“Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” by Mika
“Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” is a shoutout to all the big girls in the world! Mika wants you to know that you’re beautiful with all your curves.
The Inspiration
Mika took inspiration from a Victoria Wood documentary he was watching in the middle of the night – where a big woman in the US visited a nightclub called “Butterfly Lounge”. The nightclub is the first acceptance club for BBW (Big Beautiful Women) in California. “Butterfly Lounge” was also referred to in the chorus, where Mika calls real men to head there to get themselves “a big lady”.
Furthermore, Mika grew up with a mother that’s big in size, so he had witnessed firsthand the hell society gave her simply because of her size. This acted as extra inspiration for him to write this song.
The Lyrics of “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)”
The track starts off addressing how big girls are insecure about their size aka feeling “like a big balloon”. The singer however, tells them that they’re beautiful, in hopes to boost their morale. He even goes to the extent of screaming it when he realizes they’re ordering “diet coke”, emphasizing that he doesn’t want them to change how they look.
Skinny girls are a turn-off to the narrator. To him, real women have “curves in all the right places” and only real men can appreciate them.
Mika goes on to tell us his life-long fantasy or dream of someday seeing a pub or club where big women are appreciated. He was therefore beyond happy when he heard of “Butterfly Lounge”. Simply put, his fantasy had finally come true in the form of “Butterfly Lounge”.
When was “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” released?
On July 16 of 2007, the body positivity song, “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)”, was released by Lebanese-born British musician, Mika. The song can be found on his debut studio album (“Life in Cartoon Motion”). It was released as the album’s fourth single.
Writing Credits
“Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” was written by Mika. He has stated that he drew inspiration for the song from a documentary he watched about The Butterfly Lounge, a club that welcomed plus sized women. That said, it should be stated that Mika didn’t pen the song alone. He received assistance and support from other songwriters, including:
- John Merchant
- Jodi Marr
- Dan Warner
- Andres Orue
Greg Wells was in charge of its production.
Charts
“Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” peaked at No. 9 in the UK as well as Ireland. In addition to this, the song gave Mika a top-10 hit in at least 5 other countries, including these:
- Scotland – 8
- Netherlands – 4
- Finland – 5
- Belgium – 5
- Australia – 8
Usage in Media
“Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)” was featured in the late Silvio Horta’s 2006 comedy-drama “Ugly Betty”. It also featured in the video game, “Just Dance 2”, developed by Ubisoft.
Mika’s “Big Girl” inspired by the Queen Classic, “Fat Bottomed Girls”?
In 1978 Queen released an iconic song titled “Fat Bottomed Girls“. Many have stated that the said Queen classic inspired Mika to pen “Big Girl”. However, the singer has denied that connection. That said, it should be noted that Mika was significantly influenced by the late flamboyant frontman of Queen, Freddie Mercury. Furthermore, Mika’s singing voice sounds very like that of Mercury.
Mika’s “Life in Cartoon Motion”
Mika, released his maiden studio album, “Life in Cartoon Motion” on the 5th of February, 2007.
The album was produced by Mika himself with assistance from Greg Wells, a Grammy Award-winning songwriter and record producer from Canada.
“Life in Cartoon Motion” was jointly released through two subsidiaries of Universal Music Group, namely Casablanca Records and Island Records.
In 2007, the album was the 9th best-selling album globally.
“Life in Cartoon Motion” peaked atop charts in a number of countries including, the UK, Argentina, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Greece, Norway and Russia.
The album’s global performance was nothing short of a phenomenal success. It has so far recorded sales of over 3 million copies in the UK and France. Furthermore, it has been certified 5x platinum in the UK as well as Belgium.
In all, 5 singles (in addition to “Big Girl”) were released to promote this album. The four other singles are:
- “Grace Kelly”
- “Love Today”
- “Happy Ending”
- “Relax, Take It Easy”
- “Lollipop”
