Best Coast singer Bethany Cosentino has criticised singer Chris Brown for “perpetuating rape culture” with his recent single Back to Sleep.
Cosentino objected to the lyrics of the track, which is also known as Fuck You Back to Sleep and contains lines such as “Just let me rock, fuck you back to sleep girl / Don’t say a word no, girl don’t you talk / Just hold on tight to me girl / Fuck you back to sleep girl, and rock you back.” The track reached the US Billboard top 20 in March.
The Best Coast star tweeted: “You already know how I feel about Chris Brown – but WHY/HOW are those lyrics OK? Cool, a song that perpetuates rape culture being a hit.”
She also took aim at the industry, criticising the A&R team who approved the song and publications such as Billboard who gave the track a glowing review.
.@billboard's review of that song "excels as a quality addition to his catalog’s stellar collection of panty-dropping and baby-making songs"
— Best Coast (@BestCoast) April 17, 2016
How about this for a review: singing about fucking a girl back to sleep/telling her dont say a word is singing about rape + it's disgusting
— Best Coast (@BestCoast) April 17, 2016
Responding to criticism of her position, Cosentino wrote: “4 those of you that don’t understand the definition of “consensual sex” – it’s not TELLING a woman yr gonna wake her up 2 fuck her. BYE”
Brown has been no stranger to controversy since, in 2009, he pleaded guilty to a felony assault on his then-girlfriend Rihanna.
Chris Brown or his representatives are yet to respond to Beth Cosentino’s accusations.
