What Guys Look For In Girls Analysis

“When I first learned that no one could ever love me more than me, a world of happiness previously unseen was discovered”. This is the first line of slam poem called ‘What Guys Look for in Girls’. Written and performed by Savannah Brown, a 19-year-old from Ohio, this poem has over 4.6 million views on YouTube. This poem was created as a video response to Nash Grier’s video ‘What Guys Look for in Girls’, a video that sparked internet outrage and had to be taken down just five days after it was released. Even though Nash Grier's video was taken down, multiple copies of the video were re-uploaded by various YouTube accounts, along with response videos by several YouTubers, including Savannah Brown. Throughout this piece, she uses various devices

such as metaphors, evocative language and repetition to talk about body image, society’s expectations and loving yourself.
The main devices that Savannah Brown uses are metaphor and evocative language.

Some examples of metaphor within the piece are when it says “your laughter’s so melodic it’s a song” and “your creativity’s a compass that leads you to what you love”. An example of evocative language in the piece is “you don’t need any miracle cream to keep your passions smooth, hair free or diet pills to slim your kindness down.” These metaphors and instances of evocative language help emphasise the message that it doesn’t matter what you look like, the most important thing you can love about yourself is ____. Metaphors, evocative language, and repetition are also used to describe the expectations laid upon women by society. One particular phrase that uses both metaphor and evocative language “because the only place we'll ever truly feel safe is curled up inside skin we've been taught to hate by a society that shuns our awful confidence and feeds us our flaws”. Other examples of evocative language include “a reminder that the mirror is meant to be a curse so I confine her in my mind, but when he or she shouts ‘let me out!’ we're allowed to listen.” and “Don't you shatter the illusion you could ever be anything beyond paper fine flesh and flashy teeth and fingernails.” One instance of repetition includes “echoic accusations of not good enough, never good enough”. Another phrase that uses both evocative language and repetition

is
“because we live in a word where the media pulls us from the womb
nurses us
and teaches us our first words
skinny pretty skinny pretty
girls soft quiet pretty
boys manly muscles pretty”
These phrases show the harmful and unrealistic expectations society places on girls to look and act in order to attract the opposite sex. Savannah uses these techniques to show how damaging society’s expectations can be and to give a message of self-love.
Savannah Brown also portrays a certain mood in this piece, from the way she speaks to her body language and actions. She delivers the piece with a tone of both vulnerability and strength, creating a mood that suggests she is sick and tired (too informal???) of the harmful messages media and society send to girls and young women. Savannah is critical of the lessons society teaches, and makes clear how frustrated (I’m not sure that’s the right word) she is by her forceful and irritated tones she uses when performing the poem. Phrases such as “shuns our confidence and feeds us our flaws” are examples of this. The mood and tones of the poem and the way she performs it add to the message that Savannah is trying to get across.
The message of this piece was that the expectations placed upon us are damaging and harmful, and no one should be able to tell you what you are worth or that you are not good enough. Savannah conveys a powerful message of self-love, self-worth, and self-acceptance.