From Maroon 5’s “Animals” music video
Popular culture brings an electric flavor to life, especially to the younger, more impressionable generations. I can say that I was a first-hand witness to the rise of rap artists and young pop stars such as Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj, and Iggy Azalea. But while I agree that new sounds are wonderful for the music industry, the message that these songs are conveying are not necessarily beneficial to those who hear them.
Love and sex are themes at the forefront of pop music today. However, unlike the stars of the past, pop artists today are taking pride in explicit lyrics and music videos that are viewed by a wide range of music lovers. Unfortunately, many children too have increasing access to music channels such as YouTube or Vevo, or at the very least are able to listen to such songs on the radio. Here are some of my arguments against the trend pop music is taking today:
1. Body image issues are a real thing, and pop music doesn’t do much to alleviate them.
Let’s consider the song “Anaconda” by Nicki Minaj. The quintessential sex song, “Anaconda” also projects a negative image of naturally thin women. While I absolutely do not endorse changing your body shape or size to suit anyone else’s preferences, there are some girls who are naturally slender, and Nicki slams them fairly mercilessly in her crass end verse. For reference, it’s the verse before she twerks on Drake. But when she starts singing “F*** those skinny b******,” it’s really too much, even if it is in the spirit of promoting larger body sizes. As a naturally slim girl, I don’t think Nicki gives us enough credit for being able to maintain a slender body without anorexia, bulimia, and the like showing up to give us aid. “All About that Bass,” by Meghan Trainor, is a milder version of the same syndrome. At least Meghan Trainor focuses on the positive aspects of body image, while there is nothing redeeming about the lyrics of “Anaconda.”
2. Objectivizing of women.
You would be hard pressed to find a song that doesn’t objectivize women nowadays. Quite a few examples come to my mind, but instead of ranting about how much I detest the messages they put out there, I will let you, the reader, imagine the effects of such songs on teenagers.
I enjoy listening to Maroon 5, but if anyone has heard “Animals,” it’s a key example of sexualizing women. Let me break down the music video in a sentence: Adam Levine stalks an attractive woman and compares himself to a predator stalking his prey. Stop. With all the issues of kidnapping, rape, and child molesting in today’s world, how is Adam Levine able to get away with this? My little sister was singing the song one day, much to my alarm, and she pointed out that the guy in the song must love the girl if he stalks her everywhere. This is exactly the wrong kind of message to dole out to today’s youth. If my twelve year-old sister believes that the new definition of love is equivalent to stalking, then how many other impressionable children will pick up on that view?
Another song that objectivizes women is “Baby Got Back” by Sir Mix-A-Lot. Apart from the utter lack of tonality, Sir Mix-A-Lot adds explicit lyrics describing women’s rear ends. Under no circumstances should anyone mistake this song as respectful towards women. In fact, it’s the exact opposite. When songs like this play on the radio, it’s worrisome to think that children might be listening and understanding the meaning behind the song. What sort of children are we trying to raise to carry our legacies forward?
3. Pop culture and sex.
Sex is a part of life, but pop music has made it far more explicit and exposed the cruder side of sex to a larger audience that it is considered appropriate for. With music videos made more available on the Internet, and concerts being aired on the television, children are exposed to a harsher version of love and romance than our generation was ten years ago. Ten years ago, the most explicit music I heard was Britney Spears’s, and I don’t think I understood any of the sexual references. They were implied, not overtly stated. But now, sex is being tossed out in music the way my high school classmates used to toss out Pokemon references in school.
Is it bad that our culture is shifting towards animalizing love and sex? Personally, I find it saddening that the next generation will have a grimmer view of romance than the red-roses-and-champagne approach that we were brought up to respect. I don’t hear too many songs about sweet love or gentlemen anymore. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned, but I would love to see a revival of that type of music. Club music is great for clubbing, but as far as extending it into the real world of romance? No, I’ll pass. It boils down to this: do we really want our younger siblings or children growing up in a world where stalking is considered an acceptable alternative for flirting, and hook-ups are the easiest way to show a girl affection?
We are commercializing romance. This era has become a series of anthems to quick sex and one-night stands and it doesn’t seem quite right.