Open Thread: Chester French’s “Black Girls” [NSFW]

The video is a conceptually failure, lazy, and typical. The actual song is ehhhh. My English friends tell me it is not in fact common over there. So yeah. I mean they gave it the ol’ college try. Given that there hasn’t been a Black women appreciation song since what Black Star’s Brown Skin Lady (I’m genuinely curious and not being sarcastic) they’ll get a lot a love despite a bad video and a mediocre song because no one openly expressions love and adoration for Black women unless they specifically say a “redbone” woman.

I love it, but only because I love anything that gives love to black girls.  Is it objectifying?  Sure, but in such a positive way that who cares?  Now this is situational, because if it were a white woman doing a song about black men or ESPECIALLY a black man doing a song about a white girl I’d hate it.  But whatevs, it’s about showing some love to my sisters.  I’ll take it anyway I can.

I personally love the song and liked Chester French since 2009 when I saw them as an opening act for Pharrell and Common.  I’m indifferent towards the video.  Reading some of the comments about the video (on other blogs and posts) and the song, I do think that some are reaching with the idea that by stating that because they are saying “they have a thing for black girls”, they are automatically fulfilling the idea of the black women as a fetish to all other races trope.  I do, however, think that this is due to the bombardment of ideas of how no one wants black women, not even black men.  And of course, the new recent crusade of black men (both celebrity and non) needing to “save” black women by basically denigrating every single thing about us.  We get so wrapped up in constantly trying to defend ourselves that when a white guy comes along and says that he has a “thing” for us, we automatically downplay it as a fetish and not a real preference.  Yeah, he could have gone a different route with the video but honestly who cares.  Music videos are vastly becoming antiquated so this video didn’t really phase me and why would it.  Sure it plays to the lesbian fantasy of males but at least it’s not some greasy half naked girl making her butt cheeks clap in front of the camera with champagne and money being thrown at her.

Honestly, I don’t mind the lyrics–they’re a bit silly, in a hipster kind of way. The vid, however, undercuts the message because you mostly see the white girl working her blondish-looking hair. The Black girl, in contrast, seems like an accent on all of the whiteness on the screen. 

Exactly.

And why is it that when interracial homosexuality is portrayed in the media, it’s always the Black partner in service to the white one? 

I can’t be the only one who’s noticed that.

And if the song is about Black girls, then why is a white girl in the video AT ALL?

Who is Chester French?!? : )
As for the song, its meh, neither bad nor good.
As for the video, not a fan of the soft core pornishess of it to be honest.
Would have been more impressed if they actually used a white guy singing this to the black woman, rather than fetishizing a lesbian interracial romance.

Fetishizing, despite the vocalist’s claims to the contrary. Any time you’re interested  in a group of people based entirely on race -and they have nothing else in common- you are fetishizing. It suggests you’re silly enough to believe black women are monolithic. So the lyrics are so-so. I can see why some want to see good intentions or something positive here, but any attention is not necessarily good attention, and black women have been sexualized and fetishized historically, so don’t think it’s progress either. It’s classic racism to sexualize the other, an old tactic that’s been perpetrated on many populations.

And the video really makes that clear. The white woman’s conquering the black woman, and they stress the colors deliberately. They didn’t need to have her naked. They could have easily had a coy black woman clothed. I guess that’s not “edgy” enough. In this case, they tried to be edgy by exploiting a population that’s already been exploited backwards and forwards, so no points or respect from me. If they really wanted at least some props and a more debatable video, in my opinion, they wouldn’t have sexualized her. They would have exulted her by making the video about her, showing different glimpses of her, but that would have been too “romantic” or “soft” for their brand. It really is about the money. Btw, I agree it’s rehashing the lesbian fantasy yet again.

lol almost like I fell in love with a black girl by the catarcs although hetero..

I do think the’ in service to’ thing happens partially because of who is singing it.
when lil wayne or any rapper for that mater talks about red bones or kanye about white girls (“i’ll do anything for a blonde dyke”).. there’s still that feeling that the women they’re speaking of with that aesthetic are objects or pets

and if you’re a POC especially black singing about being primarily attracted to anything else, that’s dangerous.  beware of people hurdling accusations at you for being  a self hating negro. so you hardly see it.

as for why a white girl is present. idk lol i don’t know.

