Lizzo, Beyonce, and the ways and reasons musicians update offensive art

Transcript

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

Of course, when Beyonce dropped her much-anticipated album "Renaissance," the world could not stop talking about it. But not all that conversation was positive. Shortly after the album dropped, Beyonce received backlash for one song in particular - "Heated." She used a word that some people consider a slur toward people with disabilities. Beyonce has since changed the lyrics. But she is not the first major artist to alter a song after facing criticism. Artists like Taylor Swift and Lizzo have also done this. And that got us thinking about what this phenomenon tells us more broadly about how popular culture is shifting. So we have called NPR's Aisha Harris. She co-hosts NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour. Aisha, thanks for joining us.

AISHA HARRIS, BYLINE: Thank you. It's great to be here.

ESTRIN: So help us understand what is going on. It's usually the case that Beyonce can do no wrong. I would agree with that. But this time, she was called out. So what is the controversy that she's facing? How did she respond to it?

HARRIS: So as you already mentioned, in her song "Heated," she uses a term that some consider derogatory, and that word is spaz. And, you know, as soon as the album dropped last weekend, some people called her out for it. And she, pretty promptly, just a couple days later, revealed that she would change the word that she used in there. And so she went back into the studio, I'm presuming, and rerecorded that moment. And she went from using that word to the word blast. And so now if you're listening to it on Spotify or any other streaming service, you are going to hear that version.

ESTRIN: Yeah, I went on Spotify, and it's just as if it were never there before in the first place. The new word is right there. And she's not the first major artist compelled to change their lyrics, right? It happened to the singer Lizzo recently over her song "Grrrls." And she used the same slur, right? What are a few other examples of this?

HARRIS: When I heard about this, the first thing that immediately came to mind for me was the movie "Aladdin" - the 1992 version. And in that film, the opening song, "Arabian Nights," has some - the original version had lyrics that were definitely kind of offensive to Arab Americans and actually spurred a complaint from the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The lyrics in it were kind of offensive in the sense that they suggested, like, stereotype around violence in Arabs. And so that was sort of...

ESTRIN: I think there was that that previous line - they're barbaric, but, hey, it's home? Is that the one that was changed?

HARRIS: There's barbaric - well, there's that. And it's also where they cut off your ear if they don't like your face. That was the original line.

ESTRIN: Oh, yeah. Yep.

HARRIS: And so they changed that. So that's one example. And then another one is in 1995, Michael Jackson released the album "HIStory." And on that album, he had a song called "They Don't Care About Us," and it contained some antisemitic lyrics. He claimed he was trying to use it in a not-antisemitic way. But it got so bad and there were so many complaints that just a few days after it was released, he, you know, gave an interview and said that he would go into the studio and change the lyrics.

Now, I don't actually know if he changed the lyrics because if you listen to it now, and if you watch the music video that was made for it afterwards, they don't actually change the lyrics, but they instead, like, kind of blurred it out so that you can't really hear it. You get rid of those lyrics. In any case, it's obvious that at that time, it was a big enough deal that he had to address it in some way and say that he was going to change the lyrics.

ESTRIN: So, I mean, offensive lyrics have been around a long time in music and in art. I mean, what has changed?

HARRIS: Well, for one thing, we live in a digital age now. Those two examples I just gave - obviously, those were before we were streaming everything, where physical media was still very much king. And physical media, if you're doing that, that makes it a lot harder to change - go back and change things or respond to controversies where people are urging you to change the lyrics. So now that we live in this digital age, it makes it so much easier to be able to just - as we saw with Lizzo and Beyonce - hop in, change it up really quickly. And you're updating the song just like any company would update their software. And a lot of artists are more aware and want to be seen as being aware of what's happening and willing to change and please their audiences.

ESTRIN: But, you know, let's take the opposite take here. I mean, in 2015, the rapper Snoop Dogg gave an interview. And he said he would not change any of his offensive lyrics from the past, even though today he has a different attitude toward women. And his argument is that the words he used represented who he was at the time. So is there something to be said for just leaving art as is?

HARRIS: There is something to be said for that. I - and this kind of comes up a lot in other art as well, too, right? So, like, think of something like "Gone With The Wind" where, you know, obviously, years have passed, and most people realize this movie is - as well-made as it is and as memorable as it is, it is also very racist. A company like Turner Classic Movies, who broadcasts this movie, they have taken, in recent years, to putting a disclaimer ahead of any showings and really talk about the history and put it in context.

So I kind of agree that when it comes to music - especially if we're talking music that was made five, 10 or way longer ago than now - you know, you have to just kind of accept that that is a moment in time and not necessarily bury it. But I do think there's a way for artists to kind of think forward. And maybe if you're in concert, change the lyrics or switch it up a bit. Artists do that all the time, even, you know, when it's not a controversy.

ESTRIN: Yeah.

HARRIS: They switch up the art all the time. So I think there's room to have both things and acknowledge the history while also doing better going forward.

ESTRIN: How have race and gender shaped this conversation? Because, you know, a lot of people note that in music, there's a higher standard for Black women than other artists. There does not seem to be a public outcry for Eminem to change his many offensive lyrics, for instance.

HARRIS: So far we've seen Black women, like Lizzo and Beyonce, be really willing to do these things quickly and address them quickly, whereas men, especially, and other people have not. They've dug their heels in. And so once people like Beyonce and Lizzo start doing this, then of course people are going to keep asking them to do things, like Monica Lewinsky did. Asking - she tweeted about another line from a previous album from Beyonce - "Partition," the song "Partition." And that has a line that refers to Monica Lewinsky directly. And so she wanted her to change that lyric. And it's like - it's really hard. And I think that we have to be willing to challenge not just the Black women artists, but also challenge all the other artists, like Eminem, as well.

ESTRIN: Yeah. I mean, before we let you go, what does all this tell us about the moment that we're living in? What does it say about pop culture right now?

HARRIS: Well, I think it says that we're - pop culture is very much at a crossroads and has been for a while about how to balance artistry with the changing times and with audiences being more progressive and wanting to see their - the artists that they love also reflect those same values. You know, seeing Beyonce and Lizzo respond to this, I think, is a good path forward. But I think, also, we haven't even gotten to the point yet where we think about those lyrics before they even make it out into the world, you know? And so there's a lot of progress to be had. But I think it's - overall, I think it's a good thing to know that artists are listening, and they're thinking about these things - or at least some artists are thinking about these things.

ESTRIN: That's NPR's Aisha Harris, host of the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Thanks, Aisha.

HARRIS: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.