I know the majority of you guys might classify me as a G but actually I am quite the sensitive man. In fact, I am a big fan of cuddling & candle light. This also spills into the music I listen to. Sure, I enjoy the barks of a young DMX or the verbal threats of a pre-'Massacre' 50 Cent more than the next person. However, R&B is still prevalent on my mp3 player, for those times I need to get in touch w/ my inner-softee.
While I've been loving a few albums that the genre has produced recently (Bruno Mars, Cee-Lo, Dirty Money), my favorite song of the moment is Miguel's 'Sure Thing'. If you've seen my TV show recently, you've noticed I've given the video a few spins. If you haven't seen it, here it is for your viewing pleasure.
Beautiful song. Great melody. Just an overall treat. However, the very first line muttered by Miguel has raised some questions about the song's message & the singer's sexuality. In a song that I assumed to be written for a woman, he states that he loves her like a brother. When I first heard this line, I did make a screw face. It just seems like an odd thing to say to a female. Not that I'm a pimp by any means but I've had my share of experiences w/ women & never once did I feel the urge to tell one that I loved her like a brother. It sure seems like 'love you like a sister' would be more appropriate.
Which leads me to this: what if the song WASN'T written for a woman? If you browse the comments on YouTube, you'll find no lack of people investing their time & energy into this topic. But does it matter? I'm not gonna sit here on my high horse & say that if I knew a male R&B singer wrote a love song for another man that it doesn't play a factor into whether I'd enjoy the song or not. I don't classify myself as homophobic but I might not give the song the appropriate number of spins it deserves. When there were questions raised about the real message about John Legend's 'She Don't Have To Know', I found myself skipping the song frequently. As a society, should we be at a place where the listener's love (or overall quality) of the song trumps the artist or writer's intent, even if it has homosexual undertones?
Only Miguel knows what he meant when he said he'll 'love you like a brother'. And at this point, who cares? Not I. The song is getting heavy rotation in the GeeQue household. How about in yours?
No comments:
Post a Comment