Song: Most Girls Artist: Hailee Steinfeld Year: 2017 Album: Released to digital retailers Language Feature: Intonation in lists, reductions
Episode Description
March 8th is International Women’s Day. Ece is planning a party to celebrate with her friends and will certainly include the song for this week, Hailee Steinfeld’s 2017 hit pop song, “Most Girls,” on the playlist for the party.
In this episode, we are practicing intonation used for items in a list and some useful, common reductions. We think you’ll find this episode interesting, useful, and fun. Take a listen and celebrate the smart, strong, beautiful women in your life!
Episode Transcript
<intro>
H: Hi! I’m Heather.
E: And I’m Ece. And we’re your hosts for the podcast, “English as a Singing Language.”
H: This is a podcast for anyone who enjoys music and has a passion for learning or teaching English.
E: We definitely enjoy using songs to make learning English fun and memorable.
H: We do! So, what kind of song are we going to talk about in today’s episode?
E: Actually, we chose this song especially for International Women’s Day. This song, from 2017, has been described as a, “female empowerment anthem.”
H: Huh. And an “anthem” is a powerful song that identifies with a particular group or cause. Like, the national song for a country is its “anthem.” I guess in this case, the group or cause is women being empowered. Wow! That’s exciting. I can’t wait to talk about this “anthem.”
E: Me too! Let’s get started.
<end intro>
E: humming “Most Girls”
H: Oh! Hi Ece! I’m so glad I ran into you. I want to ask you about the party you’re hosting next week.
E: Hi, Heather. Yes. I’m so glad you can come. This is the first time I am hosting a party to celebrate International Women’s Day.
H: It’s exciting to think that the whole world will be celebrating International Women’s Day on March 8th.
E: I know. And we’ll be celebrating with our own group of smart, strong and beautiful women.
H: Who is planning to attend?
E: Let’s see... there’s you, Fatimah, Xiao-mei, Marjorie, Allison, Lin, and Stacy.
H: I’m glad there will be so many people. What can I bring? Do you need any food or drinks?
E: Well, I’m planning to have pizza, vegetables, chips, hummus, fried rice and salad.
H: That sounds great! Maybe I can bring some juice.
E: That would be wonderful. I’m going to have water, pop and cider. Some juice would be great. You know what? Listing all of the guests, the food and the drinks is making me think of the song I was just listening to.
H: Oh yeah? What song is it? It sounded very familiar.
E: It’s Hailee Steinfeld’s 2017 hit pop song, “Most Girls.”
H: Oh! I really like that song. And it’s a perfect song to play at your International Women’s Day party.
E: It is! I’ll be sure to put it on my playlist for the party. In fact, Hailee Steinfeld said this about the song Most Girls, “I really do feel like I'm in a generation where women are empowering and supporting each other. It's so amazing to feel a part of that.”
H: That’s a great quote. It makes me so happy that young people are so supportive of each other – especially women.
E: Exactly.
H: So, what part of the song reminded you of talking about lists?
E: I’m thinking of the part in the lyrics where she sings, “Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful. Most girls, work hard, go far, we are unstoppable.”
H: Oh yeah. I hear it. When we’re making a list of things in English, we use rising, rising, rising and falling intonation.
E: That’s right. Like, “I’m going shopping for the party, and I need to get cheese, fruit, crackers and vegetables.
H: That’s very useful. And I really like her description of “most girls.” Most of the women I know definitely fit that description. They, “work hard, go far,…"
E: “...we are unstoppable.”
H: I agree. So what other useful pronunciation features are in this song?
E: Well, there are a lot of reductions. You know, the things that we do to delete sounds or maybe join words together to make them easier to say.
H: It also makes the lyrics easier to sing.
E: Right. She starts out by singing, “Some girls, feel best in their tiny dresses, some girls nothin' but sweatpants, looking like a princess.” Instead of “nothing,” she reduces the “-ing” and sings, “nothin’.”
H: We’ve heard that in other songs, haven’t we?
E: We have. If you haven’t listened to Episode 4 yet, which is the song “Shake” by Victoria Justice, we talk about useful pronunciation reductions in that episode, too.
H: Well, I feel like I’m much more of a, “nothin’ but sweatpants” kind of person.
E: Me too. But we are both lookin’ like princesses.
H: I agree. I think we both look pretty good.
E: So, in the next line, she sings, “They’re stayin’ out late 'cause they just celebrating life.”
H: The pronunciation reductions in that line really make it sound very natural. Instead of singing, “They are staying out late because they are just celebrating life,” she sings, “They’re stayin’ out late 'cause they just celebrating life.”
E: And we’ve talked about deleting the be-verb before, right?
H: We have. It’s not something that we would teach in an English class, but it is definitely something you’ll hear a lot in more informal conversational settings. So, “They just celebrating life,” is very common in many situations, but your English teacher might prefer the grammar that you learn in your grammar textbook.
E: Exactly.
H: Ok, how about the next two lines? They’re describing two different types of women. The next line is, “You know some days you feel so good in your own skin.” I really like that line. Instead of saying, “Some days you feel really confident or really comfortable,” she says, “You feel so good in your own skin.”
E: I like that, too. But the next line is actually a little controversial. People have different ideas about it.
H: Oh yeah? Why is that?
E: Well, she sings, “But it's okay if you wanna change the body that you came in.” First of all, let me point out the pronunciation feature. There’s our old friend, “wanna” instead of “want to,” but people might have different interpretations of the meaning of that line.
