"Blurred Lines" has been called many things: song of the summer, "rapey" and now... feminist?
In an appearance on NBC's the Today Show, R&B singer Robin Thicke defended the title track of his sixth studio album, saying, "It's actually a feminist movement within itself. It's saying that women and men are equals as animals and as power." He continued, "It doesn't matter if you're a good girl or a bad girl, you can still have a good time.
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The song, which features T.I. and Pharrell, has been accused of having misogynistic undertones, while the accompanying music video, with its use of scantily clad female models, has also fallen under media scrutiny.
In a May interview with GQ, Thicke only made matters worse when he was asked about the controversy and jokingly responded with: "What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman."
"The idea was when we made this song, we had nothing but the most respect for women," explained Thicke to Today hosts Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie. "For us, we were just trying to make a funny song and sometimes the lyrics can get misconstrued when you're just trying to put people on the dance floor and have a good time."
Before performing "Blurred Lines" live on the early-morning news program, Thicke added, "We had no idea that it would stir this much controversy. We only had the best intentions."
Watch the full interview and performance here.
