Lovefraud recently received the following e-mail from a reader in the UK:
I wonder what your take on this pop-music video is? This song is played ad-infinitum on radio stations in the UK; you simply can’t escape it. What disturbs me is its indifference toward the glorification of sociopathic, even psychopathic, behaviour. Clearly the character the singer is playing out has a taste for control; inflicting degrading, humiliating behaviour, even torture, pain and —as the finale of the video suggests—murder; everything the UN Convention on Human Rights was meant to prevent.
The reader included a link to the song Sweet About Me, by Gabriella Cilmi, on YouTube. Here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElY5Gr845Fw
Quite frankly, the video is shocking.
It starts out like a typical music video with Cilmi singing in front of what appears to be a reggae-style garage band. We see quick cuts of young men—not part of the band—bopping their heads to the beat. Then, 40 seconds into the song, Climi sings the lyrics,
“Tell you something that I’ve found, that the world’s a better place when it’s upside down, boy.”
The camera shows a young man bound and hanging from the ceiling by his feet. We then get to the chorus:
“Sweet about me, nothing sweet about me, yeah.”
No kidding. Through the rest of the video, we see that six more men are bound, locked in a cage, strung up in a net and taped to the floor, and the singer loves every bit of it. As she says, there is truly nothing sweet about her.
16-year-old star
So who is this singer? Gabriella Cilmi is a 16-year-old singer from Australia. Sweet About Me, which she wrote, is her debut single, released in March, 2008. In May, her song knocked Madonna from the No. 1 spot on Britain’s top 10 chart.
An article in Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper on July 13, 2008, reported that Sweet About Me spent six weeks in the British top 10. On iTunes charts, Cilmi was No. 2 in Germany and Portugal, No. 3 in Switzerland and No. 5 in Italy.
I am appalled. Yes, the tune is catchy, but the lyrics and imagery of Sweet About Me are truly disturbing.
I suppose the same could be said about many music videos—especially the gangsta rap variety—but I don’t have first-hand knowledge because I don’t watch MTV. But when messages like “the climax of the perfect lie,” along with images of bondage and torture, are being glamorized, it’s no wonder that the world’s population of sociopaths seems to be growing.
Free: As humans we all have egos. Ego is part of the human condition (remember eating the fruit in the garden of Eden?). It’s whether egos are in check (humble) or out of control (self centered, self absorbed) is when harmony is replaced by chaos.
Peace.
Free: The ego is the opening of Pandora’s box.
Free I agree with you about the song.. I know now that I’m a different person.. my sweetness too is gone. I guess I’m just another bitter middle aged woman now, but at least my eyes are open.
Guys I can’t find the posts where we are planning a pre-Christmas party in NYC.. lol.. but I’d like to get together when/if possible.
kat: read up through the blogs in the past 2 days and look for Iwonder’s blogs.
Oh I forgot. Cris Rock said he was traveling around Europe. He went to the bank to exchange $3,000.00 US dollars. They looked at him and gave him a loaf of bread. That was his joke about what the American dollar is worth today.
If anyone is confused about the bank bail out. Look up the word “GREED” in your search engines on the net. You’ll see it loud and clear what is going on with our country and the big egos.
Peace.
dear free; and everyone here. i am an aussie and i like this song its big over here, i am not that young either. i think it is to be taken as a womans lib song if you really think about the deeper meaning of it all together words and visuals too. the woman young and old in australia are being very strong lately and me included, since ex s path experience. this young woman is strong and she is sweet too she is saying hey guys dont mess with me just cause i look pretty and sweet i am not here for you to play with, like the spaths do. i totally get this girl i am sweet too and look sort of innocent just the type the s paths go for right we know that dont we. but now i want to say to all the men i meet i am sweet but dont mess with me . fair enough to say this its about time the young woman around the world are getting wiser and wiser and thank god for this she is spreading the word to all about guys young and old messing with the heads of our pretty and sweet innocent woman. how can any one woman or man be angry about this . its real and its how the world is if youve been there with the s path you know this . after the s path i would of strung him up too like the men in the video how many of us felt like revenge on them. we may be sweet but the world just isnt any more . this song is empowering come on just think about it in the right light. she is being tongue in cheek about it she probably already knows a few s paths i think she is talking from past experience . how many s paths have thought oh shes sweet, innocent i can really screw with her mind and she wont do a thing about it either. i know its just how it was for me. or also maybe she is saying those sweet innocent guys you meet watch out cause there not that sweet after all .my ex s path tried to be as sweet and innocent as he could to get me. she is saying be ware to all, both sexes to the s path everyone kind sweet and innocent is ripe for the picking. she is saying watch out i aint that stupid or sweet, good for her its about time young girls start learning about this stuff so that they dont have to go thru what we have its is so positive i cant tell you how much we need this to come out in the open . and she is making it cool to say i am young but i am strong and i dont have to be sweet for men if i dont want to. i wish we could tell more young people especially woman about this horrible stuff some people can do to your mind and your whole life. education on this is the answer for all young people around the whole world good on her…………. and also george bush probably a s path too, look closer at what he has done. but i dont think this is the place for political arguements. love to all .
I am living in the UK and there hasnt been any outrage about this song, I think the video is tongue in cheek as one blogger has already mentioned. Black humour. The music industry always makes shock value videos to help market an average song which this is, remember it is allegedly written by a 16 yr old girl. I dont know if you got the video for Tatu over there, there was outrage in the uk about that, and the single was very successful in the charts.
Guess who ?
This artical is Good ! Its just that the truth is so bad!
I know that Satan was the angel of music ! remember back in the 80s Backmasking ? In colege they the Fundamentalist got me to throw out some of my music but when they wanted me to Quit Drinking BEER I had to put my foot down !:)~
My point is this Now they don’t have to hide it anywhere in a dvd cover or mumble it real soft ! they can blaintly Scream it at the top of thier Lungs and get Paid very very well for it , and the tune ? THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP
In Lord of the Rings THUMP was the sound of impending DOOM !
But maybe it’s just me ! love jere