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Painted You Pretty: Rethinking "Perfection"
Painted You Pretty: Rethinking "Perfection"
The first time I heard Painted You Pretty by Hudson Westbrook, I was searching for an audio to use as the background for my Instagram post. This post was a “photodump” to commemorate my second semester at Syracuse University and first season playing soccer there. Finally having come up with a balanced mix of images–big smiles with friends, adorable animals, trips to church, times with the team–it felt equally important to find a song to complement these memories. As I scrolled through Instagram’s musical selections searching for inspiration, I stumbled across Painted You Pretty. The first few notes of this song introduce a unique and refreshing sound that evokes both calmness and delight. A harmonious blend of guitars creates a dreamy melody that is immediately captivating, and as Westbrook sings, his clear and natural voice stands out with an emotional depth that feels both personal and vulnerable. Something about the song made me feel deeply connected to it, and I found myself playing it again and again.
Lyrically, the artist sings about a girl that he loves every single thing about, essentially serenading her. While this may sound like many other songs on the charts today, Westbrook leverages metaphors in almost every single line to elevate the lyrics beyond their cliché and deepen their emotional impact. He repeatedly likens this woman to a painting, a comparison that resonates most strongly in the chorus. Like a picture on the wall, she becomes fixed in his mind as a display of beauty, admired and idealized. According to Medium, metaphors allow songwriters to convey emotions too complex to put into literal terms. In Painted You Pretty, they reveal just how perfect the artist views her as. That being said, it also makes me wonder: does comparing a woman to a painting reduce her to an object of external admiration rather than a whole person?
This concept can also be understood through the framework of a broader phenomenon known as the male gaze. Sarah Vanbuskirk explains that this theory refers to the objectification of women in conventional media, where they are often represented as passive and erotic figures whose primary purpose is to serve male desire and advance male-centered storylines. “The argument is that the male gaze controls the narrative, which is that women are not equal actors in the world,” she states in her article, Understanding the Male Gaze and How it Objectifies Women. Similarly, Painted You Pretty illustrates a male-focused perspective in which the girl is physically admired from a distance as an exquisite work of art, but never fully engaged with as a complex individual. By likening her to a painting, the song prompts the consideration that she’s being portrayed as a passive actor that fulfills the male gaze.Â
Image #1: Belle as an example of a female character serving the male narrative (Wikipedia)
The focus in the media on the flawless depiction of female appearance over emotional depth is a persistent and universal issue. Fiveable notes that women are often represented in romantic literature as angelic creatures and inspiration for male protagonists, which risks minimizing them to unrealistic embodiments of perfection. We frequently engage in discussions about unachievable standards for women on social media and in film, yet rarely do we consider how these same ideals are reinforced through music. Though songs may not be visual in the same way as imagery, they are still powerful mediums for depicting the male gaze. There are countless examples of women being put on impossible pedestals as objects of desire, from Dolly Parton’s Jolene and Billy Joel’s Always a Woman, to Golden Hour by JVKE, Heather by Conan Gray, and She’s All I Wanna Be by Tate McCrae. In Painted You Pretty, Westbrook’s romantic imagery and idealized comparisons initially seem to participate in the same cultural pattern of idealization.Â
I’m deeply familiar with the unattainable female beauty standards that are so deeply integrated into our culture. During my sophomore year of high school, I struggled intensely with my body image and was eventually diagnosed with anorexia–an eating disorder characterized by an extreme fear of gaining weight. I had transformed from being a healthy and confident soccer player to someone who measured her value by how much smaller she was than the girls around her. Restricting calories and exercising at every opportunity, I had internalized the belief that perfection meant being thin and petite, just as the media often suggests. The standards upheld by a society shaped by the male gaze made me feel as though I was never enough, no matter how hard I tried to become “perfect.”
Video #1: Depiction of the societal emphasis on thinness and physical ideals
 Interestingly, the more I listen to Painted You Pretty, the more I realize that Westbrook’s use of the word “perfect” has the opposite effect on me. Rather than feeling diminished or objectified, I feel empowered. Although the woman is compared to a “picture-perfect” object, his admiration doesn’t rely on narrow or conventional beauty standards. Instead, he highlights individual qualities like her “kind eyes with a kill-a-man smile,” emphasizing traits that feel unique and personal. Moreover, his description of perfection doesn’t suggest that she conforms to an ideal, but that she’s beautiful just the way she is. The last line of the chorus underscores this concept, with the words: “God painted you pretty, and I bet you've got a heart of gold.” This biblical reference reflects in Genesis 1:27, which says that we’re all crafted in the image of God. By framing beauty as a divine creation rather than social construction, Westbrook moves the idea of perfection away from comparison and toward individuality. Ultimately, he’s encouraging us to embrace our uniqueness rather than striving to fulfill unrealistic standards shaped by the male gaze. Our value is not measured by external appearance, but is intrinsic to the way we’re created as individuals.
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