Nowadays, we have grown accustomed to seeing Britney Spears do crazy things. Whether she’s shaving her head, driving with her children on her lap or lip synching at MTV’s Video Music Awards, nothing really seems to surprise us anymore. But when I heard that her newest single, “If You Seek Amy” was banned from the radio between 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., I have to admit I was shocked. If you say the name of her new single really slow, it spells out something. Say it. It spells out F-*-C-K-M-E. Of course, it was intentional because Britney wanted to say something that would cause a rise out of some people. A lot of artists say that word in their songs and we don’t ban it from the radio. So why do we become so offended when Britney Spears spells it out for us?
There are hundreds of artists who curse or have songs that could be offensive. For example, Black Eyed Peas came out with the song “My Humps”. The song was full of sexual innuendos but it was played on the radio nonstop. Eminem rapped about drugs and violence but we still keep his songs on the radio. Akon had a song entitled “Smack That”. The song was considered to be offensive to women but it was never banned from the radio.
So why is Britney Spears' song banned from the radio? Do we still like to imagine that she is that sweet, innocent virgin from the 1990’s? Do we not like to hear one of our Pop Music Queens spell out a bad word for us? We have to learn that she is grown up and we must accept that she is not the same Britney Spears that danced around in a Catholic School outfit singing “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. When you really think about it, any song on the radio today can send out the wrong message. Music can be influential, but it is not the only influence. And just because Britney spells out a curse word for us, does not mean we must take it off the air. If kids want to hear the song, they are going to find it somewhere else other than local radio stations. If someone is so offended by the song, than the simple answer is just do not listen to it.
Lora Kormos
Wilkes University '10
Communication Studies
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
I absolutely agree! Half of the songs that are played on the radio today can be believed to promote a negative message, but if you don't like the song, don't listen to it! I personally love Britney's new song and I'm glad she finally came back into the music scene. I think if songs like this are going to be banned, there's going to be a limited amount of music you can hear on the radio. What's so horribly wrong with this song that it can't be played on the radio? It's not like the f-bomb is actually visible in the lyrics.
I'm just happy Sirius still plays this song for everyone to enjoy! :)
I've never head the song, but I agree completely! Why can't they just block out the words like they do in other songs?
In response to Gussie:
As far as I have heard, the big controversy is that her manager/record label refuses to censor the lyrics, since they are the most important part of the lyrics; after all, they are the title.
But regardless:
who cares? the song is fun and no less sexy than some of her other singles. "... Baby, one more time" begged listeners to "Hit me, baby, one more time" which many censors insisted was insinuating some form of bondage between teens and pre-teens... it still hit number one (and stayed there) for weeks.
I say, play it.
Plus, with illegal downloading and youtube these days, you can't do much to stop people from hearing it.
Let everyone "seek amy"
Still, I don't see the big controversy over the song. I've heard a lot worse, they really should just play it. I think this may go deeper than the song. I think it probably has a lot to do with her "issues" of the past year.
I think that you raise a good point but people love to start controversy and they will do it with what ever is available for them to do it.
I can see it now.. The Woodlands puts on the song and the dance floor becomes an orgy.
Does she have nothing better to sing about?
I find the problem with any artist similar to Britney Spears is that she in particular and others sell their music based off of their image and not how good their music is. Take pretty much any rock 'n' roll band/artist prominant in the 60's: Cream, Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, The Stones, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, The Moody Blues...e.g.- all of these bands/artists indeed had images but were directly related to music, or entres associated with songs that were relevant to the time (such as smoking marijuana). However, someone like Britany Spears comes along and tries to get people to relate to music through (Now) motherly-sex appeal without and drama from her spending habits which her a tabloid front seat in every super-market express isle.
Certain artists such as Britney spears should be banned from making music and heres why:
If you sit down with Brittany Spears and ask her what her lyrics mean (if she writes her own- I don't know!) I guarentee she will talk about some bull-crap drama anxiety that is making her life too diffucult when shes a multi-millionire. Then sit down with some of those real music writers from the sixties, or even rap artists today, or some heavy drug user-bands and I bet the story behind their music is 10x better and more beneficial for society than Britney's latest meltdown.
Post a Comment