In “Sexy and I Know It,” the singer makes a bold proclamation of his physical attractiveness and his cognizance of this fact.
But this seemingly simple statement is just the starting point for a discussion on the narrator’s sexiness: What if he isn’t sexy, but thinks he is (as is strongly suggested in the video)? Are there people who are sexy, but don’t know it? What about the rest of us who aren’t sexy and are painfully aware of this fact?
At first, I thought the different scenarios for sexiness as perceived by others and sexiness as perceived by self could be neatly captured in a two-by-two matrix:
But then I realized that I wasn’t covering an important third variable aside from sexiness and awareness of sexiness: expression of sexiness. For example, the “She’s All That Girl” never makes claim to her sexiness; what about those who are sexy, don’t realize that they’re sexy, and yet still claim that they’re sexy? What about those who aren’t sexy, know that they’re not sexy, but still claim that they’re sexy for ironic effect?
As far as I know, business school’s haven’t perfected the use of the three-by-three matrix yet, but thankfully, they have given us the tool we need to capture this complexity: the flow chart.
Or in this case, the LMFAO Chart.* Click the image for a larger version. I know you want to:
*I make not apologies. I’m Making Awful Puns And I Know It.