I am sure all of you are familiar with the singer Rihanna, and may even be familiar with her latest song titled, “S&M” that has been blasting all over local stations like Jamn’ 94.5 and Kiss 108. On my way to school just last week this song came on the radio, and I was rather disgusted and floored at the lyrics that started to pour out of my speakers. The first line I heard Rihanna sing, “cause I may be bad but I’m perfectly good at it,” didn’t surprise me, but the next few lines almost caused me to blush in embarrassment for the singer herself! “Sex in the air, I don’t care, I love the smell of it…sticks and stones may break my bones…but whips and chains excite me.
I quickly clicked on my display button in my car radio to see if it would show the song’s title, in which S&M then appeared. For those of you that are not aware, S&M stands for Sadism and Masochism. Sadism is a sexual fetish where one person gets satisfaction by inflicting pain on another person. Masochism is the opposite, where you get satisfaction by having pain inflicted on yourself.
I understand the singers desire to have this, “badass, I don’t care what people think of me,” image, but this song goes beyond what is necessary in order to portray that kind of persona. Her lyrics that talk about the smell of sex in the air and whips and chains, do not give off that edgy vibe that her and her record label were going for. Instead it comes off as vulgar, there is so much in this world that can formed into lyrics, why do artists feel it is appropriate to spill about their lives behind closed doors? Because, I am guessing Rihanna certainly isn’t singing about S&M just for the hell of it, she has to have some sort of attachment to the subject matter.
In this day in age nothing is kept private anymore, and that has really become a shame. It’s not bad enough that every popular musician now a day have whole albums dedicated to singing about sex, cheating, woman’s body parts, etc, but now our little brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, have to listen to Rihanna sing about her sexual fetishes for using chains and whips. Now parents, babysitters, family members, and teachers everywhere have to start preparing an explanation for the question, “Hey what does the new song S&M mean?!”
Oh my, what next? Hey thanks Rihanna!
The same thing is true of rap songs that use vulgar language, tv shows that portray drug use, alcohol and sex, and video games that have violent gun use. The other day my seven year old cousin was over for a family party and when I asked him what he wants to be when he grows up he said a cop. When I asked him why he said so he can shoot people. He then went on to describe what kind of gun and amunition he would want, and then went downstairs and played a violent video game where the point was to kill people. All of these forms of media are inevitable I believe but I also think that they are hurting our children and tainting them for life. Parents should have assert more control over what their kids watch, listen to, and play with. And media outlets should clearly label shows, games and songs that would be harmful or innaporpriate for children.
ReplyDeleteI found these comments informative re: marketing and the use of sex and sexual deviancy to get attention in the pop music world. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteDamn. People are so vulgar now a days. What is this world coming to?
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