some type of adult girl

hitsvilleuk:

One might, upon listening to Blurred Lines be forgiven for believing that Robin Thicke has the emotional range of a 13-year-old boy. However, I am of the opinion that thought does a disservice to horny 13-year-olds everywhere. Its thematic content runs from the frank and slightly bemusing “Give it 2 U", in which the 36-year-old Thicke sings about wanting to have sex with you, to the somewhat disturbing title track, in which Thicke sings about wanting to have sex with you.

That’s not to say the album is worthless - several tracks are catchy and I found myself boogying along to much of the album, especially those tracks which draw influence from disco i.e. “Ain’t No Hat 4 That". However, none of the tracks really felt inspired, indeed, most felt like dull genre pieces to fill gaps between the mega-selling singles - these are songs we’ve heard a hundred times before from a hundred different voices.

Take, for example, “The Good Life", which essentially closes the album. Here, Thicke and his producers take a bumbling piano riff and combine it with some of the most mundane lyrics my ears have ever had the misfortune to be insulted by: “Life takes you up and down/Life spins you all around.” Thanks for that one Robin. Bob Dylan’s kicking himself for not coming up with that.

Given this lack of innovation in the music, the other issues surrounding Thicke’s album, his sixth, are all the more prominent. The endless lusting couplets on wanting to have sex with you, the jarring need to “convince” someone to even come over, when Thicke wants to be with that person for the rest of their life…

And then there is that very famous, oft-parodied, much-debated video.

A video in which Thicke repeatedly murmurs, “I know you want it” into a silenced and naked woman’s ear. “Blurred Lines" denies women any agency- they are unable to say “No!” to Thicke, because, apparently, he knows that they, and indeed you, as the listener, want him. Even if they attempt to say so, they are silenced. Thicke then had the guts to claim in The Times that “It’s humorous! It’s a joke! It’s like telling a girl, ‘Hey I got a big ol’ dick.’”

I surely cannot be the only one left uncomfortable by this artist. True, a great deal of contemporary music is misogynistic, yet there is a particularly creepy version of that sexism present here in Thicke – or should I say #Thicke, as his inane attempt to connect with the kids suggests. I did enjoy parts of this album, but found aspects of it disturbing and most of it dull, not least the endless return to the same lusty, misogynistic thematic content.

★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

(via hitsvilleuk)