Tanzanian Popular Songs Ignoring Undesirable Modern Female Beauty Norms: Analyzing Dudu Baya’s Nakupenda Tu and Picco’s Kikongwe

Abstract

This article discusses how Tanzanian popular songs, specifically bongo flava songs, ignore and provide some criticisms to undesirable modern female beauty norms, mostly the Western beauty standards that have obsessed most women in the Tanzanian society. Such norms include women changing their body parts appearance and ‘reducing’ their ages in order to be perceived beautiful. The article analyzed some song lyrics and found that despite the majority of Tanzanian popular musicians being celebrating such female beauty norms through their songs, some artists have gone against this tendency; including Dudu Baya through his song Nakupenda Tu (I Just Love You) and Picco through his song Kikongwe (An Old Woman). ‘Objectification’, ‘learned helplessness’, and ‘double standard of aging’ theories were used to analyze the two songs.