Robin Thicke’s summer jam “Blurred Lines” has reached the top of American and British charts, but music critics are deeming the song as being inappropriate and “rapey.”
It seems like the only thing that can sell better than sex is controversy so when you combine the two you’re destined to have a hit on your hands.
Robin Thicke’s new song “Blurred Lines” brings together hip hop stars T.I and Pharrell on a tune that is incredibly catchy, great to dance to, and apparently… endorsing rape?
With the feminism movement on the rise it’s no surprise that the scantily clad music video is coming under fire along with some of the obviously sexual references – the only problem is that once the lines are placed together in context is it still a “rapey” song?
An article on The Daily Beast slammed the song for being “rapey” by featuring so many naked women combined with the title of the song itself.
Other bloggers decided to weigh in and seemed to agree that the song rubbed them the wrong way.
“Has anyone heard Robin Thicke’s new rape song,” Lisa Huyne, a famous feminist blogger, wrote. “Basically, the majority of the song (creepily named ‘Blurred Lines’) has the R&B singer murmuring ‘I know you want it’ over and over into a girl’s ear. Call me a cynic, but that phrase does not exactly encompass the notion of consent in sexual activity… Seriously, this song is disgusting – though admittedly very catchy.”
Many other lyrics were also called into question such as Robin Thicke singing, “Must wanna get nasty” which bloggers interpreted as him not giving the woman a choice about whether or not she really wants to “get nasty.”
Even T.I’s verse was heavily criticized as he rapped, “Not many women can refuse this pimpin.”
While we can understand people’s frustrations with nude women filling all the music videos these days, the lyrics of the song don’t actually suggest rape once they are placed in context with the entire verse.
That’s the problem with music. You can only fit so much on one line so when people decided to quote the song piece by piece, things get problematic.
For example, just two lines before T.I claims no woman can refuse him he also states “So I’m just watching and waiting, For you to salute the truly pimping.”
In other words, he is waiting for the women to decide she wants him although he believes that there is no man out there better than himself.
As for Thicke’s claim that the lady “Must wanna get nasty” it only says this after he reveals the woman has been feeling on him in a way that suggests she is interested.
“The way you grab me/ must wanna get nasty,” is the entire line.
Once the song is pieced all together you can see that the catchy tune is indeed about the “Blurred Lines” between whether or not a woman is really trying to have sex with a man or not which once you think about it doesn’t make the title so “creepy” after all.
For example, if the tune was called “Mixed Messages” we wouldn’t be so offended right?
There seems to be a taboo that women aren’t allowed to address their sexuality and that seems to be tying right into the song’s controversy.
It’s the same way Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” was viewed as an empowering anthem but Lil Wayne’s “Comfortable” was seen as degrading and rude despite the fact that both songs had the exact same message – just a different audience.
So let’s say a female singer like Ciara or a female rapper like Nicki Minaj released a song about how men found them completely undeniable and without a doubt wanted to have sex with them and then continued on to describe their sexual desires for these men with no mention of an actual relationship…. Oh wait. They already have, and the songs became hits without any controversy.
Meanwhile, Robin Thicke is defending the song as accomplishing exactly what he intended – To call out society for having so many taboos when it comes to sex.
“We pretty much want to take all the taboos of what you’re supposed to do,” he explained. “… I just wanted to break every rule of things you’re not supposed to do and make people realize how silly some of these rules are.”
