Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Why Britney Spears' and Rihanna's "S&M" is the worst guilty pleasure ever


Beyond the obvious, the new collaboration from Britney Spears and Rihanna is a catchy tune. Now that I'm driving 6 hours in the car for work per week, I'm more liberal about what radio stations catch my attention, and I heard the new "S&M" on a top 40 station yesterday.

I am no prude when it comes to enjoying a good pop tune, but I just keep thinking, "I feel so badly for parents!" How does a parent deal with this?



People have been singing about sex for decades, from "rock with me all night long" to Britney's "I'm a Slave 4 U." But at least in those songs, you could easily tell a child that they were referring to dancing or something. I think what puts me on edge about this song is how specific it is.

Whips and chains? Geez, it's not sugar coated at all, is it? It's not poetic at all. I think that's what's missing, artistry.

Parents, how would you/how are you handling this type of thing? It's not like you can keep these tracks away from children when it's all over the place?

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting question, Jamie. I just hope that I can instill in my daughters a love of music by playing guitar in our living room and encouraging them to feel comfortable expressing themselves through (toy) pianos and dancing up a storm. When I hear crap like this on the radio, I just turn it off. Inevitably, they'll eventually be exposed to this kind of thing, though. I think the best medicine is encouraging a musical lifestyle and showing your kids music you love and why it matters to you. I still listen to tons of the old stuff my folks used to listen to. Sure I expanded my tastes, and listened to some pretty raunchy stuff. For example, I still listen to Blood Sugar Sex Magik; there's a ton of explicit lyrics in there. It's all about finding the right context for things, I guess.

Anonymous said...

Honesty is the key... I'll explain to my kids that the music industry is just marketing and totally not for real. Also rhianna getting beat up my her boyfriend and Britney'd turn from Christianity's (i wont have sex until I'm married) sweetheart to the mess that she is today offers a lot of opportunities to talk about the reality of sex and relationships...etc. I think along as you talk about it rather than ignore it you'll be OK. its denial thats the killer. Then the media is raising your kids.

Jamie: said...

I guess the question of "why do Britney and Rihanna like whips and chains?" is a great opportunity to discuss the "where did I come from?" question :)

Anonymous said...

The answer is, they don't. They're just trying to act cool.

Jamie: said...

"But why are whips and chains cool?" says the curious child?

(This is more what I'm getting at.)

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