The Rise and Fall of the BBL
Image Courtesy: @kimkardashian
On August 19, 2014, all the skinny girls got dethroned and the BBls rose to the throne when Nicki Minaj said “ where my fat a— big b— in the club ? F—the skinny b’’ in the Anaconda music video. Created in 1964 by Dr. Ivo Pitanguy from Brazil , the Brazilian Butt Lift has come a long way from first being a procedure where breast implants were placed into the butt to now where fat is removed from the body and placed into the buttocks. The popularity of the cosmetic procedure didn’t become a cultural phenomenon until the 2010s prior to that people were dying to be as skinny as a twig.
The 2000s played wasted in time when it came to fat shaming anyone that wasn’t wearing a size or had a little bit of curves. Kate Moss summed up the era when she said her infamous quote ‘ nothing tastes as good as skinny feels’ in 2009. I can just smell the cigarettes that were smoked by all the starving girls and women.
In that same timeline, the ultra thin standard of beauty wasn’t completely integrated in all American communities. When Beyonce first stepped into the scene, she was taken back when her southern grown curves were considered ‘fat’. In true Beyonce fashion, that hate didn’t stop her but fueled her to write ‘Bootylicious’ for Destiny’s Child in 2001, which charted #1 on the Billboard. However , Beyonce wasn’t the first to drop a song for the curvy girls. Soulja Boy did it first when he dropped ‘Donk’.
When Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj pooped out with butts as big as balloons, mainstream culture began to shift into the BBL era. By 2015, the BBL surgery spiked with every thirty minutes a butt surgery was being performed. ( American Society of Plastic Surgery ) The rise of the Instagram baddie aesthetic took the media by storm and having a BBL became the requirement to being the ultimate IG baddie and female rapper. The BBL became inescapable in the music with popular songs like Wiggle by Jason Derulo, All About that Bass by Megan Traninor, Booty by Black Younsta and much more.
The BBL started strong in the 2020s to the point where regular civilians were getting the procedure done more regularly. I remember seeing a nurse at my church retire back with a new BBL. But recently, there has been a rise in BBL reductions. In late 2025, influencer Stassie Karanikolaou got her BBL reduced and other celebrities have been suspected to have done the same. The BBL is no longer fitting people’s aesthetic and lifestyle with the rise of wellness culture . In the media, there is a stigma growing about the BBl having a particular smell like cheesy fires and socks. Also it seems as though people are over the look of the BBL. In 2024, Jerrilyn Lake released ‘ These BBLs Killin Y’all’ with the first line being ‘ These BBLs killin y’all.And the thighs don’t match ‘ poking fun at the botched BBLs that many are receiving. The dangers of the surgery have become more apparent with the mortality rate being 1 in 3000 ( American Society of Plastic Surgeons) and people being honest about their surgeries going wrong. This past Super Bowl ads, made it clear that skinny was back in with Serena William’s ad promoting the use of GLP-1 to aid with weight loss. It seems like every month a new diabetic drug is being released to the public for weight loss rather than its actual purpose which is to help with diabetes.
Body trends have never been constant but always changing between skinny and curvy. The standard is based on so many factors like economic, social and even political. It’s best for everyone to accept the body that they have and cater to it.
Strike Out,
Johann Jonassaint
Boca Raton
Johann Jonassaint is a content writer for Strike Magazine Boca. A true Venusian who can never get enough of being wrapped in cozy sheets, listening to video essays or daydreaming. When she finally leaves her sheets, you can catch her writing at the library, the only place she can actually get work done. Feel free to contact her at jjonassaint2023@gmail.com or @jojoeva_ on Instagram.
