Multimodal Analysis Paper

That Yummy: Food and Sex in Popular Culture

The common phrase “You are what you eat” has never been more prevalent than in today’s society. Looking closely at Justin Bieber’s music video of “Yummy,” viewers are faced with the idea that to be “yummy” is sexually empowering. With the help of hashtags such as #foodporn and accounts like @foodpornography on Instagram, or trends involving whipped cream on Pornhub, Bieber is able to further the trend of using food to sexualize and empower viewers of his music video. He is not the first artist in the music industry to introduce food in a sexualized way to empower fans, as this is a trend that has been used by Katy Perry, Harry Styles, Charli XCX, and many more. Moreover, Bieber’s lyrics in his music video of “Yummy” support the claim that to be associated with food is to be sexually empowered, and that food aids in displaying sexual desires.

Looking specifically at Bieber’s lyrics, listeners can hear him sing the following:

“Yeah, you got that yummy, yum

That yummy, yum

That yummy, yummy.”

The “you” here is Bieber’s audience, thus saying that the one listening has “that yummy yum.” This is something that is inspiring and encouraging as he sings these lyrics as an act of praise. The repetition of the word “yummy” emphasizes that to be compared to delicious food is something to be proud of, something to be admired. To be yummy is to be desired. After these lyrics, Bieber sings, “Rollin' eyes back in my head, make my toes curl, yeah, yeah,” followed by “Yeah, you got that yummy, yum.” Having lyrics such as these combined supports the idea that food plays a huge role in the sexualization of his listeners.

Changing perspectives to the cinematography of the music video, Bieber starts off by singing in a fancy restaurant. The restaurant is dimly lit, appropriate mood lighting for a song such as this. It also shows an array of different kinds of food, possibly alluding to the many different body types. At 2:56, Bieber solidifies this atmosphere when he takes off his sweatshirt and starts dancing on top of the table. This chain of events shows food, its consumption, and the environment in which it is portrayed, but then pairs it with Bieber’s sexy state of undressing in a suggestive atmosphere. Furthermore, at 2:08 through 2:11, the video show a close-up of two individuals eating from someone’s fork. The fork acts as a phallic image, and this scene presents the enjoyment of eating food in correlation to oral sex. Eating from this fork makes the actress happy, continuing the idea that food portrayed in a sexual way empowers those who partake in its fetishization. They leave viewers with a message that to be in close relation to food is to be desired in a sexual way.

Why have so many American pop stars used food as a metaphor for sexual activity? As suggested in Bieber’s “Yummy,” pop music celebrates all different kinds of consumption: the consumption of music, of Justin Bieber’s sexy performance, and of decadent food. By fusing together food and sex, “Yummy” encourages its viewers to think of all different kinds of acts of consumption—including buying Bieber’s latest song—as necessary, sexy, and positive.

Works Cited

JustinBieberVEVO. “Justin Bieber - Yummy (Official Video).” YouTube, 4 Jan. 2020,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EJ3zbKTWQ8.

“Here Are the Lyrics to Justin Bieber’s ‘Yummy.’” Billboard, 6 Feb. 2020,

www.billboard.com/articles/news/lyrics/8547951/justin-bieber-yummy-lyrics.