“Girls” is a song by British singer Rita Ora, collaborating and featuring American rapper Cardi B, American singer Bebe Rexha and British singer Charli XCX. The single was released on May 11th in 2018 by Atlantic Records.

The song was written by Ora, Klenord Raphael, Ali Tamposi, Rexha, Jonny Coffer, Jordan Thorpe, Belcalis Almanzar, Brian Lee, Watt and Benjamin Diehl, while the production was handled by Ben Billions, Coffer and Watt.

When Rita Ora announced that she was going to do collab alongside a fabulous trio of female artists such as Charli XCX, Bebe Rexha and Cardi B announced that they were going to be releasing a new song entitled ‘Girls’ which was going to explore female sexuality let’s just say that queer women were excited. 

The collaboration was announced on May 4th. Rita Ora described the song as an “empowering anthem”:

“These past few years I’ve been so inspired by all the strong women I’ve seen who aren’t afraid to be themselves. For those who aren’t afraid to rule the world, this is our anthem. A celebration of love. And of course, thank you to all the fellow boss women who so kindly graced this song with me — each representing who they are and where they are from […]”

The song, itself is mostly “tone deaf” lyrics, have been met with fierce criticism from bisexual and queer women. The song suggests that female sexuality is fluid, that when Rita Ora meets “Lara”, has a bit too much “Red wine” whilst “Kush lovin” and she just has to kiss her.

CONTROVERSY

The song attracted criticism, rather than praise, from notable queer women such as Hayley Kiyoko, who renounced the song as doing more harm than good to the LGBTQ+ community and catering towards male sexual fantasies.

The backlash prompted Rita Ora and Cardi B to exclusively “come out” and confirm they have had relationships with both women and men. Bebe Rexha has dismissed labels altogether and hit back by saying “Do you have to be fully lesbian to put out a song about kissing girls?” Rexha’s question is slightly insensitive as she fails to mention bisexuality as a legitimate sexual identity, preferring to argue that everyone’s sexuality is fluid.

I never understood why Rita Ora or any of the other artists featured on the song had to come out in order to justify the song, no queer person should have to do this in order to be respected by the community. However, it cannot be denied that identifying as “queer” is rising in popularity with some people viewing it as a fashion statement rather than a legitimate identity. The amount of people who identify as LGBTQ+ is increasing, with many young people saying that they are sexually fluid.

The song itself has elements of Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” have been carried on a decade later with the insinuation that alcohol and drugs lead Rita Ora to kiss girls. I completely agree with Hayley Kiyoko – there is definitely an implication here that women only kiss other women when they are drunk. On Twitter, people were defending the use of alcohol/drug influence when it came to having the confidence to tell someone that they’re attractive. However, there is a fine line between alcohol as a social lubricant and alcohol as a social crutch. In all honesty, it’s an unhealthy relationship to have if you need to be intoxicated in order to feel confident in your sexuality, and to then pull a member of the same sex as well.

 Another artist that came out about their thoughts about the song was Kehlani, an artist who describes herself as queer, called the artists out on social media for their derogatory language and use of slurs in the song. Basically, Cardi B used the term “scissoring” in her rap. I thought that we’d gotten over the fact that depictions of women in this sexual position were created to please men when they watch porn. Whilst it is not unheard of in the queer women community, scissoring works for some women and not for others, there is a lot of ignorance surrounding this topic and many people, queer and straight alike, believe that is the only way women have sex with each other. So a mainstream song like this does not help educate people very well at all.

Probably, the most frustrating aspect about this whole thing, is that the song, and apologies for the allusion to another problematic tune, blurs the lines over what bisexuality actually is. Biphobia and bisexual erasure is a problem that does exist in straight and queer places alike. We’ve all tried to forget about t.A.T.u.’s fake relationship or the fact that another famous pop-star Jessie J claimed that her bisexuality was simply a phase. 

MUSIC VIDEO

The music video for “Girls” was released on 6 June 2018. That video pushed me, and I am sure many more people who could understand both sides of the argument, right over the edge.

From start to finish, there are issues. The first shots are a bit like an opium den with amazing foliage, filled with semi-naked women, wearing barely there, flesh coloured nightie things. A lot of stroking and sultry looks with cuts to shots of fruits and orchids and other sort of vagina type things. I can tell you from personal experience, that is not what female same sex situations are like. Uh oh, the male gaze strikes again.

Then there are lots of women running through the woods, kissing mirrors (well, maybe I have done that by mistake), holograms of Cardi B (Cardi, you’re my girl for life), and of course the controversial kiss.

All in all, the video sadly debunked any previous apologies or assertions that “Girls” is a song for the bisexual female community. It proved that often messages claiming to be on our side actually do more harm than good.

The song itself seems to be more was like a repeat of Katy Perry’s hit, it is meant to be an embrace of bisexuality however, their depiction is murky. As much as the artists “good intentions” and their defenders denial of this fact, people are going to equate kissing women with being intoxicated because that is exactly what this song alludes to. Also, let’s forget women kissing women for a second. How women about loving women? How about women having sex with women? How about women dreaming about women? Artists are wanting to explore the tantalising image of two women kissing, but never really go further to actively support the LGBTQ+ community, but don’t seem to have much of a good direction to really go about it.