Sexualised lyrics on mainstream radio

[myotheraccountsa]

I am far from a prude, but I'm really shocked by some of the lyrics I've been hearing on mainstream radio 1 at school rush hour times this week.

From Sabrina Carpenter with "tears run down my thighs" (yes it bleeps out you get me wet) but still leaves the other part which is equally bad. The Billie Eilish / Charlie XCX - I love your black lacy panties, want to pull them to the side, lick it, kiss it, get up all on it, ride it... and then there's all the much publicised fuss about Taylor Swift's Wood.

I don't see an issue with these women writing these songs. They're grown adults. But surely the radio stations have a responsibility to either play more family friendly edits or not play at all during mainstream hours. What the heck happened to the concept of a watershed?

It just makes me a bit sad what we're doing to our kids if they're listening to this constantly, going round singing it.

Yes, that's why we listen to classic FM, jazz FM or Smooth ....

I agree, re sabrina, but the reason why tears are running down her thighs is a good message

Ha ha bless your innocent cotton socks @Butteredtoast55 TBF the wikipedia entry says rather po-facedly that the lyrics are "not neccessarily a metaphor for anal sex"

🤣 and Ginuwine Pony!

It's a long way since Mike Reid banned Frankie Goes To Hollywood on Radio 1.

https://youtube.com/shorts/wtGKZlLHc0Y?si=K_dZ9OSw242kklDY

I love watching this woman really listening to song lyrics

I actually wrote in to Radio 2 a few years ago when they played "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood on the Zoe Ball breakfast show - it was part of that feature when she played three tunes with a common theme during the school run. She wasn't presenting that day - it was a stand in. I was horrified. Had my daughter in the car. They wrote back with a pretty strong apology tbh - said the younger staff didn't always make the right call. It's easy to complain to the BBC at least and worth doing.

https://genius.com/Carrie-underwood-before-he-cheats-lyrics

How ridiculously prissy to be "horrified" at and actually go to the lengths of complaining about a perfectly standard (and well-written) country narrative.

What’s wrong with that song that would make you horrified?

I do get the point that there have always been explicit lyrics....It's the mainstream radio play I'm struggling with. Eminem was always shocking - but definitely didn't get rush hour radio play on BBC channels without a ton of beeping out when I was younger. I get that some went more under the radar - Mousse T Horny for example, but I still don't think those lyrics are quite as pornographic as "tears run down my thighs". And the stupid thing is it would be SO easy to make a clean version- "tears run down my eyes" or something. It just seems like any sense of cleaned up versions or watershed have been abandoned and it's now a free for all what you may hear on prime time radio.

I think I may take another poster's recommendation to write to the BBC.

Ah right

The ones I don't like are mostly sung by men, where they seem to be speaking contemptuously about the women.
Describing how much you like sex with someone is different to basically saying "you're gagging for it, slut" which is what some of them sound like.
Songs that aren't played on the radio have some much worse lyrics as a look at ds's Spotify account shows me.

Where to start? It's the vengeance, destruction, violence, slut shaming...all at 7.30 in the morning on Radio 2. Don't get me wrong, it's a good song per se - but not appropriate for the school run.

This is nothing new. I can remember people being outraged by Like A Virgin in the 80s, Prince’s hit Cream and Mousse T’s Horny in the 90s… there a million more examples.

Kids who are too young for that kind of content don’t actually understand what the lyrics mean, so it’s not really a problem. It’s the pop music equivalent of a double entendre at a pantomime. It’s not harmful to kids because they don’t get it.

They usually played the clean version on the radio

I don't think those lyrics are too bad. Are you saying they're perfectly OK after the children are dropped off at school?

Ah, ageing comes at us fast.

It's only really the title that is sexual. The rest of the lyrics are pretty tame

House Tour by SC is along the same vein as Tears, and she even says in the lyrics "this is not a metaphor". I highly doubt she wants to show off her new 3 bed semi somehow 🤣

I thought she was singing about traffic! I was a young adult then😳

Now l know!

I also thought that The Darkness Christmas Time, the line ‘don’t let the bells end’ was actually about bells.🔔

My much younger colleague pissed herself when she found this out

Generally , most female pop stars nowadays are talentless bimbos who get their deals by performing in as few clothes as possible whilst singing about sex.
Yes, there are exceptions but it is so depressing to see the likes of Sabrina Carpenter, Dua Lipa etc etc playing the whore to stadia full of youngsters.
Taylor Swift is as bad. The female rappers are horrendous.
Female artists have taken hundreds of steps backwards.

That's Nicki Minaj fyi

Changing thighs to eyes completely changes the meaning of the song though, shes not sad her boyfriend is pulling his weight around the house

Mind blown. I thought you were wrong till I looked it up. And they sing "ring in peace" for the same reason!

And tears don't generally run down your eyes either. They run down your cheeks. Which ones though, eh Sabrina? 🤣