Their provocative lyrics, music videos and performances have their detractors up in arms, but that hasn’t stopped them from racking up the hits

CONTROVERSY’S CHILDREN

Their provocative lyrics, music videos and performances have their detractors up in arms, but that hasn’t stopped them from racking up the hits

    Here’s the thing about controversies. They either sly up on you without warning or you choose to be ignorant of the fact that actions have consequences. Either way, there’s no ignoring the fact that they are a big factor in improving the visibility of a performer (or any celebrity for that matter) in no time at all.
    The surge in online views of all the videos of rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh, after being bogged down by a recent controversy that saw a scheduled gig being cancelled, is a clear indication of that. What makes him (or his actions thereof) a conversation starter right now is the existence of derogatory songs being attributed to him. That controversy led him to a “most shared” status online in spite of that. Not just that, his known collaborations and other videos featuring him, saw a surge in viewers. Even the inconsequential, boring ones.
    Not too long ago, PSY, already buoyant on 800 million+ views for his Gangnam Stylevideo, eventually hit the one billionview mark in spite of a controversy where his anti-American rap lyrics were dug up from a past performance.
    Here’s looking at some singers and performers who survived the controversies they were mired in because of their lyrics or music videos and found fame (or continued notoriety), but remained talking points in spite of that.
M.I.A. Bad Girls One columnist called the video “a powerful rebuke to the fact that women in Saudi Arabia aren’t legally allowed to drive”. A case of good intentions, bad execution?
IN BAD TASTE? With scenes of burqaclad women speeding their cars through the desert and gyrating their hips in the streets as the men watch from the sidelines, M.I.A.’s work is a defiant statement against the oppression of women.
THE CONTROVERSY: M.I.A. landed in hot water for her Bad Girls video, which some deemed a culturally insensitive depiction of the Arab world.
MADONNA Give Me All Your Luvin’
Madonna isn’t done yet. The Material Girl had a busy, eventful year playing up her ‘controversy’s favourite child’ spin.
IN BAD TASTE? The cheerleaders, including Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., are shouting “L.U.V.” while the football players, in an attempt to save her, are shot by a drive-by shooter with a machine gun. THE CONTROVERSY: In light of the gun violence and senseless killings in the US this year, unnecessarily violent.
COLDPLAY & RIHANNA Princess of China
An unlikely collaboration, this one is also one of the past year’s most culturally insensitive videos.
IN BAD TASTE? They tackle Chinese stereotypes, but get a bit confused by other Asian countries in the process. Sharing photos of herself with chopsticks in her hair and long golden fingernails from the video shoot, Rihanna dubbed herself a “gangsta goth geisha”. THE CONTROVERSY: Geography and foreign culture and history weren’t RiRi’s strong suit in school, it would seem. The whole world knows that Geishas are from Japan, not China.
BRITNEY SPEARS If U Seek Amy
She now prefers being called “Britney Bitch” if her latest video featuring will.I.am is any indication.
IN BAD TASTE? The third single from Brit’s 2008 comeback album Circus is a homonym for a certain obscene phrase. THE CONTROVERSY: An Australian housewife Leonie Barsenbach was understandably upset when her young ones started singing the Britney Spears song around the house. The single was quickly re-recorded to change “seek” to “see” for radio which had stopped playing the song for fear of backlash from conservative listeners.
RIHANNA Man Down
No one seemed to have a problem with Rihanna’s song until the video arrived. IN BAD TASTE? Told from the point of view of an abused woman shooting her lover, the video has Rihanna singing the words Mama, mama, mama / I just shot a man down / In Central Station / In front of a big crowd.
THE CONTROVERSY: The depiction of rape and gun use. Rihanna defended the video, saying, “I personally don’t condone violence or murder at all. I’ve been abused in the past and you don’t see me running around killing people...”