By Samantha Wickramasinghe
The billboard number one hit song “Rude” by the band MAGIC!, has become the relentless, catchy pop song that you cannot avoid no matter where you go. This song has a combination of reggae music and lyrics that instantaneously gets into listener’s head. Although “Rude” has become quite popular, there were mixed reactions among audiences about the central theme of the song; where the narrator is insisting and asking permission for marriage from the father of the woman who he wants to get married to.
Among mixed responses, a YouTube video by a young woman got attention for expressing “the girl’s point of view.” This woman in her response, sang “no one is going to own me till the day I die” which was paradoxical to the original lyrics. Also, she claimed that her dad and her lover were both “acting like controlling dudes” while declaring her independence from decision making of her father and lover.
After listening all these responses, one can argue that “Rude” has created room for many people to be creative and make their own version of the song. However “Rude” seems to have faced a crisis that it did not expect for exclusively presenting a singular point of view. As a progressive world, today we are moving towards direction of gender equality by giving more rights and opportunities to women, minorities and the LGBTQ community. In order for human rights to flourish, we need to question ideas such as asking permission from a father to “have” a daughter “for the rest of my life.” Such questions create discrimination and petty interests.