What the women of NYU think about Pharrell coming to Tisch
‘Pharrell Williams is a fake who devalues the bodies of women’
Today NYU announced Pharrell is going to be Tisch’s 2015 Artist-in-Residence and speaking next week at Clive Davis.
After Pharrell’s smash hit Blurred Lines was accused of advocating rape culture at NYU, we caught up with three female students to see what they thought.
Meet MCC senior Grace Plihal, content manager for a news publication, Nursing sophomore Tyla Leach and LSP freshman Lina Wu – a member of the NYU Feminist Society.
What do you think about the song Blurred Lines?
Grace: I think Blurred Lines is a very catchy, very problematic song. I don’t like the message behind it and I don’t like the music video. I think both Pharrell and Robin Thicke are more creative and better than that song, and it disappoints me it exists.
Lina: Personally I think it’s a terrible song that merely implements rape culture. It makes it appear as if a woman doesn’t have the right to make her own decisions.
Tyla: UGH! I hate that song.
Tyla Leach
Why do you hate it?
Tyla: It’s just another one of those songs that perpetuates rape culture and it’s so mainstream people don’t even realize it. I’ve had men at my job say it shouldn’t be considered rape if a girl is drunk, and stuff like that both scares and irritates me. Hearing them say over and over again “I know you want it” like… it’s just really sad the way taking advantage of a drunk girl is something SO many people don’t see an issue with.
Does it frustrate you to hear the song was number one in the US for 12 weeks and that it was the best selling song in 2013?
Lina: Definitely. It frustrates me people don’t appear to hear how dangerous the message of the song is. And somehow male musicians are constantly forgiven for being misogynistic in their music.
Lina Wu
What is your opinion on Pharrell as an artist?
Grace: I really respected and liked him during his N.E.R.D. days, but now he seems to have sold out. I mean I still respect him for his earlier work and I still think of him as a great producer. I just don’t like his new stuff all that much.
Tyla: I love Pharrell, I love his music, I love him as an artist and I’m excited to see him come to NYU, but I also would really like if they acknowledged how fucked up that song actually was.
Lina: Sure his music is catchy, but I don’t personally like him. I don’t appreciate how he tried to ride the feminist wave for his own benefit. He wasn’t a feminist until he was called out for being a misogynist in Blurred Lines. I don’t appreciate him demonizing Mike Brown, and later turning around to do a soulful performance on Black Lives Matter at the Grammys.
Grace Plihal
Do you think NYU is sending a bad message to female students by making him a guest artist teaching at Tisch after he released such a problematic song?
Grace: I don’t think him being a guest artist is sending a bad message to female students. Blurred Lines”shouldn’t overshadow all the great things he’s done with his career. However he needs to address it at the Q&A.
Lina: Certainly. Pharrell Williams is a fake who devalues the bodies of women and others only to turn around and become a member of the movement for his own benefit.
Tyla: I honestly never really saw Blurred Lines as Pharrell’s song, I actually always associated it with Robin Thicke. But I do think it says something that neither of them were asked to even address the issues found in the song. I’m not necessarily upset he’s coming to NYU because I think he is one of the most influential artists of our time and he’s a black man which is dope, but I hope someone pushes him to think about what that song meant and the implications it could have on a college campus.