Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” Causes Controversy 

Robin Thicke, American-Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and actor, teams up with Pharrell Williams, R&B singer-songwriter, rapper, producer, and fashion designer, to produce one of the most racy, graphic songs and music videos of our time titled, “Blurred Lines.” Well-known hip-hop star, T.I., makes an appearance in the song as well. This brand new single was released on July 30th, 2013 and immediately made iTunes’ top 100 songs. ITunes categorizes “Blurred Lines” under the genres including Pop, Rock, R&B/Soul and Contemporary R&B. Their new single has caused controversy in news today: NBC news, ABC news, the Huffington Post and BET have all made it known that “Blurred Lines” is demeaning and unoriginal in its content. “Blurred Lines” mocks gender and promotes misogynistic views in society today.



If any of my readers have not yet heard Robin Thicke’s new song, I strongly advise listening to it and watching the explicit music video as well. YouTube took down the explicit version but it is still showed on Vevo. The only difference between the clean and explicit videos is that the models in the explicit video are topless with skimpy bikini bottoms but are somewhat clothed in the clean video. The clean video shows the models in a white ensemble covered in plastic. In the official music video, the models are parading around Thicke and Williams while the men are singing about “domesticating” them. In the lyrics, Robin Thicke states,

“Ok, now he was close
Tried to domesticate you
But you’re an animal
Baby, it’s in your nature…”

These lines talk about the girl Thicke is infatuated with. She used to have a man she was in love with, but she could not hold onto the relationship any longer because he tried to “domesticate” her and control the fun in her life. Thicke calls the girl an animal because he assumes that she wants to have fun and be free. In these lines, although Thicke is not demeaning women, he criticizes how some females act like good girls but in reality are not.

The next couple lines of the song start to get really controversial. The song states,

“Good girl
I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it…”

The repetition of the lyrics caused rising debates by critics on a so-called rape level. Lisa Huyne, feminist blogger and critic, shared her take on the new single in her online blog "Feminist in LA." She stated, “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.” I agree with Huyne in that the repetition of those five words blatantly shows that Thicke “wants it” more than the girl does, considering she’s a “good girl,” and will probably do whatever it takes to get it. Julie Gerstein also comments on the explicit video in her own blog, "The Frisky." Gerstein says the video is “rape-y” as well as “#terrible” mocking the “#THICKE” flashing across the screen in big, bold, red print every ten seconds.

In the next segment of the song, Thicke sings, “I hate these blurred lines,” followed again by, “I know you want it (x3).” This portion of the song represents the apparent “blurred lines” girls put up against males who want them. Thicke is describing his hatred towards girls who act like they do not want him when they “obviously” do. Other than being cocky, Thicke is wrong on many levels pertaining to women. He repeatedly calls women animals because he believes women have a wild nature that they can not control. What about men? I have encountered many men who are too “blasted” and their true feelings finally come out about how much they want, not one woman, but women in general. Thicke refers to women in committed relationships and how they still desire other men. This may be true in some cases but Fox News states that 70% of men cheat versus 50% of women; not a huge difference, but it still proves my point.

Doug Walker, a reviewer of pop songs, made a video commenting on the hit single. He mentions that the women in the video are topless and look very unhappy, revisiting the rape concept of the explicit video. He also mentions that the “blurred lines” Thicke and Williams are referring to, is the line between consensual and nonconsensual sex, aka rape. If the girl was really into going home with Thicke, or a bad girl like he says she really is, then he would not need to be trying that hard.



A band named Stone Temple Pilots made a song in 2003 titled, “Sex Type Thing,” which is from the point of view of a rapist. The official music video is located on YouTube.
If one were to compare “Sex Type Thing” with “Blurred Lines,” he or she would not find much difference. Stone Temple Pilots state,

“I know you want what's on my mind
I know you like what's on my mind
I know it eats you up inside,”

whereas Robin Thicke says,

“I know you want it
I know you want it
I know you want it.”

Another ‘rape-y’ line in both songs: “Do it like it hurt, like it hurt/ What you don’t like work (Robin Thicke),” versus, “You wouldn’t want me to have to hurt you too, hurt you too? (Stone Temple Pilots)” Both songs are basically talking about a man raping a girl. That was not Robin Thicke’s intention for the song, but it still comes across as very sexually aggressive.

Doug Walker mentions in his review that three men standing around with unhappy, topless women does not make for a very good video. Thicke mocks the female gender and how we are “animals” and constantly “want it,” but this doesn’t even reflect cultural concepts of gender. Society today believes men to be animals and want any girl in the room. Robin Thicke may have succeeded in making iTunes’ hot list but he inadvertently stimulated a worldwide dispute over misogyny, hurting his career only.