Although we consulted with Native American friends and Native American studies experts at the University of California, we realize now that we have offended people.” (In it, the very white Stefani dressed up like a Native American.) When Native American groups predictably called the video racist, the band apologized, saying, “Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history. Earlier this year, Avril Lavigne released an extremely racist music video for “Hello Kitty.” Stefani’s behavior a decade ago set the precedent.Īnd it doesn’t look like Stefani learned her lesson: just two years ago, her band No Doubt had to pull the music video for their song “Looking Hot,” which featured band members playing a game of Cowboys and Indians. Critics have also blasted Katy Perry for dressing up like a geisha with makeup that made her eyes look slanted during the 2013 American Music Awards. Last year, Miley Cyrus’ use of twerking black backup dancers at the Video Music Awards launched 1,000 think pieces on whether Cyrus was playing on black stereotypes to prove that she was now a rebel. It’s easy to wonder if Stefani had a hand in inciting what has now become a common cultural practice of white female pop stars using other races as props. Her obsession with the culture walks a very thin line between admiration and appropriation. Sure, 2004 was a different time - but it isn’t localized to that era: Stefani has a Harajuku Lovers line of fragrances and a Harajuku Mini fashion line for Target. Hollaback Girl is a popular song by Gwen Stefani Create your own TikTok videos with the Hollaback Girl song and explore 11.3K videos made by new and. MadTV even mocked Stefani’s racism with a skit:īut other than those critiques, the pop culture world wasn’t vocal enough on Stefani’s appropriation of Asian culture for personal gain. An ugly picture is better than a blank space, and it means that one day, we will have another display at the Museum of Asian Invisibility, that groups of children will crowd around in disbelief, because once upon a time, we weren’t there.
In “Harajuku Girls,” Stefani calls their culture, “A Ping-Pong match between Eastern and Western.”Īt the time, comedian Margaret Cho compared the Harajuku girls to blackface and lamented how few portrayals of Asian culture there are in popular culture:Įven though to me, a Japanese schoolgirl uniform is kind of like blackface, I am just in acceptance over it, because something is better than nothing. The lyrics of her actual songs aren’t much better. As you can see in the video for the song “Harajuku Girls” above, the women are basically puppets. She renamed them - as if they were pets - “Love,” “Angel,” “Music” and “Baby” after her album title. They followed her everywhere and were reportedly contractually obligated to only speak Japanese in public. It was certified double platinum in Australia, and made the top 10 in 15 separate countries.After dropping the album, Stefani used four backup dancers known as the “Harajuku girls” in all her performances and as an entourage offstage. The track was a major hit for Stefani, reaching number 4 on the UK Singles Charts, although it only made number 47 on the US Billboard Charts. The track is a writing collaboration between Gwen and Linda Perry, and they’d been placed under a “5 day time constraint” by Gwen’s label. There were four versions of the video created, and an MTV’s Making The Video episode was filmed for the track. The storyline of the video pays homage to the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland, and Gwen is seen in several costumes inspired by the fantasy story. That’s what Japanese culture and American culture have done. Of course you can celebrate other cultures. You can’t be a fan of somebody else? Or another culture? Of course you can. She was ultimately accused of racism because of her portrayal of the culture, but said in 2014:įor me, everything that I did with the Harajuku Girls was just a pure compliment and being a fan. The music video borrows heavily from Japanese culture, notably the “Harajuku Girls,” a group of backup dancers that perpetuated a style, and entranced Gwen. Baby., the track is an aggressive statement of intent, designed to obliterate the writer’s block she was experiencing at the time. The lead single from Gwen’s debut solo album, Love.
0 kommentar(er)
