♪ (rock music) ♪
"Dear future husband, here's a few things
you'll need to know if you wanna be my one and only all my life."
I already know what song it is!
Oh, pssh! I already know.
This is Meghan Trainor's new song.
(exhales) Oh man, it's already tough.
I'm really bad with love songs.
It's like she's writing out a letter, trying to say these are the things
that you'll need to know if you wanna be with me
for the rest of your life.
She's telling her future husband
there's some lines that can't be crossed
if they're gonna have a successful relationship with each other.
"Take me on a date, I deserve it, babe.
And don't forget the flowers every 'anniversaray'".
Babe, "anniversaray"? That's how she rhymed it?
If she's his wife, then obviously they love each other,
so she wants him to show her his love.
They're saying these are the things that have to be done for them.
That they deserve to have done for them.
She probably works hard in the house,
doing wife things.
She totally deserves it.
It makes me think that they're a little high maintenance.
"'Cause if you treat me right, I'll be the perfect wife.
Buying groceries, buy-buying what you--"
Oh, wait!
Is this that song by Meghan Trainor?
This is the one that's causing all the problems,
all the sexist problems.
It's just a wife thing, I don't know.
That sounds very familiar.
Everyone has their own definition of a perfect wife.
"I'll be a perfect wife".
I'll do kinda servantry kind of things is what it sounds like.
That sounds so stereotypical!
Don't worry, babe. I'll take care of the groceries!
Like, you know what, babe? You do the groceries!
I don't agree with the definition, like, this is, "Oh, I'll be the perfect wife
buying you your groceries."
No! That's not--
If that's what being a wife means, like, [bleep] marriage!
"You got that 9 to 5 but, baby, so do I."
"So don't be thinking I'll be home and baking apple pies."
In the past, the wife would already be home
and food'd be ready by the time he'd get home to be able to eat dinner.
I feel like that was the old-school view of a wife.
They would just sit at home and bake and cook and clean.
It's the stereotype that women are only here to be housewives,
but no, she's got a nine-to-five job too.
The last lyric kinda throws me off because she said
she'll be the perfect wife.
What if he wants some apple pie that day?
Does he just go to McDonald's and get it?
I'm confused because at first I thought
maybe she was saying that she would buy all the groceries,
but now she's saying, "No, I'm gonna have a job
so I'm not gonna do all the cooking."
"I never learned to cook, but I can write a hook.
Sing along with me, sing-sing along with me."
She's trying to say she's not like a normal girl.
She's not gonna be that stereotype.
I'm feeling a Taylor Swift vibe from this.
She's not the typical wife that's just gonna cook all the time,
but she's talented in other ways.
I might not fit that mold, but there are a lot
of other things that I can do really well.
If she's alluding to these stereotypes
of what the perfect wife is and she never learned to cook,
that's kind of breaking the stereotype she's setting up.
"You gotta know how to treat me like a lady.
Even when I'm acting crazy. Tell me everything's alright."
Women do get a little bonkers sometimes
and I think she's admitting it here.
That's kind of messed up.
That's not really how a relationship should function.
It's kinda contradictory now.
She's like, "I'm not gonna be the stereotypical woman,
but now I want you treat me like a lady.
Like, I want you to treat me like this stereotype."
"Dear future husband, if you wanna get that special lovin'
tell me I'm beautiful each and every night."
She's talkin' about sex!
I would want to marry whoever that was.
She wants to be told she's pretty in exchange for, you know...
hanky panky! (laughs)
That is a terrible thing to say to girls and women!
Like, tell me I'm beautiful and then you'll just get sex?!
She's literally teaching girls to be easy.
She must be very insecure.
Instead of relying on the husband for happiness,
she needs to be her own person and just find her own happiness.
"Even if I was wrong, you know I'm never wrong."
M'kay.
But you just-- you just said you're wrong.
"Why disagree? Why, why disagree?"
Oh, why disagree? 'Cause you're a crazy bitch!
Now she sounds completely psycho.
