Robin Thicke was the singer of the number one song of the summer of 2013, “Blurred Lines” which remained at the top of the Billboard Charts for over 12 weeks. However, there has been much controversy over the demeaning lyrics and disturbing video that accompanies this song.
The “Blurred Lines Controversy” started over the summer. Women were very offended by the song because it implies rape-like behavior. The title alone means the women did not give full consent to sexual activities. The title itself refers to the “blurred” answer she gave. Throughout the song, Thicke actually goes through his process of bringing a woman home with him. There is a repeating line which supports this, “…And that’s why I’m gonna take a good girl.” He declares he will “take” a girl. He couldn’t have replaced this with a different, not as harsh word?
The bridge is the most powerful part of the song. It opens with, “Okay now he was close, tried to domesticate you.” This means this woman may almost have been unsuccessfully harmed before, albeit unsuccessfully, and Thicke intends to dominate her. Next is, “But you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature.” Apparently, according to Thicke, women are nothing but animals. “Just let me liberate you – you don’t need no papers,” follows that theory. He does not care about what the girl is actually like, so he proceeds to announce this.
Famous rapper T.I. is featured in the song. He goes straight into how he would “seduce” the girl. A very different line is “Can I be the one you hand that a** to?” This seems to be a little better than Thicke’s wording, but it is still dangerous. The woman is only wanted for her body. The woman’s name, age, and personality do not matter to the man. He only wants one thing from this woman, and it is not a relationship.
While today’s songs are popular and catchy, they radiate a dreadful message. Women are constantly degraded and demoralized everyday because people actually believe what the artists sing about. If people actually stopped and listened to the lyrics, there would be an outrage. Women have already done this, and Robin Thicke and his infamous song have started a nationwide feminist movement. Teenagers listen to pop the most, so young women especially are very insulted by it.
