There’s recently been a lot of controversy following one of Ariana Grande’s new songs, “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored.” As you can tell by the title, many people have been complaining about the message of cheating that the song seems to carry.
For one, I personally think it’s just a fun song about a guy who Ariana wishes was single. That’s not the big issue here, though. It seems that the hate being thrown at Ariana shows the double standards that currently exist in the music industry.
I haven’t heard anyone say a thing about John legends lyrics, “Girl, I know you’re doing the same thing too / But I won’t tell your man the things we do oh no / He don’t have to know” in his song “She Don’t Have to Know.” G-Eazy is also guilty for many lyrics along the lines of the ones in his song “I Mean It,” which say, “’Cause I am f*cking your girlfriend and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
I don’t want to hate on any male artists with lyrics similar to those, I simply want to call out the issue that female artists get so much hate for things that male artists seem to get away with. I think it really highlights the bigger issue of general double standards throughout our culture where men can get away expressing sexuality, but many women get slut-shamed.
To conclude, I think “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored” is a fun and catchy song that should be taken with a grain of salt like many other songs by male artists have been in the past. But if you’re going to hate, it should be evenly distributed. Cheating is wrong, so those wanting to say something shouldn’t let it be solely directed at the women of the industry.