Saturday 18 January 2014

My thoughts: Music and the media

So I feel like this needed to be said. Please note that this is my opinion on the subject and so I don’t apologise for the language I have used or the lyrics that I have quoted. I have done so to make a point and those who know me, know that I don’t beat people round the bush so to speak.

Am a tad fed up of people in the media thinking they can just go ahead and sing about how they treat girls and just coming straight out with it. The person who has wound me up a fair bit recently is Robin Thicke. I wish I could find the reference but hearing from the media that he thinks girls are just there to be treated like crap or words to that affect shocked me. Young girls who hear this, what are they going to think? How many of these girls are likely to have watched his and Miley Cyrus performance at the MTV awards? How many of these girls as a result of this are going to think that that is the right way to act? The right way to behave? By these celebrities portraying sex as some sort of toy, something that is fashionable, they are giving young teenage girls the view that this is ok, that this is how a girl should be treated. Heard of the whole thing about society sexualising young teens? That is exactly what is happening! What happened to celebrities who were role models but were role models not from dancing half naked on stage?!

It’s amazing also what is in some of the songs we sing! I listened to Notorious BIG ‘nasty girl’ feat. P.Diddy and some other artists and after having a look at the video thought I would read through the lyrics as I thought there was something more to do it, something more abnormal about the song. Just to clarify I wanted to listen to some songs that I used to hear on the tv a bit as a child/young teenage. Back to where I was, I was wrong, this is normal in the media. Some of the lines in the song ‘sex is all I expect’ and ‘fingers in your mouth, open up your blouse’. These are just a couple of the lines that disgusted me. The language in the song, no wonder they are rapping it! The artists probably don’t want you to know what they are saying! Some of the lines in that song are even more vulgar for example ‘when I’m done flip the mattress change the sheet’ and that’s not even the worst of it! Why would you want a young teenager to hear that? To hear that that behaviour is ok? To ask their friends about it to then find out the other stuff that they probably should not know till they are in her late teens at the earliest!

Robin Thicke as I have already mentioned is no better! Just reading through the lyrics to his ‘blurred lines’ song (I refuse to listen to it!), I should be shocked by the content of the song but after listening to the song ‘nasty girl’ as I have talked about above, I’m really not shocked! As I have mentioned before, this is the same guy who obviously does not realise that girls are actually HUMAN and not animals as he implies in the line ‘Ok now he was close, tried to domesticate you but you’re an animal, baby it’s in your nature.’ Someone tell me how that is meant to make a girl feel valued? According to google domesticate means ‘tame (an animal) and keep it as a pet or on a farm.’ I bet you didn’t know that! I ask you again, how is that meant to make a girl feel valued? To feel respected? What example is that giving to a young guy? Is this how he is meant to treat a girl? No but he has been taught no better by the media! In recent years I have noticed a rise in the adverts appealing directly to teenagers saying about abuse in relationships and what it is and that it should not be accepted. I’ve seen it, on tv, on posters in the community. They’re there. And I’m no expert but I bet you that part of the reason these campaigns are being run is as a result of the affect the media has on this and younger generations! And these artists are just two examples and there is a wide variety from which I could have chosen to use!

The media is a young person’s biggest influence. Look around you, it’s everywhere! People have to be connected, young people have it on their phones, it’s on TV’s, newsstands, you cannot get away from it! However it is up to YOU whether you choose to listen to the media or not. It’s like when you go to a bar, there are people around you drinking, yes you have to have A LOT of determination not to drink sometimes depending on who you are but there are alternatives. There’s a pub I go too where if my friends are having cocktails then I will often have a non-alcoholic cocktail. This helps me not to feel left out when they are drinking! You can do the same with music!

Anyway my point is basically there is music out there that is positive, however it is often not in the charts, sometimes it is but half the time the reason is because it doesn’t sell. Songs about drugs, sex, alcohol, and generally having a ‘good time’ sell and so as a result are more widespread amongst our generation. Basically as I said, there is positive music out there, it’s just up to YOU to find it. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Christian or not. Yes there is a lot of Christian rap, rock and so on that is positive however there is also a fair bit of secular music that has a positive vibe to it.

I leave you with this question. Do you really want to listen to music that portrays drugs, sex, alcohol in the lyrics? Lyrics that are often quite vulgar? Do you really want to be influenced by this?


If you didn’t get anything out of reading this then please at least think about what you are listening to, the message it is portraying and the influence it is having to you. If it is having a negative impact on you then it’s up to YOU to do something about it.