Blurred Lines
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Blurred Lines" (2013) is a song recorded by American R&B recording artist Robin Thicke. Featuring guest vocals from American singer and producer Pharrell, "Blurred Lines" was produced by Thicke and Pharrell with an intention of creating a sound similar to Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up". The song was completed in less than an hour. In an interview with GQ's Stelios Phili, Thicke explained: "Pharrell and I were in the studio and [...] I was like, 'Damn, we should make something like that ["Got to Give It Up"], something with that groove.' Then he started playing a little something and we literally wrote the song in about half an hour and recorded it. He and I would go back and forth where I'd sing a line and he'd be like, 'Hey, hey, hey!' We started acting like we were two old men on a porch hollering at girls like, 'Hey, where you going, girl? Come over here!'" In a separate interview, Thicke clarified the meaning of the song's title, saying it referred to "the good-girl/bad-girl thing and what’s appropriate."
Marvin Gaye lawsuit
In August 2013, Robin Thicke preemptively sued the family of Marvin Gaye and Bridgeport Music regarding copyright infringement allegations the two companies made relating to "Blurred Lines"; Marvin Gaye's family accused the song's authors of copying the "feel" and "sound" of "Got to Give It Up" (the song which Thicke personally claimed was an influence on "Blurred Lines"), while Bridgeport claimed that the song illegally sampled Funkadelic's song "Sexy Ways". In the lawsuit, Gaye's family was accused of making an invalid copyright claim since only expressions, not individual ideas can be protected. Pharrell responded to the lawsuit by calling the two songs "completely different", further stating: "Just simply go to the piano and play the two. One's minor and one's major. And not even in the same key." In an interview Questlove also echoed Pharrell's statement saying "Look, technically it’s not plagiarized. It’s not the same chord progression. It’s a feeling. Because there’s a cowbell in it and a fender Rhodes as the main instrumentation — that still doesn’t make it plagiarized. We all know it’s derivative. That’s how Pharrell works. Everything that Pharrell produces is derivative of another song — but it’s an homage."
See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 2013 (U.S.)
- List of number-one R&B/hip-hop songs of 2013 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles of 2013 (Australia)
