sonya closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, starts again. “Mia, I’m okay, really, I am. I don’t need help, I’m okay.”

“Sonya, you’re not…” Mia stops herself, changes tactics. “What if you’re not okay, Sonya? Then what?”

“Then what? Then I keep going Mia. Covergirls don’t cry after their face is made. I’m a covergirl, I can’t cry or complain.”

“But what about when they’re starving? Do they get help then? You’re too skinny. This isn’t beauty, Sonya.” Mia persists.

“There’s beauty in everything. What’s a little bit of hunger? I can go a little while longer.”

Exasperated, Mia says, “Maybe you can go a little while longer, but you’re going to become so skinny, you’ll be ugly.” Ugly. The word no covergirl wants to hear.

“Two more photoshoots, Mia. Then, I have three weeks off. Three weeks of eating whatever I want. Except chocolate, soda, carbs-”

“Sonya!” Mia shouts. Sonya, alarmed, looks directly at Mia, instead of Mia’s reflection in the mirror. “Sonya, you’re going to fade away. You’re going to disappear.”

“I have to do this, Mia, I have to.” Sonya waves her hand around the room.

Missy sticks her head into the room again. “You’re up, Sonya.”

Sonya nods and heads to the door, but Mia reaches out and grabs her arm.

“Sonya. Beauty goes deeper than the surface. There’s beauty, hope for you waiting for you. You’re beautiful just the way you are. You don’t have to change yourself with makeup, clothes, diets. You’re beautiful.”

With a small, weak, smile, Sonya pulls away from Mia and leaves, leaving Mia standing alone.

Original Lyrics

She just wants to be beautiful

She goes unnoticed, she knows no limits

She craves attention, she praises an image

She prays to be sculpted by the sculptor

Oh, she don't see the light that's shining Deeper than the eyes can find it

Maybe we have made her blind

So she tries to cover up her pain and cut her woes away

'Cause cover girls don't cry after their face is made

But there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark

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

Oh-oh, oh-oh

And you don't have to change a thing, yhe world could change its heart

No scars to your beautiful, we're stars and we're beautiful

She has dreams to be an envy, so she's starving

You know, covergirls eat nothing

She says beauty is pain and there's beauty in everything

What's a little bit of hunger?

I could go a little while longer, she fades away

She don't see her perfect, she don't understand she's worth it

Or that beauty goes deeper than the surface

Oh, oh

So to all the girls that's hurting

Let me be your mirror, help you see a little bit clearer

The light that shines within

There's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark

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

Oh-oh, oh-oh

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

No better you than the you that you are (no better you than the you that you are)

No better life than the life we're living (no better life than the life we're living)

No better time for your shine, you're a star (no better time for your shine, you're a star)

Oh, you're beautiful, oh, you're beautiful

And there's a hope that's waiting for you in the dark

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

Oh-oh, oh-oh

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

I will paint you a thousand pictures with my words,

each letter a color only i can see,

a canvas of memory.

One red splash of paint: word: atrophy

meanings i'm not sure of, just words, just sounds and syllables

that sit on my tongue like candy apples,

melt into caramel abysses, close my eyes, entering into the place where you left.

i will paint you this. i will paint you the pain you have caused me

and the small words that sat on my tongue,

the whispered phrases, each syllable like another color

onto my abstract picture which will sell for so much

so much, so little, you are all trying to find the meaning.

you stare at this picture and at my corpse. you say, "anyone can make something so simple,"

such a simple disaster. just words spilled like empty paint cans,

soaking the canvas so much that it creates a tear down the middle.

i say to myself, 'this paint will never dry.'

and it dries. but the colors are so blended now it's hard to find the meaning i wanted to give you.

i wanted to show you the hurt i felt when i began writing,

shrinking into the regret i felt when i finished.

the backspace button is a luxury i cannot afford; i will keep every word,

i will not blot away colors, because they are beautiful

like words you have to look up in the dictionary because they are so complex,

only to find out the meaning of atrophy is not nearly as beautiful as the feeling it gave you,

that caramel-apple reality turning to the dull and metal taste of blood,

i'm sorry,

this is all too much for me.