By Jonathan Austin
Staff Writer
You can’t please everyone. Clearly, Canadian singer The Weeknd found this out in a big way with his new single “Lost in the Fire,” which released on Jan. 11.
The track was the brainchild of Tesfaye in collaboration with French Euro-Pop producer and magnate Gesaffelstein. The two had worked together on some of Tesfaye’s more recent hits such as 2018’s “I Was Never There” and “Hurt You.”
When singers such as Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, who have a history of sexually charged lyrical content, get in trouble for their lyrics it makes some scratch their heads and wonder what people are upset about.
Lyrics that have sparked much of the controversy include the verse, “You said you might be into girls/ Said you’re going through a phase/ Baby, you can bring a friend/ While I fuck you straight.”
I can understand why some members of the LGBTQ community would be upset at these lyrics, but when put into context, these words lose the homophobic slant a lot of the critics are saying they possess.
Firstly, Bella Hadid, the woman reportedly referenced in this song, is Tesfaye’s on-again off-again girlfriend. Hadid has never publicly stated her dating habits.
At most she has denied false rumors about herself in the dating sphere, so it is reasonable for Tesfaye to be speaking about Bella as if she is already straight.
Akin to this, the big slap in the face a lot of people are getting out of this whole song is the line “While I fuck you straight.”
This line can be received as misogynistic and homophobic, but can also be seen as a euphemism for having amazing sex.
It isn’t a stretch given Tesfaye’s track record of sexually explicit lyrics.
The Weeknd has sang about a threesome before in his song “The Party & The After Party,” so he can do it again while proclaiming his love for a woman who recently got back together with him.
Again, I can see how this track offends people. You can easily understand why some are calling this song an example of toxic masculinity.
The Weeknd expresses his partner “might be into girls,” and she is “going through a phase,” but his wording expresses the idea he might have doubts about this.
Given the speculation this song may be about his on-again off-again girlfriend, it is explainable how he could also have doubts of her sexual confusion.
Additionally, a lot of hate is being levied over the song’s glorification of corrective rape, the idea that you can have sex with a homosexual of the opposite sex and in the process convert them to a heterosexual.
It is essentially conversion therapy, only where the therapeutic tactic used is in fact rape.
The global spotlight was shed on the phenomenon corrective rape in 2015 after South African law enforcement officials reported a spike in sexual assault targeting lesbian women.
“There is a clear sense of entitlement to women’s bodies which underlies the general rape pandemic, and no doubt the attack of lesbian women or women who read as gender non-conforming,” said ActionAid South Africa programme manager Emily Craven to The Guardian.
The concern and rancor toward the corrective rape crisis is rightly warranted, but perhaps The Weeknd is not the culprit of homophobia that many individuals on social media make him out to be.
Within days of the song’s release, Nylon fashion and style magazine writer Jill Gutowitz Tweeted, “I used to joke that listening to The Weeknd was homophobic but the lyrics from his new song are actually fucking vile.”
It seems as though internet hate culture is doing its best to be outraged by everything and anything it can get its hands on.
Everyone wants to be accepted for who they are and what they come from.
When people see things they depict as inflammatory toward them and their beliefs, they retaliate based on how they perceive those things without taking the time to figure out all the contextuals that make up certain media.
Realistically, all The Weeknd had to do was explain his point of view of the lyrics, or at the very least apologize for any unintended negative dialogue.
However, he hasn’t done so, which has spread the idea that he thought he could get away with this unscathed.
Ultimately, the ambiguity of the situation leads to the conclusion that “Lost in The Fire” really is just a simple-minded man’s sexually suggestive remarks to someone he cares for.
The Weeknd's tendency to spark controversy and outrage is a hallmark of his career as musician. The Canadian-born singer was under similar media fire when his hit 2015 hit, ‘Can’t Feel My Face” was revealed to be a metaphor for cocaine use.
Despite the flack he’s received for the lyrical content of “Lost in the Fire,” Tesfaye and Gesaffelstein have received praise for the song’s music video.
I don’t think he meant any ill will toward the LGBTQ community, because Tesfaye does not have a history of previous homophobic and/or sexist misconduct.
I also don’t think a song with said ambiguities could go through producers, managers, songwriters and public relations professionals without the faith this was also the case.
The reactions waged onto this song are justifiably strong, but to me it begs the question: When does the pursuit of tolerance become a witch hunt that spurs even more intolerance?
