Drake's "Hotline Bling" Video Is Pretty Body Posi

My bio on all my social media accounts since Nicki Minaj's "Only" dropped has read, "The type that wanna suck you dry and eat some lunch with you," because Drizzy likes his girls BBW. Drake's new video for "Hotline Bling" only reinforces the message. While one's self validation shouldn't depend on validation from others, the 28-year-old appreciates and celebrates bodies that challenge the traditional beauty standard. And that's undoubtedly a good thing.

The new video features plus size women (aka "thick" women) and primarily includes women of color. It's not really such a surprise when we consider Drake's emotional commitment to women throughout his lyrics, not to mention his close relationship to label mate and body positive champion Nicki Minaj.

The opening of the video — a sex line call center — could have easily felt like an exploitation of female sexuality, but the diverse representations of women alongside the fun environment and bright colors are not just body positive, but a positive statement for sex workers. It's a message that ties in perfectly with the sex positive press that has been drummed up as of late by Amber Rose's slutwalk. It's the idea that the world of sex work can be controlled by women, can empower women, and doesn't have to be a source of shame for women.

The rest of the video includes a lot of pretty funny dad dancing from Drake in rooms with aesthetically pleasing colored lighting. But the true stars (as with most music videos, let's be honest) are the female dancers stealing the show from Drake. The use of plus size women of color as dancers rather than the thin white women who still dominate the media is hopefully a sign of a change for representation in the music industry.

Unfortunately, the women represented in this video predominantly have the "acceptable" type of plus size bodies (read: the hourglass kind). If Drake really likes his women BBW, why aren't different types of big, beautiful women shown in his work?

As far as I'm concerned, these women may not look like the kind of plus size that I am, but they're a hell of a lot closer to it than most others I see on screen. Not only has Drake shown us a racially diverse interpretation of beauty, but also a size-related diversion from traditional beauty standards. I can only hope it isn't a fluke and that this trend will continue in the rest of Drake's videos for his new album Views From The 6.

Images: "Hotline Bling"/AppleMusic