You always hear the phrase "sex sells," but have you ever stopped to wonder why that is? Is a great song only great if it's being sung by a woman wearing not much more than her smile? Is a papertowel only effective at cleaning up spills if an attractive, muscular guy is pitching it? Does a certain drain cleaner take care of clogs better than the rest simply because the commercials are extremely sexually suggestive? A relatively new commerical for a hamburger features a lady who was originally pitched as an "All American Girl." After seeing her lick sauce from her fingers and run an ice cube all over her decolletage, most people probably aren't thinking about food or her being "the girl next door." It makes one wonder: does her sex appeal make the burger actually taste better?
Right now, the #1 Christian song on Billboard is "Overcomer" by Mandisa. "Royals" by Lourde is at #1 on the Hot 100. While the two songs are dramatically different in style and lyrical content, the music videos for them do have one big thing in common ... no "oversharing" of skin! Britney Spears' new video can't say that as she sports several different outfits that look like blinged up underwear and the #2 song on the Billboard Hot 100, courtesy of Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball" barely offers anything but skin!
Britney, now in her 30s and a mom of two little boys, talked about sex in music videos earlier this month on The TJ Show. It turns out that she's not terribly comfortable with the amount of skin she's expected to show. She talked about it during the interview, saying, "Oh my god, we showed way more skin and did way more stuff for the video then what is actually there. Like, I cut out half the video because I am a mother and because, you know, I have children, and it’s just hard to play sexy mom while you’re being a pop star as well." Yet the pop star knows that her industry expects a "less is more" persona when it comes to clothing. She explained, "A lot of sex goes into what I do. But sometimes I would like to bring it back to the old days when there was like one outfit through the whole video, and you’re dancing the whole video, and there’s like not that much sex stuff going on."
This is one of the big things that separates the Christian Music industry from the rest of the mainstream entertainment world ... Christian artists are allowed by their industry and their fans to let their talent and love of the Lord speak for itself in their music. Sex appeal is not liberally added in for effect. Christian artists aren't going onstage in suits and ballgowns, nor are they filming music videos in chin to toe sacks, but you won't see any female Christian singers taping or performing in their underwear and you won't see their male counterparts running around the stage with their shirts off and their underwear hanging out because their pants are belted at mid-butt level either!
Isn't music supposed to be about talent? Heart? Passion? If sex is what is selling, then why are we, the American public, buying it?
