Dear Mr. Mahone,
I first heard your name three years ago when you were the opening act for an Ed Sheeran/Taylor Swift concert. I was 18 years old and, excluding those who were bringing their children to the concert, was one of the older people there. You were 17 years old with a squeaky clean image and bubble gum pop sound that I have now come to understand you've left behind.
We're both 3 years older and trust me, I understand the desire to prove you're not a kid anymore. I really do. But while other singers try to prove they've grown up by changing their hair and talking more freely about sex, you just perpetuated rape culture to a level I find deplorable and disgusting.
Your song is about telling a woman to send you nude pictures on your phone. That's it. And honestly, there are other songs about this out there and there are songs more damaging to women and that perpetuate rape culture more, but this one bugs me because the majority of your fans are girls. Not young women. Girls.
This article was written two years ago about several of your dedicated fans that attended your concert. Not only does this article reference your song "Mmm Yeah" which is about cat calling and a whole other rant to talk about, but all of your fans appear to be no older than around 14. Your 14-ish, now 16-ish, year old fans are now listening to your song about sending naked pictures over text message.
Not a song about being sent a picture, or even asking politely and respectfully for one, but you telling a woman to "Send it to my phone".
And it doesn't stop there. Later on in the song you say, "Baby what's the move? Don't need no attitude/ You know it'll stay between just me and you". No longer are we talking about a consensual discussion over naked pictures because apparently your female friend doesn't want to send you pictures. So here's where the biggest of the many issues with your song lie, just because someone is female and perhaps in a kind of relationship with you doesn't mean she owes you anything. This is where you support rape culture the most. This is where it worries me that your fans are so young and live their lives attached to technology.
One problem with your music video is throughout your entire song you're assuring this girl that those pictures she's sending will stay between you and her, "You already know I keep it on the low", "Promise I'm alone/ I won't tell a soul, Send it to my phone", "Baby have no fear, you know it's staying here", "You know I keep it trill, You know I'd never tell", "You know it'll stay between just me and you", "It'll be our little secret yeah", "Let no one see it, except for me". Except in the music video, I saw the pictures you were sent. I saw her posing for them. It wasn't between you and her. It was for the world to see.
Young girls don't necessarily understand how damaging it could be to have a nude picture out there of them. What if a girl wants to teach kindergarten, but the principal thinking of hiring her finds a nude picture of her on the internet? This is an issue for boys as well, but because of our society, a naked picture of a woman will always cause more controversy than a naked picture of a man. If anyone of any age is in possession of naked pictures of people under age they can go to jail. You never know where those pictures will end up and who will see it.
What happens between couples as far a
s dirty pictures is up to them. But nude pictures should always be sent with a level of trust and respect that I don't have in you, Mr. Mahone.
And lastly you pulled a famous "Blurred Lines" stunt that I would hope the music industry would be over by now, "I know you wanna share, baby might as well". Unless your "baby" actually said "Can I pretty please send you a naked picture?", you don't know if she wants to share one with you. So don't assume.
The worst part about all of this? Although I've heard that many people are upset with your behavior like I am, I have googled a good amount of information on your song to see reactions from people. And to my dismay, it's mostly teenage girls freaking out about how much they love your song and are so happy you're putting out new music. Some people are upset because the melody of your song closely mimics that of "Reality" by Lost Frequencies. Not many are upset because of the blatant sexism and inappropriateness of your song.
Despite all this Austin, I have faith in you to be better. I saw the happiness you put on your fan's faces when they heard this horrible song. You can do work people will be proud of. All in all, don't perpetuate rape culture, convince young girls to be man-pleasing objects. On a whole other note, I don't have room to go into in this article, don't only cast black women in your music videos to be sexual objects while you cast white girls to be your cute love interests.
You got problems Austin Mahone. But you're young and I think you could impact this world in a great way.
Peace,
Laurel Reiter
