A still from “Hello Kitty.” Source: www.deathandtaxesmag.com
In recent music news, Canadian pop rock singer Avril Lavigne released a music video for her song entitled, “Hello Kitty.” It wasn’t long before the brightly coloured video received harsh criticism from the internet world. In order to spare your eyes of actually watching the video, here’s the breakdown: it begins with Lavigne shouting out Mina Saiko, arigato/Ka-ka-ka-kawaii! She then prances and hops around the streets of Tokyo with four uniformly dressed (and unimpressed) dancers in tow. In her cupcake-adorned tutu, she moves from a bedroom, to a candy store, and then a sushi restaurant. Billboard called it an “embarrassment in any language” while Entertainment Weekly likened the video to “staring into the vacuum.”
Some are even going as far as to say that it’s racist and pathetic. After all, how often do you see a 29-year-old white woman prance around in a music video about a Japanese cartoon cat while shouting Japanese phrases? Sure, no one expected her to condense a rich and complex culture into a three and a half minute song but there are other reasons as to why this video failed to be successful. Here are just three of those reasons.
1) The Lyrics Are Terrible
Unbelievably, Avril Lavigne co-wrote the song with her husband, Nickelback’s front man Chad Kroger. Keep in mind that Chad Kroger is 39-years-old. Another thing to note is that this song is a “flirtatious and somewhat sexual” tribute to her love for Hello Kitty. When two adults/professional musicians come together to write music, would you expect to hear this come out of a grown adult’s mouth?
Let’s all slumber party
Like a fat kid on a pack of Smarties
Someone chuck a cupcake at me
Someone update the Oxford English Dictionary! Apparently, “slumber party” can now be used as a verb in the English language. There is also the issue of the phrase “like a fat kid on a pack of Smarties,” as though the candy is a drug taken only by obese children. Thirdly, when has anyone ever uttered the words “someone chuck a cupcake at me”? If this is their idea of penning an ode to Hello Kitty with a flirtatious and sexual subtext, then that is one very confusing and least sexual manner to convey one’s sexuality.
2) The Video’s Cultural Appropriation Wasn’t Fully Thought Out
Cultural appropriation is defined as such: the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different culture group. This appropriation involves one dominant culture taking the customs, garments, symbols, images, etc. from another. It’s not mutual and presents the culture being appropriated as a trendy commodity to be shilled out to the masses. In relation to “Hello Kitty,” there isn’t exactly a particular aspect of Japanese culture that she’s parading around in the video. There’s no mention of the Lolita subculture, Decora, Visual Kei, or the countless other subcultures and fashions in Japan. Nope, this video reduces a rich, complex, and ancient culture to a couple of images that are colourful, and “kawaii.” It’s as though she has taken this imagery and created a bubblegum caricature of the Japanese aesthetic for her target audience. It could be considered a byproduct of the materialistic world that we live in. You could even say the same thing about Gwen Stefani’s 2004 hit video “Hollaback Girl” or Victoria’s Secret “Sexy Little Geisha” outfit.
3) Her Response to the Backlash is Immaturity at its Finest
On Wednesday, April 23, Youtube pulled the video down from its website amidst the overwhelming backlash. Like a mature and thoughtful adult, Avril responded to the criticism via Twitter:
According to various music sources, Avril Lavigne’s last album didn’t sell too well in the North American market. You could even say that her Sk8r Boi reign over the Canadian music scene is long over because her listeners matured and moved on. However, her record went platinum in Japan and China, where she happens to have a large fan base. Therefore, she’s going to cater to the group that’s giving her the most sales/attention right now. However, this doesn’t excuse her tweets.
The exertion that she loves Japanese culture, and that she spends half of her time in that country, is the basic equivalent of saying this: “Oh I’m not racist. I’ve got five black friends who’d let me touch their hair!” You could imagine her saying all of this as she’s sticking her tongue out and rolling her eyes. Following her tweets, she uploaded the video again, which can be viewed at the bottom. While it’s debatable as to whether this level of outrage is warranted, her reaction was a shocking display of immaturity, especially for a 29-year-old. She could have addressed the controversy in a calm and dignified manner, even if it means apologizing just to get the haters off of her back. In that respect, her attitude is quite fitting for a song about a famous children’s cartoon character. Here’s to never growing up, unfortunately.
“Hello Kitty” isn’t offensive because it’s a racist jab at Japanese culture and its people. It’s offensive because it’s a juvenile, insipid, and a tasteless waste of time. There’s no need to take Avril Lavigne or her video seriously since she clearly doesn’t. Although, could the public’s reaction to the video be a sign of their rising standards in what they expect from popular music? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
