Part 2

The article I found about Rihanna, “Rihanna: ‘I don’t try to be controversial,’ Talk That Talk’ singer insists her racy videos aren’t merely about garnering headlines…” I found this on NME.com. We all know that Rihanna has a unique style of music and she definitely pushes the envelope with her music videos. All of her videos raise different questions because of what she includes in them. S&M was a video that raised the issue of too sexual and inappropriate, Man Down dealt with the issues of rape and gun control, and some of the other ones that talked about sex. In this article Rihanna defends herself and her music to explain that she isn’t trying to create problems just expressing herself. The article talks about the recent video ‘We Found Love’ and ‘Man Down’. Anti-rape campaigners were the ones who felt that these videos go against what they represent because in ‘Man Down’ it shows Rihanna shooting a man who raped her, ‘We Found Love’ had sex scenes and in one she is spanked by her male co-star. Rihanna doesn’t deny that she takes things too far but no matter what her videos are her art and she is still proud of them. She stated that, “I never do anything to get banned, never do it for controversy. It’s always just honest and at times I just go a little too far for some.” (nme.com). She goes on to say, “When I make a music video, it’s a piece of art. It’s four minutes to make a visual, for people to understand the message in the song.” (nme.com). Not everyone agrees with her expression and messages but it doesn’t matter because she is strong women and is trying to bring her music to life. Sexual behavior and portrayal is part of that expression. She is young, beautiful, talented and willing to make a statement.

Lady GaGa we hear that name and the first few things I know I think of is outrageous, unusual clothing style, ridiculous, very proud of her sexuality and most definitely a woman who makes a statement in more then just her music but in her everyday life. She never backs down from challenges and she most certainly doesn’t back down from the negative opinions of the world. I found an article “Lady GaGa’s Telephone rings fresh sex controversy,’ on entertainment.oneindia.in. It talks about her 2010 music video ‘Telephone,’ and the sexual content that takes place. The music video in an artistic way shows her private parts but in a ‘pixelated’ form, the article says which raised the up roar about why it was included in the video. GaGa defended her video by saying, “The idea is that it’s an unanswered question. You kind of see whatever it is you see personally. Whether people think I was naked or think otherwise, it’s meant to be subjective to whoever is watching it. It’s pixelated for that reason but it’s interesting to see the different ways people view it.” (entertainment.oneindia.in). GaGa is not afraid to make her statement and bring her music to life, the songs become more then just lyrics that we memorize but they become a story, not always with a moral, but in a strange way the videos do make sense, I don’t always think so but the audience does. People complain that GaGa is too sexual in her music videos, lyrics always referring back to sexual content, body parts, sexual activities and more. GaGa is a woman with stories to tell and she does that in a very unique, outlandish way.

Female musicians aren’t trying to be sex objects they are trying to express themselves in which ever way they see fit. Its about creating visuals to tell a story for the audience to enjoy. Each story has a meaning to the artist and that is for people to interpret in their own way. Female musicians want to show their strength, talent, power, and ability to express themselves in their own way not in what everyone else thinks they should show. In the article ““Dirrty” Discourse: The Politics of Gender Representation in Popular Music” by Lesley Robinson, she talks about Christina Aguilera’s music video “Dirrty” and the latent meanings behind her story telling. If you haven’t seen the music video it is a terrible video that makes no sense because all it is sexual dancing that’s it but when you listen to the lyrics that’s just the point. But, like other female artists would say its story telling and art. In the article Robinson says, “Of most relevance to Christina Aguilera’s video is Sarah Projansky’s definition of “sex-positive postfeminism” which “embraces a feminism focused on individuality, independence and women’s ‘choice’ to engage in heterosexually attractive bodily display.” (Robinson 2004). This quote basically sums everything up that I have been trying to say, female musicians like Rihanna, Britney Spears, Lady GaGa and Christina Aguilera, are strong women who are bringing their music to life by creating stories, visuals and expressing their sexuality. Although, some are taken too far, its still the basic need to express themselves. They are proud to be women who are beautiful, talented, powerful and think of their bodies as something worth showing off to their audience. Whether we judge them for looking like ‘whores’ because of what they are doing or if we view them as artists expressing themselves, we are living up to the expectations set up by the artist, and that is to interpret their videos as what we see fit. Its all about a personal experience with the artist, trying to understand their story, which isn’t always possible, but it is something we all try to do. I don’t always grasp their concepts because things just don’t make sense but I understand that they are powerful women who aren’t afraid to push the envelope in a culture that frowns upon that type of behavior being so open for us to see.

Zoonen, L. V. (1994). A 'new' paradigm?. In D. McQuail (Ed.), McQuail's Reader in Mass Communication Theory (pp. 46-59). L: SAGE Publications.

Robinson, L. (2004). Dirrty discourse: the politics of gender representation in popular music. Mediations, 1, 45-52.

Garvey, M. (2011, October 18). Britney spears' controversial "criminal" video--how steamy is it?. Retrieved from http://www.eonline.com/news/britney_spears_controversial_criminal/270062

Rihanna: 'i don't try to be controversial'. (2012, April 4). Retrieved from http://www.nme.com/news/rihanna/63052.

Lady gaga's telephone rings fresh sex controversy. (2010, March 23). Retrieved from http://entertainment.oneindia.in/music/international/2010/gaga-telephone-controversy-230310.html.