Kehlani, Hayley Kiyoko and More Slam ‘Girls’ for Being Harmful to LGBTQ Community
On Friday (May 11), Rita Ora, Cardi B, Bebe Rexha and Charli XCX teamed up for the new song "Girls." Described as a "celebration of love" by Ora, not everyone is a fan of the song. Following the release of "Girls," artists such as Kehlani, Hayley Kiyoko and Katie Gavin of MUNA slammed the song for doing more harm than good to the LGBTQ community.
"Hate to be THAT guy but there were many awkward slurs, quotes, and moments that were like 'word? word,'" Kehlani tweeted on Friday. "And don't make this personal," she added. "I have an incredible song out with one of the artists, and would love to work with the other three as well... there. were. harmful. lyrics. period. love y'all."
While Kehlani alluded to some of the song's lyrics, Kiyoko was more explicit, specifically slamming the song for the line "Sometimes, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls/Red wine, I just wanna kiss girls, girls, girls," which is sung by Ora and Charli on the track.
"But every so often there come certain songs with messaging that is just downright tone-deaf, which does more harm than good for the LGBTQ+ community," Kiyoko wrote in a statement posted on Twitter. "A song like this just fuels the male gaze while marginalizing the idea of women loving women."
Kiyoko continued, "I know this wasn't the intention of the artists on the song, but it's the lack of consideration behind these lyrics that really get me. I don't need to drink wine to kiss girls; I've loved women my entire life."
As for Gavin, the singer took a more sarcastic route with her response, writing, "Sooo this song 'girls.' I feel grateful for it. grateful for the reminder that the songwriting world is full of people that feel entitled to write about communities to which they do not belong. grateful for the renewed fire under my ass to give us queer people better bangers.
While Ora has yet to respond to the backlash, she did tell Billboard, "I know that people will read it differently. But the real message is just about freedom and acceptance, and being what you want to be, and it being OK."
Check out the statements from the singer's below.
Stars Who Have Bravely Come Out: