Music is one thing that most people hear every day of their lives. The difference between people is the way that we interpret songs and the way that we react to song lyrics. There are many songs that are deemed offensive, rude, or discriminating towards certain groups of people, but what would happen if we flipped the gender of the artists that were singing those songs? Would people still interpret them the same?
1. Meghan Trainor - Dear Future Husband
When this song had its debut, everyone and their mother was in love with it. It was an upbeat song by a woman who knew everything that she wanted out of her husband. Seems like she has her priorities straight, right? Trainor is telling her future husband everything that she wants him to do for her, along with everything that she won't be doing. Everyone was so happy with this, they were practically saying "YAAASSSS girl! You tell him! Make it known what we want and will do!!!!!!" Cool, but what if it was a guy singing about his future wife? Oh no, everyone would throw a fit. Imagine him singing about what he wanted his wife to be doing for him everyday, on his birthday, their anniversary, etc. The world right now would throw a fit, because to them it'd just be "another man having misogynistic lyrics" and then they'll say "Ladies, you don't need to deal with this. Get yourself a man that will treat you right and not EXPECT things from you!" So please, tell me why it's perfectly okay to have a song sung by a woman, listing out all of her expectations for her husband, but the second it's flipped, it throws an imbalance in the force.
2. Ed Sheeran - Shape of You
Just the name of the song alone instantly angers people. This song from Sheeran's newest album has America up in arms because of what they interpret it as. People are angry because he is singing about how he's in love with the shape of a girl. Okay, and? What's wrong with liking the way that someone looks? Oh, because people believe that that is the only thing he likes about the girl because he sings the words "I'm in love with your body." They think it's another song about a guy just explaining how he only likes the girl because she "looks good." But what the people (who are angry) tend to overlook, is the fact that before the aforementioned song lyrics, Sheeran literally says the words "Although my heart is falling too.." and all the lyrics about them going on dates, but of course no one pays attention to that, because it's from a man. So let's flip this. Now it's a woman singing a song about a man. I bet you the world isn't as angry about this anymore. The reason being it's okay for this to happen. You can scroll through social media right now and see numerous accounts posting about how some guy "looks like a snack" (whatever that means), but again, those accounts are from women, so it's allowed. So if you can be upset with a man for just simply singing a song, then guys can be upset for women watching Magic Mike 100 times just because they like the way Channing Tatum looks shirtless, because honestly, what's the difference?
3. Justin Bieber - Love Yourself
Although this song is slightly older, the same can still be said for it due to the fact that I've seen it cause problems (whether that be from the lyrics or just because it's a song from Bieber, that's neither here nor there). The song is Bieber explaining how a girl in this relationship is all about herself, doesn't really care about him. She literally loves herself so much that she doesn't pay attention to him. So, because of this, Bieber ditches her and then explains that he's no longer interested in her, and that "if she likes the way she looks that much, she should go and love yourself." Now some people are angry with this, because they see it as Bieber being rude to the girl. "She's just trying to be confident in herself and show that she doesn't NEED Bieber there, but is still with him." And that him saying "go love yourself" is a play on words, that he really means "go f*%# yourself" because he's not getting enough attention. Now flip it, and make it a woman singing a song about a man who only cares about himself and all that. Wow, the world is different now and everyone is proud of her. She's getting comments like "YAAASSS girl!!! You tell him!" "You don't need a man! You're strong and independent!" "If he isn't going to pay attention to you, leave him!" How is that okay? It's the same thing, same concept, same song, but since it's sang by a different gender, it makes it strong and empowering. If this was sang by a woman everyone would be happy that she said the words "go love yourself" and meant "go f*%# yourself."
Although this is only an example of three songs, I assure you there are many more out there. Music is just simply music. It's not made for the audience that listens to it, I can promise you that. It's like poetry, it's written for the ones writing it. They put their feelings, their views, their emotions into every lyric, every hook, every chorus, every beat, because it's THEIR song. As a listener you have no right to be upset about something that they wrote, sang, produced, and distributed. How would you like it if billions of people criticized everything that you loved to do? You wouldn't be able to handle it, so stop doing it to them, because it's not fair. It shouldn't matter the gender of the singer, or the lyrics of the song, just listen to the music and move on.