I feel creeped out by the video, in a way that I’m not usually creeped out by most white guys who say they’re “in to” black girls.   It still fetishizes and showcases a conventionally attractive white blonde woman in addition to, if not more than, that black actress.  I’m trying now to think of a single music video I’ve seen by a white male artist that even featured black females as sexy or love interests, and I can’t.  Even a song about being into black girls still needs to say “don’t worry, blonde girls, we will never stop loving you” to the point that it seems like the white woman is still in the forefront of attention, with the black woman feeling more like a prop to contrast the whiteness of the background and the white actress.

Also, I seem to be in the minority here, but I found the song really clunky and annoying, and way too generic as far as the music and the “na na na”s go.  This sounds like every indie pop group I’ve ever suffered through listening to, they just happen to acknowledge that women come in colors aside from white.  And my reaction is “so what.”  If he was really into “black girls” as something other than a fetish or a hipster status symbol, he wouldn’t have to screech about it.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?
I, personally, didn’t even take this as a compliment. Sure black women are receiving a lot of hate, but we don’t really need this. It’s offensive. 

That buckets all things together in ways that aren’t helpful.  For example, some black men may profess an exclusive desire for black women, as both a romantic and political statement against the way that black women have been treated historically.  That isn’t quite the same as stereotype based preferences.  

Also, attraction more generally is influenced (but not governed by) our environment.  You can have a preference that cloaks a fetish, or you can have a preference that appears to be race based, but actually isn’t if it’s applied across different groups. It’s much more complicated than a pat “this is this and this is that” analysis because we are dealing with people.  And if humans can’t define specifically what “race” is, what makes you think adding the politics of attraction to this quagmire will make things easier to understand?

 No, I don’t understand.  If “humans can’t define specifically what ‘race’ is” why are we then able to define it when it comes to attraction?  Expressing an exclusive desire for any race as a “political statement”, is just that racist.  If  a neo-nazi declared white-women as the epitome of beauty “as both a romantic and political statement” wouldn’t that be fucked up? 

Yes, we are more attracted to some people than others.  As evidenced in the fact that  we all deal with our fair share of broken hearts.  But exclusively being attracted to a certain ‘race’ is racist.  We weren’t designed to inherently find a social construct (race) attractive or non-attractive.

I’m an old white dyke. Who loves me some women-loving-women. (I also like this whole blog a lot.) But I’ve never heard of Chester French (like I said, I’m old). I sort of guessed it might be a male group, from the name, and I sure didn’t care about hearing a man sing those (kind of lame) lyrics. Plus I knew I wouldn’t be into the music itself (old, I said, WAY old).  What to do? Watch it with the sound off! I thought it was lovely—and I still don’t know or care who the band is or what they sound like.

Don’t know if it counts, but Robin Thicke’s “Lost Without You” video features his lovely biracial wife, Paula Patton

I thought the singer (white “lady”) was a dude? With the david bowie thing going on?

Well, confound the haters and LOVE YOURSELF!

What about it?

Actually, Jon B used to always used black women, and dark-skinned ones at that, in his videos.  

I think a better question would be if it’s every done in music that isn’t aimed at a black audience.

Good call Digital Coyote! Now THAT was a video that I’m sure would stir some debate.  This isn’t a new topic in Pop/Rock. I am old enough to remember the song “Brother Louie” by The Stories.  It was obviously about the Taboo love between a Black woman and a White man.  What I REALLY want to see is someone sing about the love of a black woman by an “other” man in a matter of fact way. What’s wrong with showing appreciation for the physical attributes of the object of your desire in a non-fetish way? I think the song and original video  ”Potbelly” by the fabulous Freshlyground, a South African group, is a good example of not making a big deal out of the color difference.  I didn’t mind the Chester French song or video.   Sure it would be nice if the video showed the man singing about the black woman, but the pen-ultimate of many a man’s desire–blond haired white women–singing about it is okay too. I get their point–kill two taboo stereotypes with one song/video. Poor timing? Maybe, but when will it ever be “Just right” and NO ONE have anything negative to say about it?