Amanda Palmer and Reb Fountain have released a mashup performance of Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ and Nirvana’s ‘Rape Me.’
The performance was commissioned by comedian Lizz Winstead, who approached Palmer, asking her to cover a traditionally sexist song for the DoReMeToo fundraiser.
Palmer opted to cover Robin Thicke’s controversial 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines’, a song widely criticised for perpetuating rape culture and promoting a worrying attitude towards sex and consent.
Palmer and Fountain interpolated the song with ‘Rape Me,’ off Nirvana’s 1993 album In Utero. A song Kurt Cobain penned in support of women and against violence.
“We live in a world that constantly dismisses and minimizes rape and sexual violence. we sang this for those who – for whatever reason – cannot speak,” Palmer wrote in a statement accompanying the release.
“Every day is a fight to just feel sane in this insane culture. to anybody who is feeling silenced: we see you. we feel you. we’ve been there.” Watch the performance below.
Watch Amanda Palmer and Reb Fountain cover Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ and Nirvana’s ‘Rape Me’
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The cover follows American supermodel Emily Ratajkowski’s allegations that she was sexually assaulted by Robin Thicke on the set of the music video for ‘Blurred Lines.’
The allegations, first reported in the Sunday Times, feature in Ratajkowski’s forthcoming book of essays, My Body.
Ratakjowski claims Thicke “returned to the set a little drunk to shoot just with me”.
“Out of nowhere, I felt the coolness and foreignness of a stranger’s hands cupping my bare breasts from behind. I instinctively moved away, looking back at Robin Thicke,” she writes.
In a follow-up interview with People, the model explained her decision to stay silent about the incident until writing about it for My Body. “I was an unknown model and if I had spoken out or complained, I would not be where I am today; I would not be famous,” she said.
