The song ‘WAP’ does not deserve the fawning plaudits? (NSFW)

[Redolent]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=hsm4poTWjMs

WAP by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. Stands for Wet Ass Pussy. That’s all what the whole song is about. Consensus seems to be that’s it a great anthem about female sexual empowerment. The New York Times: “An event record that transcends the event itself.” The Los Angeles Times: “A savage, nasty, sex-positive triumph.” For the high-brow publication Pitchfork, Cardi/Megan ‘center themselves as women in order to freely celebrate their coveted power, sex appeal, and A1 WAP.’

Sample lyrics:

“ I wanna gag, I wanna choke/I want you to touch that little dangly thing that swing in the back of my throat.”

“ “Gobble me, swallow me/Drip down inside of me/Quick jump out ’fore you let it get inside of me,”

Rest here: genius.com/Cardi-b-wap-lyrics

——

To me think the crassness of the song is so boring. I’m not outraged or aghast. I just don’t think it’s sexy in the slightest (others clearly disagree). The song talks about pussies so much they may as well be rapping about a pair of shoes. But I cannot seriously accept that this is video and song are anthem of liberating empowerment, with its pole dancing, strip club visuals and sexual cliches. Listen to the song all you want but let’s pretend these are role models.

That's nice. What's your AIBU?

Let’s not forget the classic use / exploitation for these music videos.

@Redolent

Let’s not forget the classic use / exploitation for these music videos.

*of big cats

Easy way to check if something is empowering: are the people actually in power doing it?

It’s a song. Some think it’s empowering for a woman to be able to sing freely and openly about sex, others think it crass.

Don’t like a song? Don’t listen to it.

It bothers me that so many songs sung by men are about sex or their genitalia, and no one bats an eyelid, but women do it and it’s suddenly a problem.

Seems to me that this is a song by twats and for twats.

I agree with you. I watched it after I read an article in the The Guardian praising it. I just Did not relate to it at all. I don’t want my husband to watch that and want me to act like that to turn him on. The bringing of porn into mainstream makes me feel uncomfortable.

@JustanAunt

It’s a song. Some think it’s empowering for a woman to be able to sing freely and openly about sex, others think it crass.

Don’t like a song? Don’t listen to it.

It bothers me that so many songs sung by men are about sex or their genitalia, and no one bats an eyelid, but women do it and it’s suddenly a problem.

I don’t think those songs by men are presenting a profound message about sexual autonomy though. Nobody is claiming as such. They’re just guys rapping about their dicks, and it’s the lowest form of musical content.

Such as all music OP, not everyone likes this type of music, or theme. It’s no biggie.

As for the visuals, Cardi is a pole dancer and stripper - makes sense for her to use such in her videos if they empower her.

Men have been releasing tracks like this for decades but god forbid when a woman does it.

Just move on if it isn’t your cup of tea

@Snarkastic

Easy way to check if something is empowering: are the people actually in power doing it?

This.

So YANBU

Internalised misogyny springs to mind.

YANBU. Music critics are trying to make porn profound. Also it’s just not very sexy-IMO- so it fails for me on both counts.

I don’t think the song is making any profound statements. People are responding somewhat positively to it because they think it’s refreshing to finally hear sexual liberation from a female perspective. Men don’t need any profound statements about bodily autonomy because they have that as a given.

I’m not saying I agree with those saying it’s female empowerment, but I can see where they are coming from. I am tired of the criticism this song is facing purely because it is sung by a woman.

If anyone is looking for a laugh, look up Ben Shapiro quoting the lyrics in his typical faux outrage

Yep, I agree. I read a post about how the song is a celebration of liberated and empowered female sexuality, which conveniently ignored the fact that it a)appears to be set in a brothel and b) has a man’s voice saying “There’s some whores in this house” on a loop in the background. I’m not shocked by it, just sort of tired of being told that women gyrating and talking about blowjobs constitutes female empowerment.

@JustanAunt

It’s a song. Some think it’s empowering for a woman to be able to sing freely and openly about sex, others think it crass.

Don’t like a song? Don’t listen to it.

It bothers me that so many songs sung by men are about sex or their genitalia, and no one bats an eyelid, but women do it and it’s suddenly a problem.

I dont know any song by male artists that are as graphic as this lyrically. I also haven't seen any male artist dance basically naked in their videos. Now I could be wrong, feel free to give me some examples.

I'm no prude. The song doesn't bother me really. I heard it, thought it was pure filth and moved on with my day. But let's not pretend that its empowering women.

@JustanAunt

I don’t think the song is making any profound statements. People are responding somewhat positively to it because they think it’s refreshing to finally hear sexual liberation from a female perspective. Men don’t need any profound statements about bodily autonomy because they have that as a given.

I’m not saying I agree with those saying it’s female empowerment, but I can see where they are coming from. I am tired of the criticism this song is facing purely because it is sung by a woman.

If anyone is looking for a laugh, look up Ben Shapiro quoting the lyrics in his typical faux outrage

The problem for me is this forced cultural criticism around the song, rather than simply the song itself. Let’s not pretend that this is new for women in hip hop either. Rihanna, Azelia Banks, even Beyoncé (Partition anyone?) explicitly sang up about women enjoying sex years ago.

^ Got cut off. The only difference is, Rihanna’s Rude Boy got a short paragraph in The Guardian talking about the cool outfits. Now we get a bloated essay on how we should all celebrate the lyrical and visual content.

The lyrics don't really bother me & I think it's ok for women to sing about their WAPs however it's frustrating that men aren't expected to be half naked & twerking. I remember when Britney videos were shocking! 🤣

Yes, have. Let’s not pretend. . Have you seen Lena Dunham dancing on Instagram to it. Tragic. She looks SO uncomfortable it’s horrible.

Poptart4

R&B and rap songs are filled with sexually explicit songs, many of the artists are lesser known so it is not unusual that you won’t know of any, they do exist though.

I am not pretending this is empowering to women. I stated in another comment that I do not believe that. I just hate the outrage that exists because they are women. People can make songs about whatever they like, you dont have to listen to it.

@Redolent Let black women be

I personally love it. I like the kind of sex they talk about. Making sure men please the woman and discussing oral sex performed on women.
The amount of times I've heard about men who refuse to do oral sex on a woman yet expect it themselves.

About time oral sex on a woman is discussed as part of women's wants for climax.

There’s a line “macaroni in a pot it’s so wet and gushy”

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Who writes this utter shite?

YANBU OP. Passing off soft core porn as some sort of exercise in women’s liberation.

The worst thing is there will be 9 year olds mouthing the lyrics and dancing provocatively To this on TikTok in no time 😔

Well, having now seen about 20 seconds of that al I can say is that today's youth can have no imagination whatsoever!

All I heard was some 1980s/90s rap 'toonz' overlaid with some facile and deliberatley silly lyrics. Soft porn for people with no imagination and less vocabulary!

I hope the 2 women involved get paid well and really are driving their own careers!

Well the writers of that aren’t exactly heading for the pantheon of artistic gods are they?. It’s the musical equivalent of turkey twizzlers, cheap, fills a gap but ultimately overprocessed and full of shit! Can’t imagine it adds anything to anyone’s life. It certainly doesn’t empower me.