Ever since Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” produced by Patrice Wilson, came out, it’s been perfectly acceptable to make fun of anything and everything he produces. All of his videos are terrible, autotuned and feature 12-year-old girls who, especially in the wake of pop culture’s obsession with Black, have at least some understanding that they’re going to get their 15 minutes of fame, but they’re also going to get ridiculed. Their parents must know this too, but they seem to be totally fine with shelling out the money so their children can follow their dreams and get famous.
They also seem to be totally fine with letting their children spend an excessive amount of time with Wilson, who always raps in each of their videos and comes off as extremely creepy. He’s usually hanging out with a bunch of preteen girls in these videos with no parents around. In one of his last videos with Alison Gold (the highly creative “ABCDEFG”), he roofies a bunch of children while pretending he’s giving them love potions because that’s way more of an acceptable explanation. But it’s nothing compared to that time that he played the pimp to Gold’s prostitute, which happened in his latest video with Gold, “Shush Up.”
No matter how terrible all of Wilson’s videos have been in the past, nothing compares how inappropriate and unacceptable “Shush Up,” is. It starts off with Gold, who is barely wearing anything, robbing a jewelry store and getting caught. In jail, she’s handcuffed to an electric chair, and she says that her last words are “Gold is the new black.” Get it? Cut to a bunch of skimpy dancers and Gold dressed entirely in gold, singing over and over again “Forget the water, turn up the heat, turn it up now, turn it up now,” because this entire song just has to be sexual, even though she’s 12. Then she’s getting electrocuted, which is what she seemed to want.
So Wilson not only thinks that it’s appropriate to electrocute prostitutes, but that they’re asking for it. The chorus then builds into a fast dance beat, as she tells her guards, “Just crank it or just shush up,” which makes no sense. Her other catch phrase throughout the song, “It’s the gold like the seed,” is just as baffling.
Transition to Gold in a hospital bed, as overly sexualized nurses shoot something (heroin?) into her IV. As she’s holding a creepy doll and getting wheeled through the hospital, she sings, “You can’t restrain me, cause I’m so free.” Except she’s clearly getting restrained. The only redeeming part about this song is that it’s not as autotuned, and maybe Gold has an iota of vocal talent. But that’s not the point.
Now she’s in junkyard, wearing an outfit made primarily out of yellow caution tape, as a bunch of construction men watch her dance. But that’s not even the worst part. She’s back in gold, and she has a visitor in jail. Patrice Wilson. She asks him, “What do I do?” His chilling response? “You do what I told you to do.” This exchange sums up the entire song. Wilson is essentially pimping Gold out.
The rest of the song doesn’t really make any sense either. Gold tells Wilson, “Maybe I can save them,” but doesn’t explain any further. She then has this line, which is supposed to be emotional or a bridge or something different but is really just a bunch of words jumbled together: “Why are not so cold/Got you so cause you shiver.” She then makes the sacrifice of switching from gold to silver, which really just means partying with a bunch of people, but the viewer gets the sense that something sinister is going down. The video ends with her watching herself in the electric chair.
Predictably, people freaked out that Gold, a preteen, made a video that was pretty much child pornography. A petition on change.org was set up by Social News Daily with the goal of getting Wilson to “stay away from little girls.” Wilson told Mosh News earlier this week that, “To everyone concerned about the music video — Shush Up — it’s pure art, and it’s no different than a Willow Smith video or the 10 year old dancer, Kaycee Rice. It’s no different from watching Dance Moms, dancing with their kids or Toddlers and Tiaras. This video is simply art and in my opinion, has a lot of creative elements to it.”
As if “Whip My Hair” is anywhere close to the debauchery that occurs in “Shush Up.”
Wilson must have changed his mind yesterday, as he took down the video and his company, PMW Live released a statement blaming the situation entirely on Gold’s mother. Part of it reads, “As we were developing the concept and direction for Alison’s 4th video, the idea to create something older and edgier initially started with Alison’s mother. Ultimately, we were asked to develop something that showcased her acting, dancing, singing, and artistic talents.
“This is how “Shush Up” came to fruition. Before, during, and after production, everyone involved was pleased and excited for the release of the music video. However, after many months of planning and preparation for the release of “Shush Up,” concerns regarding the public’s perception of the video were voiced to PMW Live for the first time by Alison’s mother after releasing the video yesterday.”
Gold’s mother is certainly partially to blame, as she should have never let this video happen, let alone posted it on YouTube. But the fact that PMW Live refuses to take any responsibility for this video is unacceptable. Hopefully, future parents will think twice before letting Wilson exploit their girls. Viewers can also do their part by ostracizing Wilson, not these girls for these videos.
Though the video is no longer on YouTube, it can still be found on Perez Hilton’s website.
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