Pharrell has condemned his 2013 tune “Blurred Lines” alongside Robin Thicke, admitting that his songs catered to a chauvinist society.
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In a candid interview with GQ centred around modern masculinity and blurred gender identities, Pharrell admitted that he regretted some of his past tunes. “Some of my old songs, I would never write or sing today. I get embarrassed by some of that stuff. It just took a lot of time and growth to get to that place.”
Pharrell admits that, initially, he didn’t understand the backlash to the ARIA and Billboard no. 1, “because there were older white women who, when that song came on, they would behave in some of the most surprising ways ever.
“And I would be like, wow. They would have me blushing.”
“So when there started to be an issue with it, lyrically,” he continues, “I was, like, What are you talking about? There are women who really like the song and connect to the energy that just gets you up. And I know you want it—women sing those kinds of lyrics all the time. So it’s like, What’s rapey about that?”
Pharrell then began to realise that there were men using the same language with similar sentiments to the lyrics in “Blurred Lines” to take advantage of women.
“My mind opened up to what was actually being said in the song and how it could make someone feel. Even though it wasn’t the majority, it didn’t matter. I cared what they were feeling too. I [realised] that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. Hadn’t [realised] that. Didn’t [realise] that some of my songs catered to that.
“So that blew my mind.”
I reckon Pharrell’s condemnation sets a precedent for other male artists to come forward with their own problematic tunes from the past. After all, if we aren’t critical of our past choices and creations, how can we learn for the future?
Source: GQ