H: Hmmmm...I can see that. Like, if you want to be empowered, you should love yourself, and each other, the way you are. You shouldn’t have to change anything about yourself.
E: Maybe she’s just telling everybody that it’s ok to do what makes them feel best.
H: That is very empowering. And she follows it up with, “'Cause you look greatest when you feel like a damn queen.” So, she sings “’cause” ‘cause it’s easier than singing “because.” And I know that I like feeling like a damn queen.
E: Don’t we all? And she finishes up that verse with the line, “We're all just playing a game in a way, tryna win at life.”
H: Wow! It sure feels like that sometimes. Life does feel like a game sometimes. And there’s a great reduction in there that we haven’t talked about before.
E: Yes. The phrase “trying to” becomes “tryna.” As in, “I’m tryna prepare everything for my party.”
H: And, “We’re tryna have fun learning English and singing.”
E: I think we’re doing a good job with that.
H: I agree. So, the next part of this verse says, “Some girls, like to keep their physique real private.” Ece, what does the word, “physique” mean? It reminds me of the word, “physical.” Are those two words related to each other?
E: Yes, actually, “physique” is the French word for “physical.”
H: Wow. Ok, we know that lots of words in English are borrowed or taken from French. Cool. So, do they mean the same thing?
E: “Physique” is a noun, and it’s used to refer to a person’s body. Like, “I’ve been going to the gym every day to work on my physique.”
H: So, you’re still working on your new year’s resolution, huh? That’s great! And so, when she says that some women, “like to keep their physique real private,” it means that they wear modest clothing that doesn’t show off their body.
E: Right. But other women, “wear jeans so tight 'cause it feels so right.” There’s another example of “because” being reduced to “’cause.”
H: I feel like the only reason I wear jeans so tight is because I’m not doing very well with my new year’s resolution. I really need to stop eating so many cookies...
E: It’s okay Heather. You look like a damn queen.
H: Why, thank you, Ece, so do you!
E: How about this last line, “Every day searching, keep the page turning,” what does that remind you of?
H: Oh my gosh! That reminds me so much of the figurative language we talked about in Episode 5 in the song, “Unwritten.” Hailee Steinfeld is also comparing her life to a book. You have to just keep going, keep turning the pages, keep living your life.
E: Yes. Episode 5 is all about figurative language. If you haven’t listened to that one, I strongly recommend that you go back and check it out.
H: In the previous verse she sang, “Staying out late, ‘cause they just celebrating life.” And in this verse she sings, “Sleepin' in late 'cause they just celebrating life,” which makes sense if they stayed out late last night.
E: I love sleepin’ in late, even if I didn’t stay up late the night before.
H: Me too. Well Ece, I would say we’re ready to sing!
E: Absolutely! Most girls are smart, and strong, and beautiful.
H: Most girls work hard, go far, we are unstoppable.
H + E: (singing) “We wanna be like, we wanna be like most girls.”
E: There’s a link to the official YouTube video for Hailee Steinfeld’s 2017 pop hit, “Most Girls,” in the episode notes.
H: We want to hear you celebratin’ life! That means that as you listen, you have to sing out loud.
<conclusion>
E: That’s a great song, and it’s perfect for International Women’s Day!
H: It sure is. I’m so looking forward to your party, Ece. I’m still tryna figure out what I should wear. Sweatpants? Jeans?
E: You’ll look like a queen no matter what you choose. I’m looking forward to it, too. We’re going to drink, eat, dance and chat.
H: That sounds perfect. Ok listeners! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so that you’ll be the first to know whenever a new episode is released.
E: And also be sure to check out the “English as a Singing Language,” website. There are transcripts for each episode and an activity for you to do for each song.
H: And Instagram!
E: Yes! Instagram! Follow us on Instagram @singinglanguages.
H: Until next time, have fun and....
H + E: ...just keep singing!
International Women’s Day March 8
Quote: “I really do feel like I'm in a generation where women are empowering and supporting each other. It's so amazing to feel a part of that.”
Fun fact: The song was written in November 2017, the day after Donald Trump was elected president.
Official YouTube Video
Complete Lyrics
Some girls, feel best in their tiny dresses
Some girls, nothin' but sweatpants, looking like a princess
Some girls, kiss new lips every single night
They're stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating life
You know some days you feel so good in your own skin
But it's okay if you wanna change the body that you came in
'Cause you look greatest when you feel like a damn queen
We're all just playing a game in a way, tryna win at life
Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful
Most girls, work hard, go far, we are unstoppable
Most girls, our fight to make every day
No two are the same
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
Some girls, like to keep their physique real private
Some girls, wear jeans so tight 'cause it feels so right, yeah
Some girls, every day searching, keep the page turning
Sleepin' in late 'cause they just celebrating life
You know some days you feel so good in your own skin
But it's okay if you wanna change the body that you came in
'Cause you look greatest when you feel like a damn queen
We're all just playing a game in a way, tryna win at life
Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful
Most girls, work hard, go far, we are unstoppable
Most girls, our fight to make every day
No two are the same
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
Most girls (yeah)
Most girls (wanna be, wanna be, wanna be)
Most girls, our fight to make every day
No two are the same
I wanna be like
Most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like most girls
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like, I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
I wanna be like
(Stayin' out late 'cause they just celebrating)
Songwriters: Asia Whiteacre / Hailee Steinfeld / Jeremy Dussolliet / Ryan B Tedder / Tim Sommers / Zachary Skelton
Most Girls lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Inc