“Blurred Lines” – Frumpy Cat #3

Robin Thicke

I can’t help but play Robin Thicke’s runaway single “Blurred Lines” (featuring Pharrell Williams and T.I.) at least once every other day. I must say though that I don’t listen to the radio and rarely go out and so I’m sure that my tolerance for over-played A-sides is skewed. In any event the single has enjoyed at least seven weeks at the top of the Billboards and countless bands (including the awful, awful Fun.) have covered the song.

On top of its unabashed catchiness the song, or rather the music video for the song, propelled Thicke back into the pop limelight. Why? It is absurdly sexist, with a major emphasis on absurd. In the uncensored version Thicke, Pharrell and T.I. are paraded around by three topless models who make seemingly random use of stage props including an antique bicycle, over-sized dice, an RC car and a foam pointer finger. Oh, there’s also a live goat. The presence of animals (one is indeed dead and stuffed), bales of hay and Pharrell dressed like an H&M farmer, not to mention lyrics like “Ok, now he was close / Tried to domesticate you. / But you’re an animal / Baby, it’s in your nature.” was enough to get every feminist out of bed some weeks ago with a strong sense of importance. I really can’t say as I blame them…

But Thicke didn’t stop there. The song’s lyrics have been dubbed “rapey” what with his refrain of “You know you want it.” One feels as though they need to remind him that no means no and the absence of no does not mean yes. In the video Thicke virtually dryhumps the models, Emily Ratajowski being his favorite.

Aside: 21-year-old model Emily Ratajkowski is absolutely gorgeous. She was also part of the cast of Nickelodeon’s iCarly. Part of me feels as though I should avert my eyes…

What makes things even more ridiculous is that Robin Thicke has tried to defend “Blurred Lines,” referring to it as a “feminist” song. When you’re blowing cigarette smoke in a half-nude model’s face seconds away from singing “You the hottest bitch in this place!” it’s going to be a hard sell. BUT, that doesn’t mean the song isn’t super catchy.

Powee the Frumpy Cat is particularly fond of “Blurred Lines,” despite its blatant sexism. She normally has feminist leanings as she views herself as an independent woman even though she has never worked a day in her life and uses her pep-pep as a sugar daddy. That being said Powee is also a nudist who has been trying to make it as a model and she was encouraged by Thicke’s reluctance to “domesticate” a woman because she regularly refers to herself as a “tiger,” and a man can’t put a leash on a tiger.

When she heard that Robin Thicke was casting nude models for his new “Blurred Lines” video Powee immediately contacted her agent, updated her résumé and had some tasteful nude shots taken at JC Penney, though they had to be airbrushed by a friend. Weeks went by without word and although she called Thicke’s “people,” her phone calls were never returned. When the video aired she was incensed; not because of Thicke’s objectification of women, but rather the fact that she was never offered an audition. She suspects that she wasn’t hired for the position for one of two reasons: 1) bestial discrimination, or 2) failure to hire based on her weight, or her bizarre coloration. She may or may not be pursuing an Employment Practices Liability lawsuit against Thicke and Interscope Records.

“What rhymes with ‘hug me’?”