Random Pop Thought of the Day, #2

Last month, I wrote about Katy Perry and her culture-appropriation tactics to promote Prism, specifically donning geisha garb for "Unconditionally" and affronting Muslims with an Allah pendant in the Egypt-themed "Dark Horse." Beneath under all that headline-making tomfoolery, however, is the plain fact the songs she's promoted for Prism grate on my nerves. The chorus of "Unconditionally" is a bane to my ears and I found "Dark Horse" tolerable until all the Egypt stuff started going on, and by then I was so done with the Katy Perry machine that I peaced out.

Now, let's talk about a pop song that's gotten me in a bit of a jam, in that I should dislike the song for its lyrical content, but damn it, every time it plays on the radio my roommate and I immediately start bouncing around to the beat.

I'm talking about Jason Derulo's "Talk Dirty."

The first time I heard this song was on the radio in my roommate's car as we were heading home from brunch at a German cafe. My roommate and I have always joked about how Jason Derulo never fails to say his own name somewhere in his song, and usually it's an autotuned sing-songy rendition of "Jasoooon Deruuuuloooo." Except in "Talk Dirty," a woman says his name prissily in heavily accented English at the beginning of the song.

Me: "Wait, is that supposed to be an Asian accent?"

*I'm still not sure what accent it's supposed to be, but there's a reason why I jumped to the conclusion that it was Asian. Back in the golden era of my physical fitness, aka middle school when I played tennis 2.5 hours x 7 days a week, there were two brothers who practiced at the same clinic I went to. Their mother played favorites, and it was very obvious even in the way she'd say their names. With the older brother, his name would usually come out in a ferocious bark. With the younger brother, it'd come out several notches higher in pitch and come out in a sugary, accented lilt: "Jaaaaasonnnn!"

Anyways, the rest of "Talk Dirty' goes on to talk about how Jason is an indiscriminate, international lover of women as sexual objects. If you sit down and actually read the lyrics, they're pretty... um, yeah.

Been around the world, don't speak the language
But your booty don't need explaining
All I really need to understand is
When you talk dirty to me

The rap verses featuring 2 Chainz has even more explicit degrading stuff, so yeah... go look it up yourself. But I do have to admit my ears perked up when I heard the word "Taiwan" in the lyrics. Holy pomelo, is this the first time Taiwan's been mentioned in a Billboard-topping song?

I know what the girl them want,
London to Taiwan
I got lipstick stamps on my passport
I think I need a new one

It's a little disappointing that this is the context of its first major appearance in the lyrical arena, but oh well. Anyways, the song concludes with that same accented maybe-Asian girl who giggles and goes, "Wat? I don undastand!"

So there you have it. The whole song is lyrically a mess. It falls into the usual trap of portraying ethnic women as exotic sexual commodities without a voice--in fact, it's clear that it doesn't matter if they can't be understood, because the only thing we care about is the fact that they can put out.

I should hate this song. But I don't, because THIS SONG IS SO DAMN CATCHY. That saxophone line at the end of each chorus? Whenever it plays on the radio, my roommate and I start dancing every single time.

Damn it Jason Derulo, why couldn't you sing about baby squirrels or doing laundry, or I dunno--something universally harmless--to this song instead?? Then I wouldn't be stuck with this moral/ethical quandary and wondering if I am morally obligated to skip your song on the radio.

ETA: Well, I found a suitable alternative thanks to some Google sleuthing. The melodic line of the saxophone was apparently sampled from "Hermetico" by Balkan Beat Box, so there we go--something I can listen to without feeling guilty:



A remix, I believe, that's also pretty catchy: