!!! howdy yall
I am still on a break from the ‘blog’ to focus on school, this is just an article I wrote earlier this year that I wanted to share.
Other updates - my acne is slowly calming down, Pretoria has been experiencing rain which is so YAASS, been listening to a lot of DEFTONES, feeling more like myself, excited to be almost done with formal learning through an institution because that means I can dedicate myself to learning what I want, when I want, feeling hopeful about my future and thinking of getting a Johnny Bravo tattoo (and in some ways Johnny Bravo is what Robin Thicke was, which is funny, silly and cool to me).
!!! Hope you are all well
PoP! goes the #SLEAZEBAG
The evolution of Robin Thicke's career despite being an eyesore, is one to take note of. He started his career being mentored by singer-songwriter, Brian Mcknight and managed to secure a record deal at the age of 16. And with his talent he went on to produce and/or write for the artists Brandy, Christina Aguillera and Michael Jackson to name a few.
Who would’ve thought that we would forever remember him as being a part of the ‘2014 Bible of Anarchy’?
Thicke placed a large importance on not having to negotiate on how his art is made, so he had decided to use his own funds to make his debut album and that way he could offer it to labels with a take it or leave it approach. This was a very bold choice to make in the beginning of one's career. I am not choosing to ignore the fact that his parents were both in the entertainment industry, it just has very little to do with what I am going to explore. The reality is the cards he was dealt, are better than most up and coming artists have to start off with, so he was placed on the path to success.
His debut album A Beautiful World (2003) underperformed but it helped get him noticed by artists Mary J. Blige, Usher, and Lil' Wayne whom after listening to the project had wanted to work with him.
Usher: "I was blown away — I thought Beatles, Earth Wind & Fire, Shuggie Otis, Marvin Gaye — all in one album. [Robin's] got a soul you can't buy, man”.
The Evolution of Robin Thicke (2006)
This is my personal favourite album from his discography and if I hypothetically were a cult leader :) , this album would be mandated for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Here we see a change in Thicke's aesthetic - dawning what I coined as the ‘Classic Josh Groban look’ with short hair and the signature black suit contrasting Thicke's early career appearance which felt more hippy/2000s carrier boy look, with the long shaggy hair and mute-toned clothing. I point out the aesthetics/packaging of artists because it plays a large role in how we as the public place these artists in our minds and hearts.
His soul sound was still in the beginning of its curation, and he had yet to perfect a distinct sound and showcase his angelic falsetto. I must commend the consistency of his music's subject matter, mainly songs written about ‘the chase’ involved in romance and his charming (or sleazebag) ways and littered within the bunch a couple songs about ‘the society we live in’.
This album did not give him immediate success but acted more as a slow burn. The single ‘Lost Without You’ was a notable banger and led him to platinum. Here I think he had perfected his sound and look and his albums to follow, he had chosen to stick with it. His following albums: Something else (2008), Sex therapy (2009) and Love after war (2011) were all R&B and Soul albums and they all performed reletavely well. He had gained respect among the black community and they welcomed him with open arms as their new ‘Blue-eye Soul’.
And finally the shit-show that was Blurred Lines (2013). The project as a whole is inconsistent, but the single Blurred Lines featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams peaked at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2013 and sold over 10 million copies and that is what skyrocketed his career. Robin Thicke became a household name but for all the wrong reasons. The controversy surrounding the music video and the VMA performance with Miley Cyrus is the only thing that we could talk about and many state that is what stunted his career, but forget that the single led to Thicke being sued by Marvin Gayes estate, because the song replicated Gaye’s “Got to Give It Up” which they (Gaye's estate) won.
[Side note, Give it 2 U ft Kendrick Lamar was easily the better single from the project and is still a song and video I return to often. As someone who is obviously not American but consumes a lot of their media, the video ties in a bow Americaness to me - shaking ass, playing sports and watching people shake ass in the intermissions of said sports]
The critiques of Blurred Lines were mainly due to the lyrical content of the song, especially in its chorus ‘I know you want it’ and at a time where the #MeToo movement was receiving a great (and deserved) amount of media attention. Many people (men) reactively came to his defence by pointing out songs written/sung by women that have the same premise in the hopes of absolving him of any and all guilt. Conversations on consent at the time were still premature and I find it even more disheartening that our conversations surrounding consent are still frozen in time.
Even if new discourse is made, songs of ‘cancellable’ nature continuously rise to the top of the charts. And never do we think to ask why. I assume that it is because people like to view themselves as more morally correct than they actually are. We care more about how our morals and ethics look if they were out on display for the whole world to see, but we still might guiltily consume the same content we claim to disdain. We treat symbols of progress as progress itself. If this weren’t the case the song wouldn’t have sold as many copies as it did, people would not continuously stream R Kelly and I would not have to see tweets about people's love for Chris Brown every other week.
I am neither a PR manager, nor play any role within the music industry but I truly believe his choice to leave his R&B roots in the pursuit of commercial success in Pop is what bit him in the ass. R&B artists (and arguably most genres with majority white listener bases) are allotted with a certain level of misogyny and any other bigotry for two reasons. Firstly the melodic components of the genre(s) soothe us and leave us docile, like babies with lullabies. Secondly, genres dominated by black people are still vilified and spoken about as ghetto, worldly and explicit even if Rock for example may have well loved songs and artists who yield just as much misogyny. And I believe that if Blurred Lines would have tried harder to be an R&B album, his cancellation would not have been as pronounced.
The commercial success of Blurred Lines led Thicke down a dark road, he became cocky, heavily misusing drugs and ruining his personal relationship with his wife and long-time muse, Paula, leading to their divorce. Paula (2014) was the worst piece of work he had put out. He had written it in a matter of a couple of weeks and recorded within a month - and it shows. The album is a mod-podge of emotions, from begging for forgiveness yet still playing the victim card, that he in hindsight also admits should’ve been dealt with privately. If Thicke had chosen to take his time and pour his heart into this album and return back to the R&B sound that he was previously known for he could've possibly saved his career and reputation.
After all, who doesn’t love a good R&B break up album ?