Singer praised on TikTok after rewriting hit song ‘Blurred Lines’ to highlight importance of consent | indy100

A musician has been praised on TikTok after she rewrote the lyrics to the hit song Blurred Lines to highlight the importance of consent.

Devon Cole (@devoncolemusic) shared her own rendition of the 2013 record - which is by Robin Thicke and features Pharrell Williams and TI - that departs from the meaning of the original version, which some say is about forcing a woman against her will.

Despite becoming a chart-topping single globally, the lyrics and the music video for Blurred Lines were criticised for objectifying women, trivialising sexual violence and “reinforcing rape-myths”. It later became part of a bigger debate about the content of pop lyrics and videos.

So Devon decided to give it a 2021 makeover to instead reflect the topic of consent.

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@devoncolemusic
This song had to be rectified #fyp #blurredlines #robinthicke #consent #lyricsoftheday

Playing the catchy and recognisable tune, she sings:

“Seems ya can’t hear what I’m tryna say / Goes in one ear out the other way / Say you could go right now, but I’m not so inclined / And you ain’t changing my mind/

“Ok now here we go/ You’re flagging down the waiter / Just cuz you paid for dinner don’t mean I owe you a favour / Won’t have another round, could probably do without/Oh did I let you down?

“You’re acting foolish, haven’t you heard?/ If I don’t want it, then I don’t want it/ My body’s not something that you earn / And I got boundaries / You’d know that about me/ If you had asked me!”

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Since posting her version of the song, Devon’s video has received 2.8m views, with nearly 785,000 likes, along with thousands of comments praising Devon’s lyricism (and many say it’s actually better than the original version).

One person wrote: “It was actually written well and not cheesy!”

“THANK YOU I’VE BEEN SO BOTHERED BY THE ORIGINAL SONG SINCE I RELISTENED TO IT LAST YEAR,” another person said.

Someone else replied: “The only way I will ever support this song - much needed remake.”

“I’ve always loved how catchy this song is but HATED the lyrics so this is great,” a fourth person replied.

Given the overwhelmingly positive reaction from people, perhaps Devon could inspire Thicke to release a pro-consent version of his hit song.