I see you over there, Hailee Steinfeld, becoming a triple threat right under everyone's noses. In all fairness, this has been in the making for a while: First, she was signed as a model when she was just a kid, then she was nominated for an Academy Award for True Grit at the age of just 13, and now Steinfeld has released her first single, "Love Myself." The release of the latter, I should add, came just as casually as can be — as if it's like, perfectly natural to already have mastered one field and be moving on to another when you're still a teenager. Because, yeah, this girl is still only 18 years old. In other words, everything you've done in your life up until now is meaningless, and Hailee Steinfeld wins at life.
(And, in case you're wondering how she could be a triple threat without us ever seeing her dance, really, you're probably forgetting that Steinfeld is one of Taylor Swift's best friends, an accomplishment far more impressive and important than turning it out with a little soft-shoe.)
But anyway, if you watched Pitch Perfect 2, you likely aren't surprised by the fact that Steinfeld can belt, because she proved that to us with her role as Emily Junk — a freshman who gets into the Barden Bellas and proves herself by leading the team to victory with her original song, "Flashlight" — in the film. Though that wasn't quite a Steinfeld original song (it was a Jessie J song that she recorded for the soundtrack, and it was actually written by a team of four including Sia and Sam Smith), it was released as a single afterwards to great success. An achievement, yes — but not quite the achievement that releasing her very own single is, which is why "Love Myself" is so exciting.
And also why I'm now wondering if we'll see it in Pitch Perfect 3. We know the film is in the works, and since PP2 was so centered around "Flashlight," it wouldn't be crazy to think that "Love Myself" might somehow figure into the next movie. The message of the song is ultra-empowering — in a different way, if you know what I mean (and if you don't, look at the lyrics) — and pretty in alignment with the message of the film. With a chorus including the lines, "I know how to scream my own name / I love me / Gonna love myself, no I don’t need anybody else," it's all about loving yourself. Pretty aca-awesome, no?
Of course, as possible as it would seem that "Love Myself" would be in the film, it's just as possible that it won't be. Though Steinfeld is signed to Republic Records, which is a division of Universal — the film studio that produces the Pitch Perfect films — it's still her debut single, not really affiliated with the Pitch Perfect world, and is being released ages before the third film in the series. I could just as easily see the single being kept separate from the film.
But either way, it's a great, very catchy song — and though it likely won't be in Pitch Perfect 3, personally I have my fingers crossed!
