[audio:http://audiotransparent.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/09-really-white-smile.mp3]
available as free download, through club AT

What’s it about?
The song ‘Really white smile’ is a nice subject as it is the first song that clubmembers get for free. The Dutch documentary ‘Beperkt houdbaar’ by Sunny Bergman really struck me. In this short story a dutch journalist researches the influence of the beauty industry on the way we think about beauty. It made really clear that the industry (conspiracy alert!) makes us chase an image that simply doesn’t exist.Comparing yourself to Brigitte Bardot may be depressing but at least she existed! Now we see modified images of people that aren’t real because people simply aren’t perfect (or that thin!).

By doing this the beauty industry is making a lot of money by raising our insecurity. And it’s hard to escape; even if you’re cynical as I am. Of course I knew the beauty industry is growing. And I’m not against cosmetic surgery in principle. BUT, the way people talked about the subject in this documentary was shocking to me. Especially young girls in the US that are undergoing surgery on a large scale. Some people literally said that if they simply were more beautiful, they’d automatically be more successful, happy, self-confident, etc.

So this turned out to be our first protest song. It’s also the most poppy song we’ve recorded so far. Somehow that fits the subject really well. On the background you can hear Maaike (the cuties) singing along. And now someone was crazy enough to draw up a really white smile universe. We absolutely love the video Piet van Dijken made for the song. Tell us what you think!

If you are interested you can watch the documentary here.

/Bart