Hayley Kiyoko Said Rita Ora's Song "Girls" Has a "Dangerous" Message
On Friday, Rita Ora dropped a new single called "Girls," a pop collaboration with Bebe Rhexa, Cardi B, and Charli XCX that Rita has said was inspired by Katy Perry's 2008 song, "I Kissed a Girl." The song contains lyrics like "I ain't one-sided, I'm open-minded / I'm fifty-fifty and I'm never gonna hide it" and "Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls." Fans of the song on social media are already helming it a "bisexual bop."
But the song is also kicking up controversy over how it portrays queer relationships, especially lesbian and bisexual ones. The Katy Perry comparison doesn't help matters: Katy herself has said she would rewrite the song if she could. "We've come a long way," she told Glamour in February. "Bisexuality wasn't as talked about back then, or any type of fluidity. If I had to write that song again, I probably would make an edit on it. Lyrically, it has a couple of stereotypes in it." It's not exactly a useful model for a queer pop song.
Now, Hayley Kiyoko — whose fans call her "lesbian Jesus" — is calling out Rita for "Girls" and its messaging in a new Instagram post. Hayley has been an outspoken LGBTQ+ activist — her recent album Expectations was hailed for being "unapologetically queer." She also frequently uses female pronouns for love interests to create a broad spectrum of authentic lesbian experiences in her music.
In her Instagram statement, Hayley criticized the song for perpetuating stereotypes. She wrote:
"It's important for us artists to use our platforms to move the cultural needle forward, not backwards. There is a new song that came out today featuring a handful of well-known pop artists that me overwhelmed with thoughts. I literally have a knot in my stomach right now. To be clear, I fully support other artists who freely express themselves and applaud male and female artists who are opening up more and more about their sexual identities. But every so often there come certain songs with messaging that is just downright tone-deaf, which does more harm than good for the LGBTQ+ community. A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women. I know this wasn't the intention of the artists on the song, but it's the lack of consideration behind these lyrics that really get me."
She also cited the line in "Girls" about drinking wine, and how that's a harmful cliché: "I don't need to drink wine to kiss girls; I've loved women my entire life. This type of message is dangerous because it completely belittles and invalidates the very pure feelings of an entire community. I feel I have a responsibility to protect that whenever possible. We can and should do better."
Hayley makes a good point that artists should be encouraged to express their individual sexualities, but that they should also be careful of how a song works in context. In an interview with People, Rita was asked about her own sexuality, and said, "I knew people were going to look into it like that. I definitely said it because I can — and it was one of those things where, if I was 50/50…I’m not saying I’m '70/30.' … 'I’m 50/50, and I’m not gonna hide it.' I’m not hiding what I am, who I am, if I wanna do this, if I wanna do that. That’s just how it’s gonna be."
Rita was also asked directly if she identifies as bisexual or fluid, and responded, "If people look at it like that, it’s very narrow-minded, and I don’t think that’s what this record is. I don’t think that that even matters." In another interview, with Billboard, Rita skates again around the bisexuality question, "It’s not actually that deep. It really is just about that. It’s a free message, and for me, really fun. It’s just a fun record."
Rita, like anyone, is of course entitled to express her sexuality however she wants, but on Twitter, some people have been echoing what Hayley said in her statement. One person tweeted, "Y’all are not gonna praise girls by Rita Ora as a bisexual anthem. That song seems super fetishy and the get with a girl but still have s boyfriend is not cute and actually damaging to the community. The song comes off super queerbaiting." But others have disagreed; one wrote, "Rita Ora has openely f*cking admitted BEFORE the song that she’s bisexual. did you not hear the lyrics ‘i’m 50/50 and i’m never gonna hide it’? please stop trying to act like some lesbian jesus when all you’re doing rn is invalidating someone else’s sexuality."
There's definitely room for discussion about queer representation in songs — and bi-erasure is certainly real, and a valid criticism of pop culture at large. But it's also important for artists to think carefully about the ways their music reinforces or perpetuates harmful stereotypes. That way, we end up with fewer artists such as Katy who regret their words later, when the damage is already done.
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