Selena Gomez's Come and Get It...FAIL

When I was in Indy this past weekend, I was without my precious satellite radio, and therefore had to listen to the local top 40 station. One of the tunes they kept playing over and over was Selena Gomez's latest, "Come and Get It."

It's one of those songs that serves to be like a virus in my brain and although there's nothing I "like" about it, I found myself absentmindedly humming the chorus today and I decided to check out what the actual lyrics are about...so here you have it:

You ain't gotta worry, it's an open invitation
I'll be sittin' right here, real patient
All day, all night, I'll be waitin' standby
Can't stop because I love it, hate the way I love you
All day all night, maybe I'm addicted for life, no lie.

The rest of the lyrics are available here.

What struck me most about the song overall and this passage in particular is the overwhelming passivity. She's into this hypothetical guy...like a lot, clearly. And yet, she's put him in the driver's seat and while she waits. It's so frustrating to see lyrics which amount to nothing more than, "Hey, I'm yours if you want me...but I won't make a move." Although, I suppose there is a second, potentially more troubling, interpretation...which is that this is a guy who has outwardly expressed disinterest (or has broken up with her) and she's not taking no for an answer. Either way, it's certainly not a message I would endorse.

Things got worse when I looked up the music video:

Holy cultural appropriation, Batman!

The Desi sound that I was initially concerned about in listening has been taken to a whole other level in the video. Gomez and other mostly light skinned/non Desi women dance around in bastardized versions of Indian clothing and perform Bollywood-eque dances. The whole thing is really over sexualized and when coupled with the passivity of the lyrics as listed above, certainly conveys a racist overtone about Eastern women.

Sigh.

To further deconstruct why this type of imagery is not OK, I'd like to direct you to the entire "You Are Not Desi" blog for your reading and education.

And let me just end on one more good, solid SIGH.

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