Date Rape Anthem: Britney Spears’ “Blur”
[youtube:v=EkQuty2Z3Fw]
Date Rape Anthem: Britney Spears' "Blur"
Relevant Lyrics:
Who are you? What'd we do, last night?
Hey, yeah, yeah
Who are you? What'd we do, last night?
Hey, yeah, yeahCan't remember what I did last night
Maybe I shouldn't have given in
But I just couldn't fight
Hope I didn't but I think I might've
Everything, everything is still a blur
Why It's So Rapey: I feel bad bringing Britney into this. I really do. After all, Spears didn't even write this track: this date rape joint is the product of three songwriters—Marcella Araiac, Stacy Barth, and Nathanial Hills—who are responsible for putting the words in the victim's mouth.
Reviews have been mixed:
" Sometimes it’s forgettable, sometimes it’s downright weird—as on “Blur,” which lays out a date-rape scenario and then leaves it hanging there. By refusing to be either regretful or angry, it’s more disturbing than any Tori Amos song." — Jack Feerick, Popdose
"Best of all is Blur, a dark, Danja-produced track. Some have suggested it's about date rape, and while that's debatable, it's still a deeply unsettling song . . . It's a sobering counterpoint to the fluff that makes up much of the album, and tellingly, it's where Britney sounds most at home." -– Nick Bond, Perth City Search (okay, a positive take was hard to find).
So Feerick doesn't really believe the rape scenario. At the very least, he argues that the song makes Britney out to be a bad victim of sexual assault—isn't it irresponsible for her to feel nothing about this "blur"? Bond's glowing recommendation, on the other hand, suggests that Brit-Brit is great at playing the victim—she even sounds "at home" in the territory.
The song sucks, but it does raise an interesting point about narratives of date rape in the media. How creepy is it that Spears, who seems to have little artistic control over her own career and did not chip in at all on this song, is asked to lend her AutoTune talents to a date rape themed track with a hook that repeats, out of laziness or sheer insensitivity, "yeah, yeah . . . yeah, yeah"?
For that matter, how many song, film, and television representations of date rape are actually written and performed by victims of the crime (or people who take any effort to understand it)? How many are just guessing, leaving it to the victim performer to "play the victim" well enough to turn the song a "sobering counterpart" instead of just "downright weird"?
8:11 am
this track is hot even with the "date rape" theme
6:23 am
Well I don't think it's at all about date rape.
Sadly I can relate to the scenario presented in the song. There were times I went out drinking, and woke up the next day hungover and regretful for getting busy with someone when I shouldn't have.
7:53 pm
I like this song!
8:09 pm
Um, the song is quite obviously not about date rape. If it was, the victim wouldn't be saying 'yeah, yeah, yeah'. I don't think that's the idea the producers were going for at all. It is quite simply about a hook up that shouldn't have happened, perhaps with an ex, or something else that isn't allowed - perhaps someone's husband. What a stupid article.
5:10 am
wtf?? 0_o
Did a monkey write this article?
Date rape? Its about drinking too much, hooking up with a guy and not remembering what happened the next morning. A relateable anthem of every girl (or guy) at one point or another.
4:48 pm
Yeah, that was some dumb article.
6:39 pm
It seems all the ignorant comments are coming from men. Interesting. If you read the lyrics, it's clearly a scenario that is all too common among date rape and rape by intoxication cases. If someone puts something into your drink, deliberately gets you so drunk to the point where you can't legally consent to sex or can't remember having sex, whether it's your boyfriend, your friend, someone you just met at the club/bar or even a complete stranger for that matter, THIS IS THE VERY DEFINITION OF DATE RAPE and RAPE BY INTOXICATION, and at the end of the day what you all need to know here is rape is rape is rape. It's no wonder victims remain silent and these crimes go unreported, look at the responses to this post. The victim in lots of cases often fears for their life and will say "yeah yeah yeah" because they are scared or drugged or has had too much alcohol interfering with all of their faculties. Get educated!!!!