Blurred Lines is a song recorded by Canadian-American R&B recording artist Robin Thicke for his 2013 album of the same name. The song features guest vocals from American rapper T.I. and American singer and producer Pharrell. The single
has peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, as well as topping the Billboard R&B Songs chart. It has also become Thicke's most successful song on the Billboard Hot 100, being his first to reach number one. The song
has been a worldwide hit, topping the charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the United Kingdom.
The music video was released on March 20, 2013, and was made in two versions; the first video
features models Emily Ratajkowski, Jessi M'Bengue, and Elle Evans being topless, the second features them covered. The topless version of the video was removed from YouTube on March 30, 2013, for violating the site's terms of service regarding nudity,
though it was later restored, but flagged as restricted to adults.
Critics such as Tricia Romano of The Daily Beast suggested that the song and the music video trivialize sexual consent. She charges that many female fans were uncomfortable with
both the song and the video. Her article quoted feminists who interpreted the song's message as being promotion of rape culture because the title Blurred Lines and portions of the lyrics like I know you want it encourage the idea no doesn't
always mean no and that some women who are raped are asking for it. Criticism was also leveled at the song's video, which has been labelled eye-poppingly misogynist . Thicke said that the Diane Martel--directed video was tongue-in-cheek.
Update: And now the parody
3rd September 2013. See article
from sofeminine.co.uk
See Defined Lines video from YouTube
Three Auckland law students have made a parody version of Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines . The parody replaces the topless female models with topless men and changes the lyrics to voice their frustration at the claimed sexualisation and
subjection of women in the original. Example lines from Adelaide Dunn, Olivia Lubbock and Zoe Ellwood are: We're feeling the frustration, from all the exploitation...what you see on TV, doesn't speak equality, it's straight up misogyny.
The
well made tongue-in-cheek satire, entitled Defined Lines , immediately went viral, but the irony of the message was clearly lost on some, as it was removed by YouTube after being reported for indecency and featuring inappropriate content. It was
later restored.
Its got a fair way to go to overhaul the original though, that has now racked up 17 million views.
