Rita Ora recently released the third single for her long awaited second album 'Girls', and not everyone is happy about it.
'Girls', which is a collaboration with Cardi B, Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX, is an ode to girls kissing girls, with a chorus that reads, "Sometimes I just wanna kiss girls/Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls". The song, which Ora has described as an "empowering anthem", seems to be as much a celebration of femininity in general as it is about actually falling in love with girls. "These past few years I've been so inspired by all the strong women I've seen who aren't afraid to be themselves. For those who aren’t afraid to rule the world, this is our anthem," she said. "And of course, thank you to all the fellow boss women who so kindly graced this song with me — each representing who they are and where they are from."
Despite Ora's words, however, it seems that not everyone has taken the song in the vein in which it was intended. Kehlani (aka the girl famous for attempting suicide) and Hayley Kiyoko (aka the girl from The Stunners who isn't Tinashe) both took to Twitter today to express their dissatisfaction with the song, with both artists appearing to think that the song set the LGBTQ community back by years.
In typical SJW fashion, Kehlani made a series of Tweets that were not only vague and incomprehensible but also pretentious and holier than thou.
"every artist on the song is fantastic, and very much loved and supported by me… by all of us. but this isn’t about talent. it’s about choice," she stated. When a follower pointed out that she'd written a similarly themed song called 'Distraction', she seemed to state that she was above criticism. "let’s get into it my love. i didn’t write distraction about needing a woman to be a distraction because i wouldn’t take a woman seriously because i am not queer. i wrote about wanting a distraction from my career, but not having enough time for a relationship. and don’t make this personal."
In a lengthy Twitter tirade, Kiyoko echoed Kehlani's statements in a similarly obnoxious tone.
QuoteIt’s important for us artists to use our platforms to move the cultural needle forward, not backwards. There is a new song that came out today featuring a handful of well-known pop artists that has me overwhelmed with thoughts. I literally have a knot in my stomach right now. To be clear, I fully support other artists who freely express themselves and applaud male and female artists who are opening up more and more about their sexual identities.
But ever so often there come certain song with messaging that is just downright tone-deaf, which does more harm than good for the LGBTQ+ community. A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women.
I know this wasn’t the intention of the artists on the song, but its the lack of consideration behind these lyrics that really get me. I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls; I’ve loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community. I feel I have a responsibility to protect that whenever possible.
We can and should do better.
As someone who was pretty against Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl', I have to say that for me the only offensive thing about 'Girls' is the quality of the lyrics. But what do you think? Check out the song and sound off below!
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