A Question For The Culture: Ok, Who Told Meghan Trainor She was Mother?
By Ces Lodovico
In essence, there are three types of people who can be considered “Mother”. Those who are blissfully unaware, those who are aware yet seldom mention it, and those who are aware and embrace it. The public figures who best represent these three pillars, respectively, are Jennifer Coolidge and Jamie Lee Curtis, Charli XCX and Lady Gaga, and Rupaul and Ethel Cain. And what do all of these people have in common? They are considered gay icons.
Blissful unawareness of Motherhood is best captured in Jennifer Coolidge and Jamie Lee Curtis. If called Mother, they would most likely respond with something along the lines of “I don’t even know who you are? I am not your mother.” Yet this only confirms their Motherhood, as it is expected that they would be confused by gay slang, just like my very own mother. “Why do you keep saying you’re gagged? Is that a good thing? When I was younger, saying ‘gag me with a spoon’ meant something was gross.”
Awareness of Motherhood, yet the choice to seldom acknowledge it is exemplified in Lady Gaga and Charli XCX. They are well aware that they are gay icons, that they are Mother. They acknowledge it, secretly embrace it, and their fans are aware, yet to the general public it’s like a fun little secret.
Full embrace of Motherhood is exhibited best in Rupaul and Ethel Cain. From Rupaul’s hit track “Call Me Mother” to Ethel’s Instagram handle being @mothercain, they demonstrate this to a tee. Not much else can be said about this category, as it’s so straight-forward.
One may wonder: why the fuck haven’t you mentioned Meghan Trainor yet? She’s in the title of the article! Goddamn! Except the truth is, she falls into a secret fourth category: those who embrace Motherhood in its entirety when they are really only mother to a small group of people. Yes, perhaps she was mother in her prime – the time of “All About That Bass”, the time of “Lips are Movin’”, yet her choice to release the track “Mother” in the year of our lord 2023, is a bold one.