There’s no denying that music has become a lot more provocative, both in its lyrics and music videos in recent years. And on the whole, these messages have been extremely positive for young women. Artists like Tove Lo expressing her love for casual relationships and shunning of a classic ‘label’ through her song ‘Cool Girl’ and; Ariana Grande’s ‘Side by Side’ which introduces the conversation of female sexuality, with the message that every woman is entitled to satisfaction in the bedroom! (maybe a little too well judging by the day after). But despite these great songs invigorating the female population to speak more openly about their sexuality, there are some songs that take this freedom a bit too far. Zara Larsson’s ‘Aint My Fault’ single being a prime example of how women singing about sex can be interpreted as either feminist…or a tad sexist?
Obviously when you think of Zara Larrson you don’t think ‘RAGING SEXIST!’ and you definitely don’t think of the word ‘predator’. But after listening to her recent single, these words have been popping up in my head whenever I actually pay attention to some of the lyrics rather than just dance around my room with a hairbrush as a microphone. They are lyrics that if they sung by a man, would definitely be considered inappropriate and extremely misogynistic.
Here are some specific lyrics from the song that I thought could be taken in an uncomfortable and non-consensual way. In the first verse we see ‘it ain’t my fault you keep turning me on’ and ‘it ain’t my fault I’m not leaving alone’. Later, Larsson sings about how she ‘shouldn’t be blamed for whatever happens next’ following by the shocking lyrics ‘it ain’t my fault you came here looking like that, you just made me trip, fall and land on your lap’. Now I understand that many people don’t actually pay attention to lyrics when they listen to a song. But what is said in songs does affects people and the message being portrayed here is that women are able to dominate a man and his personal boundaries even if he may not want to be with her or in that situation. It’s clear that these lyrics are suggestive towards sexual control over another gender without consent and they should not be taken lightly. We shouldn’t teach men that it is wrong to discuss predatory behaviour over women in any context and not do the same for women.
After looking at these specific lyrics some of you may wonder why news outlets, Facebook posts and the public in general have not written a number of scathing words of shock and horror towards Larsson and the song! That’s because Laarson has the winning trifecta. If you don’t understand what I mean by trifecta then here’s a sum up: the song is catchy, if a song isn’t catchy people are going to judge it and therefore critique it. Second she’s hot. I know this may sound very petty and catty but it’s true one of the main backlashes to Meghan Trainors controversial song wasn’t about the content at all but about her size, without a body part to critique it makes it hard for the general public to cast down a judgement. And finally, she’s a woman. Okay I know that might sound bad because gender shouldn’t matter but it’s true if you think about it! In recent years, women have been encouraged to talk openly about their sexuality and any song with reference to sex delivered by a woman is considered extremely liberating and positive for the female community. And it’s true. 99% of these types of songs are positive for society as a whole. However, the small 1% of songs that take this freedom too far needs to be critiqued. Therefore, we should hold all genders to the same standards and encourage young people to idolize female and male empowerment, rather than idolize predatory lyrics in popular culture.
Edited by Susan Akyeampong
Sources:
http://www.josepvinaixa.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Zara-Larsson…
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