non-troversy

Okay, Not Everyone Loved Lily Allen’s New Video

Lily Allen’s industry-mocking comeback song/video “Hard Out Here” did not manage to please all corners of the Internet. Chief objections include the line “I won’t be braggin’ ‘bout my cars or talkin’ bout my chains/Don’t need to shake my ass for you because I’ve got a brain”; critics say it uses racially coded status symbols to critique conspicuous consumption (a.k.a. the Lorde thing) while suggesting women can’t dance and be smart at the same time. Also unpopular was Allen’s use of twerking, Champagne-bathing, mostly black backup dancers, which some argue did more to reinforce Miley Cyrus’s “minstrel show” than comment on it.

Today Allen responded to critics in a Twitlonger titled “Privilege, Superiority and Misconceptions.” Allen explained that she was sadly too insecure to satirically twerk in her video, owing to a lack of dance skills and an abundance of cellulite. (The non-satirical injustice of this insecurity is the main theme of “Hard Out Here.”) “The video is meant to be a lighthearted satirical video that deals with objectification of women within modern pop culture,” she wrote. “It has nothing to do with race, at all.” A fine response, if a little myopic, as most people thinking about objectification believe the race and gender issues therein are inextricable. As of press time, the “Lily Allen Has a Saggy Pussy” balloons were still unanimously beloved.

Okay, Not Everyone Loved Lily Allen’s New Video