Long before becoming one of the most important artists in the world, Beyoncé also had to deal with criticism about her appearance.
The singer was 19 when she began hearing comments about her body after gaining some weight. As she recalled years later, the situation reached the point where none of the sample-size clothes she used to wear fit her.
Instead of hiding or letting the comments affect her, she decided to turn the experience into music. That is how the idea behind “Bootylicious” was born, the song Destiny’s Child released in 2001.
The title is a play on words between booty, a colloquial way of saying “butt” in English, and delicious, “delicious”. The expression is used to describe an attractive body and, in the context of the song, to celebrate curves.
Beyoncé said that one morning she decided to stop feeling sorry for herself and began writing. What had started as an experience of insecurity ended up becoming one of Destiny’s Child’s biggest hits.
The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and remained in that position for two weeks.
Years later, Beyoncé explained that the experience was important to her creative process: she began taking situations from her own life and turning them into songs that could help other people feel more confident in themselves.
What had been a source of criticism at 19 ended up becoming part of a song that celebrated precisely what others had tried to make her feel insecure about.