Rita Ora has finally responded to the backlash over her latest song “Girls.” The singer posted a screenshot of an apology written on her iPhone Notes app to Twitter saying,
“Hello everyone reading this girl’s was written to represent my truth and is an accurate account of a very real and honest experience of my life. I have had romantic relationships with women and men throughout my life and this is my personal journey.
“I am sorry how I express myself in my song is hurt, anyone. I would never intentionally cause harm to other LGBTQ + people or anyone. Looking forward, I hope that continuing to express myself through my art will and power my fan to feel as proud of themselves as I’m learning to feel about who I am. I’m ever thankful to my Vans for teaching me to love myself no matter what. I have strived to be a contributor to the LGBTQ+ community throughout my entire career and always will be. Love, Rita.”
Many have been calling out her collab with Cardi B, Charli XCX, and Bebe Rexha including other LGBTQ+ artists.
On her Twitter, Hayley Kiyoko called the song “tone deaf” saying that while she supports and applauds “artists who are opening up more and more about their sexual identities”, they still need “to use [their] platforms to move the cultural needle forward not backwards.”
“A song like [Girls] just feels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women.” Pointing to some of the song’s lyrics, she wrote “I don’t need to drink wine to kiss girls; I’ve loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community.”
Kehlani also chimed into the convo surrounding the collab tweeting that, while she supports the artists behind the “bisexual bop,” the backlash wasn’t about them but the message they’d chosen to send.
“[H]ate to be THAT guy but there were many awkward slurs, quotes, and moments that were like ‘word? Word’.”
https://twitter.com/Kehlani/status/995059727535980544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Seeing as the song was inspired by Katy Perry’s 2008 “I Kissed A Girl” the backlash it’s received isn’t all that surprising. Perry’s song faced a lot of controversy back in 2008 for its depiction of queer female sexuality and for queerbaiting. Perry even admitted later on in a video with Glamour that the song included “a couple of stereotypes” that she’d like to fix, given the chance.
Featured Image via Atlantic Records
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