There's no point in fighting 'cause I'm always right.
Just stop trying to argue with me.
"Dear future husband, make time for me."
"Don't leave me lonely,
and know we'll never see your family more than mine."
What?
That sounds like the start of a Lifetime movie,
where you keep the husband hostage.
I thought this song was super cute,
but now it just sounds threatening.
She's trying to wear all the pants in the relationship.
This dude is not gonna own any pair of pants.
Priorities being set straight here.
She's like, "You know what? Screw your family, man.
It's all about me now!"
If my significant other told me this, it would be over.
This is the scale, right? It's even.
Here's him and here's her.
Like, it's off screen.
This kind of [bleep] pisses me off so bad!
This bitch is honestly high maintenance as [bleep]!
She's never gonna get married.
Like, "Dear future husband, that line is just irrelevant."
"I'll be sleeping on the left side of the bed.
Open doors for me and you might get some kisses.
Don't have a dirty mind."
Wait, I'm confused.
"Open doors for me and you might get some kisses..."
(gasps) Ooh!
It's a rhyming thing, right?
She's sexual.
Oh my god!
So that's why she was saying, "Don't have a dirty mind."
That's so clever though!
And I thought this was a cute song.
"Future husband, better love me right."
After all of this, how she was like, "Screw you!"
Now she's like... "You know what? It's okay."
Dear Meghan Trainor, that is not the kind of love
that is in any way, shape, or form right.
(Finebros) What would you say this song is about?
A girl who wants a guy to buy her a lot of things
for some sex in return.
Him doing things for her, and then sex.
That whole song was like a huge, deep meaning
about how our gender roles are being recognized
as just sex and material.
A crazy lady who wants a man to do all these things for her,
but also it kind of has no standards for herself.
Well, I've heard this song and it's really catchy
and I sing along to it, but when I listen to the words
it has bad meanings.
(Finebros) This song's lyrics has a lot of controversy.
Some people say that the lyrics are sexist and reinforcing
old gender stereotypes.
- What do you think? - Yes, sir!
This is literally everything we are trying to reverse.
It's just bringing back the old negative stereotype on women.
She's the prize to win once he does all these
nice things for her.
And, like, that's just messed up.
I don't think she made this song to have people live these lifestyles.
It's more like, "This is ridiculous. We can't do this any more."
(Finebros) Do you know the song's artist and title?
No.
I don't know the title, but I have a feeling it's Iggy Azalea.
Future Husband by Taylor Swift.
I'm just gonna assume the song is called "Future Husband".
Dear Future Husband?
Is it Meghan Trainor?
Meghan Trainor, Dear Future Husband.
Dear Future Husband, and it's by Meghan Trainor.
(Finebros) It's called "Dear Future Husband",
- by Meghan Trainor. - I don't know who that is.
What?!
Oh! No, her?
Meghan Trainor-- don't care for Meghan Trainor.
Oh, okay.
Wait, that's All About That Bass girl?
(Finebros) So Meghan Trainor also sang the hit song All About That Bass,
which is mostly praised for sending a positive message
about owning your body, but now made a song some say
is perpetuating sexist stereotypes.
What are your thoughts about Meghan Trainor's choice
- of song lyrics? - Well, I feel like All About Bass
was kinda just all about her butt too.
It was still kind of sexual.
I don't think she's necessarily the person in the song.
In a sense, she's kind of being sarcastic
'cause I feel like she's making fun of the whole situation.
It's kind like Nicki Minaj's song Anaconda,
empowering women, but at the same time they were twerking in thongs
so it's objectifying.
Got a good beat, so people are like, "Wow, this is an amazing song."
But then once you read into the lyrics you're like,
"Wow, this is terrible."
She was providing such positive things
like body positivity and just being comfortable with yourself.
She took ten steps forward and she's taken 700 steps back.
Thanks for watching another episode of Lyric Breakdown on the React channel.
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If you have any other songs you want us to break down,
let us know in the comments.
See you next time, everyone. Bye!
♪ (rock music) ♪