Can you remember Robin Thicke? He was the guy who became wildly popular on the back of populist misogyny before the world woke up to the fact sexual assault wasn’t really that funny. No, not the guy running for US president, that’s a different guy. This guy is the one who, in 2013, went several times platinum with his single Blurred Lines and then, barely a year later, was struggling to shift 500 UK copies of an album about trying to win his estranged wife back.
Even in the merciless world of pop, Thicke’s downfall was swift and brutal. One minute he’d had the hit of the year, the next he was a social pariah – which must have been a bit confusing for him. After all, the misstep that saw him banned from university campuses and torn apart in think pieces was the very song he had been celebrated for merely months before. And the song’s co-writer and producer, Pharrell Williams, has only seen his career blossom since the controversy. What had Thicke done to deserve all this? And how could he win back the hearts of the public?
Whatever the answer was, an album begging your estranged wife to give you another chance, featuring songs called You’re My Fantasy and Tippy Toes, wasn’t it. So how about a song about Black Lives Matter?
Ha ha, relax, I’m joking.
I think. Hang on, let me just check …
Ah, apparently I’m not joking! Thicke has just released his latest single Deep, which kicks off with a rap about police violence towards unarmed black men. Sadly, for fans of the worst possible moments in musical history, it’s not Thicke himself who delivers this rap. It’s actually Nas, whose ear-grabbing and heartfelt opening verse is partly addressed to his own seven-year-old son: “Can’t play with your water gun, son, ’cos the police see a seven-years-old as a threat. They think it’s right to kill a seven-years-old on sight ’cos he ain’t white.”
It certainly grabs your attention and instantly aligns Deep with recent musical statements by the likes of Kendrick Lamar and Solange. But is it really what people want from Thicke? And is it really Thicke making a statement about Black Lives Matter, or more a statement about how Thicke really cares about social issues, and that you should stop hating him now? Thicke has run into trouble supposedly borrowing from Marvin Gaye in the past, so I’m not sure the world is ready for his own personal What’s Going On.
The fact is, Thicke is these days known primarily for a song that embodies “I know you want it” rape culture, and secondarily for following it up with an interview in which he said: “What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman.” Short of stumping up $5m and releasing a single that liberally samples the Burnett tapes, he’s unlikely to claw back any affection from the general public at this stage. Perhaps it would be best if he ditched the Artie Fufkin ‘kick my ass’ approach entirely and doubled down on his original shady persona by releasing an entire album of groping anthems – absolutely nobody would buy it, but he’d have a great chance of getting on the Republican ticket in 2020.
