Sexy Song of the Week: Lady Gaga

When I was trying to choose the first Sexy Song I wanted to post on, I was totally lost. There are so many sexy songs out there that I rarely have time to feel anything less than sexy when listening to current music. In the club – sexy music, out shopping – sexy music, eating dinner – sexy music, mixed-tapes– way too much sexy music.  So where to start, what to choose… originally I was planning on Prince, but decided something a bit more current might go over better. Thus, Lady Gaga was my choice, actually by suggestion of a student, (thanks Shelby!)

And who was I to contest the sexiness of the song with lyrics like this:

Let’s have some fun, this beat is sick
I wanna take a ride on your disco stick

There is something blatantly sexual here, but it’s almost disguised as cute.

Why?

Is the word-play just an exercise in creativity? Or is it because we don’t want to hear a woman be too graphic? Other than Little Kim and occasionally Christina Aguilera, bless them, you don’t hear too many female vocalists really getting into the dirty details. (Or at least I don’t – so if they exist let me know.) The female vocalists I hear tend to stick to sexual innuendos, word play, and barely-there get-ups to get their message across.  Granted there are males who do this too, bless them, but I tend to hear more men being more direct. (Anthropologically speaking this may have to do with what type of music I am listening to at what times of the day and in what city the radio station is broadcast, etc.) But for the sake of conversation, let’s cut the radio analysis and move on to discussion.

So listen to the radio, reflect, and write; I’d love to get some opinions on this.

Why is it that men get the go ahead to say things so bluntly? Do female vocalists have the same opportunity and simply dismiss it in favor of more timid titillation?

Do you prefer one type of sexy song over the other? (Options being: a word-by-word play of the situation or word-play hinting towards the situation.)

It’s Back: Sexy Song of the Week

You may have noticed from the course website that we posted a Sexy Song of the Week in past semesters. That series has languished this semester. But thanks to TA Jessica Jean Casler, the series will come back to life tomorrow — just in time to keep you going down the home stretch of the semester. Keep your eyes peeled for Jessica Jean’s post tomorrow and be ready to respond with your thoughts about her Sexy Song. In the meantime, send us your suggestions about other songs we could feature to stimulate discussion about the themes of the course.