Like It Or Not

The speaker presents herself as someone who will not change to win approval. Other people may praise or condemn her, but she insists that their opinions will not stop her. The mood is bold and defiant, though the repeated claim that others may come to love her leaves room for confidence in her appeal as well as resistance to criticism.

Several images express this stance. Being placed on a pedestal or dragged through dirt suggests extreme admiration and rejection; the speaker refuses to be defined by either. “Sticks and stones” refers to the familiar idea that physical harm is worse than insults, and here it strengthens her claim that names cannot wound her. The garden, snake, and fruit create a more ambiguous image: the speaker offers something desirable, while the other person is invited to take it. “Better the devil that you know” suggests that a familiar, imperfect person may seem preferable to an unknown alternative.

The song does not present the speaker as simply virtuous or simply dangerous. The references to Cleopatra and Mata Hari point to women whose reputations can be judged in different ways, and the lyric explicitly leaves that judgment to the listener. Its confidence may sound liberating, but the promise that someone’s love will grow could also be teasing or self-assured persuasion. The central message is less that everyone must approve than that disapproval will not make her stop being herself.