There are popular tropes in popular music; girl gets boy, boy gets girl, boy lusts after girl, everyone parties and has a good time. There are also political tropes, songs that call out oppression, sexism, racism and homophobia. However, very few popular songs released today discuss the female body in a positive and not overly sexualized manner. Even songs that do not explicitly refer to a woman’s body (most notably One Direction’s hit “What Makes You Beautiful” but arguably even Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight”) subtly demean women who are confident in their looks, implying that women only can be attractive if they think they are ugly. Taylor Swift continues that trend in “You Belong With Me” by dissing the cheerleader who wears short skirts and high heels, in contrast to the narrator’s jeans and casual shirts. Even Sir Mix A Lot’s “Baby Got Back,” a song that celebrates curvy women, does so in an overtly sexual way by only focusing on the idealized female form of a woman who has “an itty-bitty waist/and a round thing in your face,” implying that curvy women are only pretty or appealing if they are also skinny.

That’s why Meghan Trainor’s debut single “All About That Bass,” released on June 2, and Nicki Minaj’s new song “Anaconda,” released on Aug. 4, are such great breaths of fresh air. Both songs are popular summer hits, easy to sing along and dance to. But to me, a girl whose body does not fall into the conventional standards of beauty, and to any young woman who has felt ashamed of her hips or how broad her shoulders are, these songs represent something more. They are new pop anthems that celebrate untraditional bodies, women with curves, women who aren’t skinny and aren’t a size zero. And these songs celebrate these aspects of real women without turning them into sex objects.

It’s important that these two songs, one with a pop-country bubblegum beat and the other with a more steady, pounding beat, sometimes inappropriate rap piece, came out in the summer. It is important that both these songs, written by young women, have topped the charts and are popular, because these songs encourage women and girls to celebrate their bodies, not to be ashamed of them. They’ve reached out to a mass audience that has otherwise grown up on One Direction and Sir Mix A Lot’s views of women’s bodies.

“All About That Bass” is clearly a body positivity anthem. With lyrics like “I see the magazine workin’ that Photoshop/that s**t ain’t real/c’mon now, make it stop” or “I’m here to tell ya/every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top,” Trainor celebrates every type of body, regardless of size, ability or whether a person fits into society’s often narrow standards of beauty. It can even be seen as a commentary on how the media changes women’s bodies to fit a certain, unrealistic ideal. Even the controversial lyric “tell them skinny b*tches” is immediately followed up with Trainor telling the listener that she knows even women who fit into society’s standards are often self-conscious about their weight.

But what makes “All About That Bass” the most revolutionary to me isn’t the lyrics, which I do strongly identify with, or the fun, pop-country beat—it’s the music video. The featured dancer is male, a young black man with a round face, huge smile and a large belly. As he dances, swinging his hips and having a good time, his brightly colored shirt rides up, exposing his stomach, his stretch marks and his less-than-perfect body. And it is clear that he is comfortable with this image. He doesn’t try to cover himself or to tug the shirt down. Obviously, it is a scripted moment, but it speaks volumes, saying that it is possible to love yourself, to dance in a traditionally sexy manner and to also be curvy.

While Trainor’s song is sugary sweet and easy to follow, Nicki Minaj is rougher with her language, her message and her subversion of the male gaze and female sexuality in “Anaconda.” While the general theme of the song, with the refrain of “my anaconda don’t want none unless you got/buns hun” is decidedly sexual and a reference to “Baby Got Back,” it is less clear if Minaj is only referring to women with the traditional definition of beauty Sir Mix A Lot uses. 

Later lyrics, most notably “he don’t like ‘em boney, he want something/he can grab,” talk about women who aren’t skinny but have curves and does so in a way that doesn’t shame women who are naturally more slight. She doesn’t mock skinny bodies but says that it is okay to have more flesh, to not be the skin and bones of a fashion model. Like Trainor, Minaj is celebrating diverse, healthy bodies, calling out the use of Photoshop and the idea that only the models we see in magazines can be pretty.

On first glance, the “Anaconda” music video can be seen as quite sexualized, something like the stereotypical rap video. After all, it begins with a woman, Minaj, twerking in time to the pounding lyrics. But, as the video goes on, there is a difference. Yes, the dancers are all female and are all in various states of undress, but their dancing, while sexual, is also athletic. They do backflips and full splits, and, most notably, you can see their faces. These women and their bodies are more than just props. 

There is no male gaze; the closest thing to a male gaze comes when Minaj slices up a phallic banana and throws it over her shoulder, her lip curling in disgust. The only man in the film, Drake, is used as a prop. He spends his time in casual clothing, in a chair, the secondary focus as Minaj dances in front of him, tormenting him, before batting his hands away and walking off, confident and curvy.

Neither Meghan Trainor nor Nicki Minaj fit into what society calls “pretty.” Both of them are curvy, both of them have tummies and cellulite, both of them—well, Trainor a bit more than Minaj—look like the girls I know. Their summer songs that are now pop anthems, something you could hear on the radio or at a friend’s house party, are refreshing. They celebrate women like me, women who aren’t perfect, and these two female artists make it clear that it is okay not to be perfect.

Hopefully, this trend of body positive songs does not end with “Anaconda” and “All About That Bass.” I know I can’t wait to turn on the radio and not be shocked to hear a song that celebrates women’s bodies instead of tearing them down.