Lady Gaga - A Star Is Born

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Pretty much everyone is learning just how awful things are right now. Can you go bug the Carter’s thread or something now? There’s not really anything more for Gaga to do.
How though? This is what I don't get. She literally got backlash when the song was released. Him being a creep has been wildly known for decades. All I meant in my original comment was that I wished she was more clear and honest about the fact that she did know about the allegations at the time and just chose to ignore them. Like Chance The Rapper admitted in his response. You're the ones turning this into a 3 page thing just because my comment wasn't 100% positive.
 
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Nope. The man recorded himself urinating on a 14 year old girl. That video was bootlegged back in the day - the fact that people bootlegged it is another disgusting layer on top of the original degradation - long before 2013 rolled around.

And the girl and her family denied it was her on the tape at the time, allowing R Kelly to be acquitted. As far as the public was concerned he had done nothing wrong because nobody could confirm her age. This has remained a strictly black issue for 30 years now. It’s not surprising at all to see primarily white people only now learning the depth of what was (and still is) going on.
 

Mr.Arroz

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T-b-h, she's in the industry and while these allegations have been present in some form for many years, the overarching issue is much more widely known in Black and other communities of color. As a Black person that's loved music and grown up with R&B, you heard R. Kelly's music nearly all of the time and were in the presence of his music constantly, which then extended to hearing of his legal history and the child pornography, etc. I'm not saying her whiteness was a considerable factor here, but it definitely plays a part. Maybe she didn't realize the extent of the allegations or the depth of the matter, and yes, her team at the time (which was seemingly crashing down around her) could have better vetted her choices, but what matters is that she has apologized, she has offered her words, and she's removing the song from digital platforms. She's done her part to work toward absolving herself of her role in this whole situation. But that situation overall has to do with R. Kelly himself, and no amount of finger wagging from these closet trolls is going to change that.

Let the woman live her goddamn life. How y'all find the energy to constantly sacrifice your brain cells to look a fool bewilders me.
 
With everything we know now, “Do What U Want” makes for a rough listen even without R Kelly. The chorus is literally just “I telling you about how I disassociate to deal with trauma and abuse and I’m making it catchy while doing it.” The entire package is a cry for help.
Exactly. The entire record is really dark actually.

Do What You Want always read as a sort of demand for retraumatization to me. Swine is all the disgust, substance abuse, and dissociation that follows. I figured I was projecting when I first heard the album, but the more we learn about her the more I think I understood what she was going for.
 
She literally got backlash when the song was released.
I mean... she didn't. I remember this because I found the whole situation surreal. R Kelly being on the track literally wasn't a problem for anyone in the media until the circus around tearing her down really started to gather momentum a few months later and it became yet another thing to add to the pile along with her apparently blowing $25M of Interscope's money and Angela Cheng and everything else. It's not an excuse, but... yeah.

In terms of timing, I'm not really sure what people want. The ideal situation would be that the song and the collaboration didn't exist at all, but it is what it is. Did you want her to stop mid Super Bowl slot and address things apropos of nothing? The situation has changed and worsened recently in light of the new documentary, and she has responded the best way she can with how that . Also... the conversation and the optics and the consequences have also changed and evolved and gotten far more sophisticated and, thankfully, far more up-front. The pressures and expectations are (rightfully) different too in terms of social and sexual issues.

At every call for her to do better in the last few years, Gaga hasn't once responded by doubling down on ignorance or silence. She's listened, she's self-examined, and tried to find the most well-informed response. Once again, the heat got turned up, and she has responded as best she can.
 
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Also, I'll be completely up-front: back in the day I was mostly ignorant to the depth and depravity of a lot of the R Kelly stuff, and yes, it was... inconvenient for me in an album campaign where my fave was already brutally under fire, and the song was a bop that was Top 10 on iTunes and that was all that mattered. I know I'm not alone in that. But I'm older now, I'm far better informed, I can examine my feelings and thoughts, recognise they were wrong (and full of ignorance, tone-deafness, and micro/macro aggressions) and... do the best I can to atone. Gaga can only really do the same.
 
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I figured I was projecting when I first heard the album, but the more we learn about her the more I think I understood what she was going for.

There was something she said back when the album came out about how “real” fans would be able to see the album as she saw it and it was probably the best way to gain insight into her mind during that time. It definitely makes sense.
 
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R Kelly’s attorney released a messy statement:

Mr. Kelly has not committed any crime. It is unfortunate the extent people want to put his past relationships under a microscope for their own personal gain. But no one complained when they were living the glamorous Life as a rockstar Groupie or girlfriend. There are no victims-there are only those now exploiting Mr. Kelly for their 15 minutes of TMZ fame

Mr. Kelly appreciates that she recognized his immense talent and collaborated with him to help her career, but finds it regrettable that she is now exploiting this controversy to try and help her in her effort to win an Oscar

https://www.accessonline.com/articl...ble-that-shes-now-exploiting-this-controversy
 
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