On July 28, 2013 Robin Thicke's controversial hit Blurred Lines hit 242.65 million listeners breaking the record for biggest radio audience. This is but one of the many awards that this song has won in the past year. The success of this song has not come without a great deal of criticism, but with the music industry in the state it is today, are the critics the reason for the success?
Their is no denying the nature of the lyrics and music video for this song are pushing the boundary. When you think about it, what popular pop or rap song isn't? The lyrics leave room for interpretation as to weather the song supports rape as Mrs. Lai pointed out; however I have to agree with Tricia Romano under the fact that the video clearly points to a male supremacy role. At the end of the day, I think it is personal values and beliefs that will decide weather females dancing naked around clothed men is appropriate. I will stick by my opinion however, that this song would not be half as popular without the raciness that promoted arguments.
Making it in the music industry is one of the hardest careers to start. It is clear that fame can take a harmful toll on a person. It can drive people crazy trying to get noticed and get their songs played. In todays world, songs that push the boundaries get talked about and in turn the buzz gets the songs popular. Before this song, everyone was chattering about Miley Cyrus's Wreaking Ball. Pop culture saw her career take off again after all of the controversy of that song.
Coming from Robin Thicke's perspective, can you blame him for trying to push the limit? This controversy makes me think of rhetoric and about arguments. While Thicke is getting a lot of criticism for this song, at the end of the day, he "won" because his song is super popular and listened to. Critics might think that they are beating Thicke by butchering his motives and lyrics but in the end they are only helping to boost Thickes career.
You bring up a really good point, Sam, and I agree. This song probably would've faded into nothingness by now, but the controversy that surrounds it has kept it alive and kicking. I do think that was Thicke's goal, however. I mean, why else would he make a music video featuring naked women dancing around him? It was definitely not to show his mother how well his career is going. I suppose he did "win," as you suggest--his career got an immense boost, one that it likely wouldn't have gotten with any old run-of-the-mill song and video. He is using people's values (and aversion to this topic) to his advantage, and doing so very successfully.
ReplyDeleteSam, I never thought about the topic in that way before. I think it would be interesting to see if this song would have been a hit without the controversy. I also feel that there is a fine line. I think that he definitely pushed this line with this song. People should realize that this is a competitive career, but there is also a way to rise above all of the negativity and make a positive career for yourself. Your point has really got me thinking about this, and I wonder why this may be.
ReplyDeleteHello friend! I think you made a very good point when you said, "the lyrics leave room for interpretation.." This reigns true for almost every song out there today, but it particularly reigns true for Blurred Lines. I liked how you were able to take the controversy that came about with this song and turn it into something more positive. Like you said, it is hard to make it in the music industry and in order to succeed you have to push the limits sometimes. I think you had a very valid point when you said that this song would not be as popular had it not sparked up so much controversy.
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