Friday afternoon my best friend and I are driving to the gym to “get it in,” believe me at forty-three years old, mentioning this is not only noteworthy, it’s motivational and I can feel the virtual pat on the back from you all that’s needed for me to continue walking through those gym doors!! So we’re in the car we’re listening to the radio, Hot 97., NY premiere Hip Hop station, because we’re super hip older ladies and enjoy this and various other genres of music. Anyway, a song comes on with a great beat and after listening to the rapper in this collaboration, we realize exactly what the chorus “I beat it, beat it up … ” meant.
What in the world happened to good music? I’m trying very hard not to sound like my parents did over twenty years ago, but c’mon, when songs like this are put out and the reference is this sexually explicit, then what’s next? Instructions?
The idea of my thirteen-year-old being at a party and dancing to song like this really upsets me. I mean, teaching my daughter everyday that she’s valuable and adds value to everything and everyone she meets is easy; combating the negativity and sexually charged lyrics in today’s music however, is not.
It’s disturbing, and I said as much to my bestie. What resonates most about this conversation was the reference I made; “What happened to good music? We went from songs like Whitney Houston’s “I Just Want To Dance With Somebody,” to Chris Brown’s “I Just Want To See You Strip?” And so the conversation continued and coming up with a list of current singing superstars who actually put out songs about love and respect and anything fun that didn’t have anything to do with objectifying and or diminishing women to nothing more than toys, was hard and the list was short. The conversation tapered off and coming up with a dinner menu that included a bottle, or two, of Laurent Perrier Cuvee Rose, was next on the agenda, but my thoughts lingered on. The following evening, Whitney Houston was dead.
I, like millions of others, was devastated when I learned of Whitney Houston’s death. The circumstances, the whys, the speculations, and the ridicule will not bring back the Whitney we’re hearing all over the radio, or the Whitney we’re all mourning today. No, that Whitney died a long time ago. Her music lives on and, in my opinion, no other songstress is comparable. It is my hope that her millions of fans will learn something from her death; that people who struggle with addiction find the help they need and the outpouring of love for this phenomenal woman also extends to her daughter in her time of need.
