Problematic songs in Pop music?

[JoeMo 3,860]

3 hours ago, Hold My Ham said:

Jesus Christ, I haven't heard that song for over a decade and just looked up the lyrics. That's a serious clunker.

Right? 

The actual song is horrendous and then when you listen to the lyrics….  It’s even worse 

[brizoda 3,848]

Die young by Kesha

Radios dropped it for the lyrics after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

[TheSine 6,179]

4 hours ago, JoeMo said:

Grow a Pear by Kesha did not age well 

I just looked up the lyrics.

[misham0nster 130]

21 minutes ago, JoeMo said:

Right? 

The actual song is horrendous and then when you listen to the lyrics….  It’s even worse 

Yeah I love Kesha but this is not it lol

[Ezikell 64]

DWUW for obvious reasons 

Better Than Revenge was something I never knew Taylor would sing about yet here we are. Would be interesting how she'd treat this song once Speak Now TV comes out.

[Sneaky Oliver 22,067]

17 hours ago, River said:

Can we finally say that Vogue is cultural appropriation and exploiting the ballroom culture, to the point that the majority of people believes that Madonna invented it. she may made it popular but the cost is that the people who lived the ballroom culture and created this big gay movement in the POC community are barely receiving any credit. also all the celebrities that she's listing in the song are white.
Even the Pose episode about the song was written from a white person point of view and idolize the song, not one of the characters criticized the song.

Girl, she literally put the gay POC community on the video, on the stage, on her documentary, she has made several statements about how she admired them and she wanted to use her plataform to pay homage to that culture and lift them up. In the worst case scenario, the ballroom culture could have been completely erased and forgotten by now but she helped to make it mainstream and relevant. At the same time, she was a big activist for the HIV/aids cause.

[SimonBaetens 8,477]

4 hours ago, Helxig said:

 

I loved it so much back then and thought the Japanese fashion was so cute and the girls looked beautiful   I didn't know! Now I've got this dumb nostalgia for it even though it was problematique

ohhh same!

[Sneaky Oliver 22,067]

51 minutes ago, JoeMo said:

Right? 

The actual song is horrendous and then when you listen to the lyrics….  It’s even worse 

I get the sentiment of the song tbh  it's a shame the lyrics "man with a vag" are there though. I think that's the real problematic part of it

After all these years I still don't know what "grow a pear" really means, i get the message like "be more mature" but it's such a strange way to say it 

[sarahb 16,612]

11 minutes ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

I get the sentiment of the song tbh  it's a shame the lyrics "man with a vag" are there though. I think that's the real problematic part of it

After all these years I still don't know what "grow a pear" really means, i get the message like "be more mature" but it's such a strange way to say it 

Grow a pear = grow a pair = grow a pair of balls 

[Leoooo 2,284]

14 minutes ago, Sneaky Oliver said:

I get the sentiment of the song tbh  it's a shame the lyrics "man with a vag" are there though. I think that's the real problematic part of it

After all these years I still don't know what "grow a pear" really means, i get the message like "be more mature" but it's such a strange way to say it 

grow "a pair" means grow a pair of balls, same as 'man up' essentially and definitely one of those out-of date sentiments today because it's quite degrading to both men and women. But yeah that song truly has aged like milk

[Franch Toast 26,801]

5 hours ago, Helxig said:

 

I loved it so much back then and thought the Japanese fashion was so cute and the girls looked beautiful   I didn't know! Now I've got this dumb nostalgia for it even though it was problematique

Don't worry, I still love Gwen and have been going to a bunch of her shows. I don't think she was ever ill-intentioned, just ignorant. Also, from my understanding, the four dancers speak very highly of Gwen and appreciated the opportunity, I know people of Asian ancestry who are/were inspired by the Harajuku Girls. 

(I think the real issue was that the girls were instructed not to talk and that she referred to them as imaginary, but it's because she had conceptualized a type of performance art that she wasn't able to articulate clearly, so it came off as the dancers being reduced to her accessories) 

[ProfessionalClown 10,647]

1 hour ago, JazzGa said:

Honey, you said the same thing I said lol. The song's about murdering everyone with the cool Reebok Pump shoes on.

