(AllHipHop News) Pharrell Williams is “embarrassed” by his Robin Thicke collaboration “Blurred Lines” after being forced to recognize the lyrics of the track are disrespectful towards women.
As a result, he’s now more sensitive about promoting harmful messages in his songs.
“I was also born in a different era, where the rules of the matrix at that time allowed a lot of things that would never fly today,” he told GQ for November’s New Masculinity issue. “Advertisements that objectify women. Song content. Some of my old songs, I would never write or sing today. I get embarrassed by some of that stuff. It just took a lot of time and growth to get to that place.”
When asked if the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment changed his views on the subject, Williams explained his viewpoints had already shifted.
“I think Blurred Lines’ opened me up,” he explained. “I didn’t get it at first. Because there were older white women who, when that song came on, they would behave in some of the most surprising ways ever. And I would be like, ‘Wow!’ They would have me blushing. So when there started to be an issue with it, lyrically, I was, like, ‘What are you talking about? There are women who really like the song and connect to the energy that just gets you up. And I know you want it – women sing those kinds of lyrics all the time’. So it’s like, ‘What’s r#### about that?'”
But the “Happy” hitmaker had to confront the harmful messages the song promoted.
“I realized that there are men who use that same language when taking advantage of a woman, and it doesn’t matter that that’s not my behavior or the way I think about things. It just matters how it affects women. And I was like, ‘Got it. I get it. Cool’,” he added.
