[Verse 1] You wanna walk into the room like that other girl does The one that’s always making everybody fall in love You see - girl you’re a lot like me She rearranges all the light in the room so you’re always in the shadows Well that’s what it feels like to you… Baby, I’ve been there too And I know how much it can sometimes hurt You feel like the whole world has made you the ugly girl But take it from me that you have to see it first
[Chorus] So before you trade in your summer skin for those high heeled shoes To make him want to be with you Let me remind you one more time That just maybe, you’re beautiful but you just can't see So why don’t you trust me They’ll see it too, you beautiful girl, you
[Verse 2] You wanna lay the blame on somebody else All these tiny little minds that leave you up on a shelf Well, okay, I’ve seen it done that way But just in case nobody ever comes through Riding in to come to your rescue You've still a chance You don’t have to be asked to dance And I know how much you’ve been dying to say "Look how much everybody loves me" But guess who gets left when everyone else fades away
[Chorus] So before you trade in your summer skin for those high heeled shoes To make him want to be with you Let me remind you one more time That just maybe, you’re beautiful but you just can't see So why don’t you trust me They’ll see it too, you beautiful girl, you
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“Beautiful Girl” was a song Bareilles penned as a letter to thirteen-year-old self, reminding her of her inner beauty and her need to believe in herself and let go of her insecurities.
In the chapter of her memoir Sounds Like Me named after “Beautiful Girl,” Sara Bareilles shares a collection of her diaries. Each of the diaries is a story of other people looking down on Sara, such as the time she asked a boy to be her date to a dance party but got rejected because she was fat and ugly. Yet in the end of each of the stories, Sara writes to remind herself: “you are beautiful.”
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