 I knew the backstory behind the song. But thanks for making yourself feel smart by correcting me for no reason lol. 

You saying “omg they’re killing kids with cool shoes lol” is just kinda lowering the meaning of the song to just that when that’s literally not all it’s about lmao. 

[NichuuB 43,788]

You Need To Calm Down for it's homophobia-filled lyrics and visuals

[Monstermilo 4,465]

22 hours ago, LilyLark said:

I mean, there are a LOT...but you also have to consider different cultures/time period. For example, in the US very few people were aware the term 'gypsy' was a slur until recently. Mark Ruffalo and Elizabeth Olsen ran into trouble in the UK when promoting Avengers as they kept using the word.

For Gaga, Gypsy and BTW (the 'orient' line, which I suspect her Swedish co-songwriter used)

Destiny Child's Nasty Girl

'Ghetto Baby' by Cheryl (the one Lana wrote)

Blurred Lines

Run for Your Life by The Beatles (advocates murdering a woman)

There are several creepy songs by The Police, including one about a teacher having a wildly inappropriate relationship with a student

Katy's Ur so Gay

And while not pop, 95% of music by Eminem, much of Ice Cube's early stuff, and Usher has several weird rapey songs.

she says orient not oriental. and as an asian person, i do not find that offensive in any way

[StrawberryBlond 14,820]

Girls - A decent song but very stereotypical of a bi girl's existence, making it every man's fantasy and it was made by 4 women (Rita, Charli, Bebe, Cardi) who, though some have claimed to be into women, have never publicly dated them or said that what they did was just experimentation.

Hotline Bling - This song is just dripping with sexism, it's all about being annoyed that your ex is enjoying her life without you and shaming her for "going to places where you don't belong" and "you used to be a good girl, stay at home." I wonder how many people were just focusing on the beat and the chorus but not really paying enough attention to the verses.

What Makes You Beautiful - Harmless pop song but it rubs me up the wrong way to hear boys telling a girl that she doesn't need to wear make-up and that her insecurity in seeing her beauty is the thing that makes her attractive.

Grenade - This song is so toxic as we're now so accustomed to hearing f-boys saying that he'd do anything for you, so why won't you stay, guilt tripping you into staying and painting any criticism of him as nagging.

All About That Bass - Its body positivity message just falls flat as soon as she puts down "skinnny bitches." Yes, she does follow it up by saying "I know you think you're far but I'm hear to tell you every inch of you is perfect" but that seems like a cop-out backtrack. If the song's about being proud of a non-skinny body, why did she even bring up skinny women other than to have a dig at them?

Bobblehead - Not only is this song terrible in and of itself but the shaming of how a women presents herself and who she hangs around with and infers that this makes her stupid is just not it and it all-round glorifies bullying.

Heartless - Love this song but yeah, the clue is in the name. It's just one of those songs where you have to bask in the immorality or you can't enjoy it.

Bad Blood - All about a totally unnecessary feud just because Katy took a few of her back-up dancers for her tour when the sharing of dancers among artists is the entire nature of the pop touring world. This was all done during Taylor's era where she was all about befriending and supporting women too. At least they've made up now.

Give In To Me - This song is awesome but if a song like this got made today it would have been called out for the emotional and physical demands made upon a woman. But he sings about it in a way that just makes it pure art.

 

20 hours ago, ARTFAP said:

Dear Future Husband - Meghan Trainor.

"After every fight
Just apologize, Even if I was wrong
You know I'm never wrong!
Why disagree?"

-->this lyrics ain't it sis, its giving me abusive/toxic relationship realness! i'm all about women empowerment while not putting men down.

I've heard people question those lyrics too but it's so clear that the song is light-hearted and tongue-in-cheek, she's not actually being serious. That bit's supposed to be funny, just like when she pokes fun at the all-too common lifestyle where the wife's extended family seem to take priority over the husband's. I didn't get why it was read as serious when it was just made to be a fun take on relationship expectations. I thought it was like a modern day version of Whatta Man, it's just women having fun by expressing what they want out of men considering that a lot of music has been dominated by songs from men based on what they want women to be.