First, the song itself. The first part that I've got to mention is the production. Most of it is very generic, but then there are those weird chanting noises in the background. They ruin the flow of the song for me, detract from the actual lyrics, and just sound bad.
For each artist's part:
Rita Ora's chorus and verse seem very uninspired. The "I'm 50/50 and I'm never going to hide it" part is good and shows that this song had potential to be a bi anthem, but it's squandered. "I'm getting down with her, uh huh" is just boring.
Charli's pre-chorus is decent if not weird. Her obsession with weed is annoying and doesn't really go with the rest of the song at all.
Bebe sounds pretty good, but since when is she LGBT at all? I guess I missed the memo. Still, the best singing part of the song.
Cardi's part (side note: why do they say "Ritaaaa..." then move on to Cardi?) is probably the highlight of the song, despite the controversy with her boyfriend possible, but unlikely status as a homophobe. Her flow is really good, especially the "seven figure, never need a ...." part. It adds the charisma that this song really needs.
Overall, this song just sounds like so much filler. The production is mostly generic, the lyrics are trite, and none of the vocal performances are spectacular. Cardi's verse is good, but not amazing.
**Final Verdict:**
**3/10**
Now, for the drama:
Personally, I didn't see a problem with this song at first. Sure, it is very carefree about the LGBT themes, but I didn't think that being carefree was a bad thing; in fact, I thought that it was good to give us some anthems that LGBT people could relate to more.
However, I had a change of thought when I realized how differently the GP would treat this song if it was called "Boys" and was sang by mostly B list male artists, like Charlie Puth, Shawn Mendes, Jason Derulo, and some rapper. That's where I realized the double standard that affects both sides of the coin, and how this song just feeds into that.
Our culture has fetishized casual lesbian pairings so much that girls getting drunk/high and kissing (or more) each other is totally normal; that's what this song is. Meanwhile, it's a total taboo for men to do something like that. Now, I'm not trying to say that men have it so bad or something, but if we keep pushing WLW as a fetish or just something to do as parties, that's going to harm most of the LGBT community. They'll take real WLW as fakers or just doing it for the attention, and they'll continue to make it unacceptable for MLM to have casual affairs.
There's nothing wrong with LGBT people having casual affairs; far from it. If hetero people are having casual affairs, expecting LGBT people to be serious all the time in their relationship would just be unfair. The issue is when pieces of pop culture, like "Girls", feed into the stereotype of girls just liking girls after getting drunk, or as a party trick, or as a way to seek attention. This is harmful to just about everyone involved. Now, is "Girls" the end of the world? No. It's not overtly harmful, and I believe that the intentions were pure. I'd just think that it's not healthy for anything to promote the fetishization of LGBT people. This song isn't unique in that aspect, but efforts should definitely be made to prevent more songs from doing so.
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