AKB48 x Robin Thicke - Blurred Lines (My opinion)

Hey everyone!!

I know this post might be very personal to some people and some people will agree or disagree with what I have to write in this post. However, this is just me stating my opinion so don't take me too seriously. I know this blog post will be touching on a sensitive subject but I will try my best to write about it maturely.

So I was checking through my facebook to see if there was anything interesting posted, and most of the time there isn't, but this time I came across a video that really made me very curious. Uploaded onto the universalmusicjapan youtube channel was Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines, but the music video had been re-shooted to guest star Oshima Yuko and Kojima Haruna from AKB48.

Now this summer I have lost count of the number of stories in the media (mainly US) about rape cases. Most of these articles have showcased how society has jumped to the conclusion that these victims were actually the ones who initiated the rape. For example, a young girl had participated in a flirtation with a teacher, of who raped her later on when she was still underage. And due to the horrific incident, unfortunately the poor girl then committed suicide. Sickeningly, even after her death, her rapist only received 31 days in prison and the judge accused the girl of acting older than she was to get the teacher to rape her. Basically he accused her of initiating the rape, and when I reas the story it left a sickening taste in my mouth.

Also, this summer Robin Thicke released his song called Blurred Lines in which many people have read the lyrics and assumed he has been encouraging rape. The music video I agree does degrade women, and the lyrics also do the same thing, but to be definite that it's about rape I cannot really agree or disagree. In the music industry these days I think women do get objectified a lot in music videos and as much as I wish it stopped, unfortunately I don't think it will do anytime.

Now some people have been very negative about Thicke's collaboration with AKB48, and I don't blame them. However do we really need to be shocked? We do remember that AKB48 are idols, and being the most popular idol group in Japan they haven't exactly done a great job in not objectifying themselves. Many of their fans are males wota and many of their commercials, music videos and photobooks, as beautiful as the girls are, have showcased the members as eye candy for the male wotas. Even before this collab, AKB48 have objectified themselves anyway and have caused their own controversies such as their commercial when they were passing a sweet between their mouths and many people didn't think it encouraged a positive image.

Now I do not support rape or rape culture in the slightest and I have been close to this kind of situation before and it is a scary experience and I do want to encourage this to happen to any woman or man. And as much as I dislike Blurred Lines for objectifying women in a degrading manner, why am I not surprised that AKB48 have decided to collab? Blurred Lines has been a hit this summer and AKB48 have of course jumped onto his fame to collab with him and make people want to be interested into AKB48 for performing with a popular American singer. They are the most popular group in Japan and of course they will really do anything to gain and maintain their mass popularity. I am not saying that AKB48 are sellouts, in fact I love some of their songs and I am proud of their popularity. All I am stating is that AKB48 have done risky things to promote themselves before so I'm not surprised that they collaborated with Robin Thicke.

 However, there is a part of me that feels bad for Yuko and Kojima, that they are participating in a video that objectifies women and makes these two girls look like silly little fangirls that would make themselves vulnerable for the all amazing Mr. Thicke (heavy sarcasm used). Who knows if they knew the true meaning of the song by reading the English lyrics and understood what they meant? However, even if they did know the meaning of the song or not, it's sad that management has decided to use these two girls to jump onto the bandwagon that is the fame of Blurred Lines and risk the chances of people not being able to take these two girls seriously as idols. I love idol music and I know this industry has been portrayed in a negative light, and I do agree with some faults but I don't want those faults to dissuade people from listening to their amazing music and avoid idols in general. Being a fan of idols for a long time they have made me a very happy person with their infectious personalities and music.

There could have been a lot more American artists they could have collaborated with, but what made them pick Robin Thicke remains a mystery to me.

Some people will be a bit saddened that AKB48 are supporting an artist that is accused of supporting rape. However, I am just a little disappointed that once again AKB48 and their management have allowed these girls to be objectified yet again.

What do you guys think about this? Do you think this is an overreaction to this collaboration? Or do you think there is something to be taken seriously here?

I apologize that this isn't a normal music review, but I just wanted to quickly blog about this to get it out of my mind.