Let's Be Honest Robin Thicke...

Last year, Robin Thicke's " Blurred Lines" was played an insane amount of times on the radio. "Blurred Lines" was the song everyone would have stuck in their head, no matter how much they hated it. The tune alone is catchy as all get out, while also being extremely popular and recognizable. Why would such a well known modern song be taken off the market? The song is already played openly on the radio for young ears to absorb the content.

It can be said that Robin Thicke undermined women, like any other popular mainstream male pop artist does anyways. It wasn't even his obscene lyrics that had some people out raged. Thicke did what most male stud artists wish they could do; create an explicit music video of naked women dancing around him. While every youngster in America was ogling over his domineer, some women saw the misogyny between the lines-- well the blurred lines.

In the opposing-Thicke article, Tricia Romano states many issues that are presented with the music video. Romano even goes as far as to say the lyrics and video are kind of "rapey" in the sense that Robin Thicke is presuming that the naked women in the music video want him. Canadian model Amy Davison, out raged as well, stated that “the women are clearly being used as objects to reinforce the status of the men in the video. The men have all the control and status because they are not vulnerable—they are completely covered. Whereas the women have no status and are totally open to be exploited ogled and used.” Editor of NPR music, Frannie Kelley acknowledges the fact that Robin Thicke did step over the line with naked women; "When they’re clothed it feels like he’s walking up to a line and agreeing to obey it. And when they’re not clothed, he’s like acknowledging the line and he’s stepping right over it.” Sadly, pop music videos objectifying women isn't anything new in pop culture music. But does that make Robin Thicke's addition of naked women acceptable? Well it certainly pushed the boundaries of comfort, something Thicke was striving to do. "...Cause for me, nudity is the least offensive thing in the whole world. Guns, violence, war? That’s offensive. A woman’s body has been painted and sculpted and talked about since the beginning of man. What I enjoy about the video is that we’re not ogling and degrading them, we’re laughing and being silly with them."

While some women felt "raped" by the music video, other Thicke followers disagreed. Jennifer Lai wrote a counter article to Tricia Romano's stating that "'Blurred Lines' Is Cocky, Yes. But Rapey? No." Most of the anti-Thicke arguments were crafted around the repetitive lyric "I know you want it". Lai makes the point that "I know you want it" is not a "rapey" lyric, but a cocky one. "'I know you want it' is probably overly cocky and presumptuous as hell by assuming you/she wants “it,” but nothing about 'I know you want it' is saying 'I know you want it, and I'm going to force you to have it' or 'I had sex with you and you didn't consent, but I know you wanted it.' Yes, 'I know you want it' could be said by a rapist—but so could 'Do you want to go to a movie tonight?'" Lai argues that Thicke isn't insisting on non-consensual sex, but more of liberating a common woman fantasy, "... As others have pointed out—and as Thicke mentioned in an interview with Billboard—it could definitely refer to the tired, overused good-girl-with-a-freaky-streak fantasy." Of course Thicke looks like a total douche bag stating all this crap about women wanting him, but he never does mention any notion of forcing himself on a women.

In the end, women should be required cover their private parts in music videos, especially ones that can be easily accessed by children. As for the lyrical content of "Blurred Lines", that is debatable. It can sound a bit forceful at times, but with further analysis, the lyrics really aren't suggesting more than a cocky guy trying to get freaky with a girl. I find it odd that Robin Thicke wasn't always this raunchy. It is only recently that Thicke decided to make the crucial switch from innocent songs, to more sex appeal songs. Okay, every famous pop artist has made this switch (i.e. Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake). It made sense for single young pop stars to make this switch, but for a 37 year old dad/husband like Robin Thicke, there really isn't a need for sex appeal. Like at all.

As Macklemore puts it in his song Otherside, an entire rap song only about how fake artists are and the ridiculous standards they hold people to, "Follow the formula, violence, drugs and sex sells. So we try to sound like someone else." So let's be honest Robin Thicke, you're a 37 year old pop star dad/husband trying to sound like a 21 year old bachelor with no responsibilities. Nice try.