An extremely raunchy song whose lyrics are supposedly "real, word-for-word consensual texts sent to a young woman by fraternity members" isn't just going viral on the Internet. It's a musical Rorschach test.
The tune, titled "Texts From A Beta," has had more than 283,000 views on YouTube since it was posted on Jan. 20 -- and almost as many opinions about its intent.
The pornographic opening lines sung by a female vocalist pretty much set the tone for the filth that follows:
I need you to greet me with your mouth wide open/ I'm so hungover and I need to f**k.
Wanna get filled later?/ Can you blow me?
Wanna f**k your throat for a while
The singer continues with other sexually explicit lyrics before the song climaxes with a choir and string ensemble.
Some websites, like The Frisky, have argued the song is a woman's musical revenge for unwanted sexual remarks.
"There’s nothing like hearing someone sing 'you’re gonna have to suck me real f***ing good' against a pipe organ and a nice melody to really remind you that while all men aren’t trash, some most certainly are," The Frisky opined.
Others have said the song is proof that some women like receiving dirty sexts.
The song is credited to GDI Productions. The people behind it have let the tune do the talking -- until now.
WARNING: This Video Contains Very Explicit Language
Matt Rafferty, a junior at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee majoring in music composition, said he and an unnamed friend wrote the song in February based on real-life sexts that a female friend showed him.
"The woman -- who doesn't want to be identified -- showed the texts to me and another friend and we knew we had to set these to music," Rafferty, 20, told The Huffington Post.
Though some people believe the song is a subtle protest against sexual harassment, Rafferty said its real intent was laughs, pure and simple.
"My friend wasn't offended by these texts," he said. "This is not an issue of harassment. [The song] was sort of a joke."
That said, he's not surprised the song is inspiring varying reactions from people.
"The material does carry room for discussion," Rafferty said. "It's really funny to see the reaction, all the different spins. Some see it as a joke, some as social commentary."
The song's title, "Texts From A Beta," suggests the texts were written by a member or members of Beta Theta Pi, a fraternity that was disbanded from Vanderbilt in December, according to the Vanderbilt Hustler, the university's school newspaper.
While Rafferty said he knows the individuals involved in the sexting personally, he will not comment on their identities -- or whether the texts came from one guy or several. He did note that the singer was not the recipient of the sexts.
A former frat member speaking anonymously to the Vanderbilt Hustler said he thought some of the texts the song uses may have been sent by members of other fraternities "but Beta was chosen to fit (a) stereotype.” Rafferty wouldn't comment on that claim.
He said he recorded the video in early December with the help of 23 musicians, two cameramen and an audio engineer.
"We played it a few times for friends before we started recruiting musicians," Rafferty said. "We would play a little bit of the song and everyone was enthusiastic."
Rafferty said the recording session went smoothly.
"By the time we did the recording, both the singer and I had been through the song so many times that the lyrics no longer fazed us, if you can imagine," he said. "It still took a few dry runs at the beginning of the session for everyone to at least act serious."
Now that the video has gone viral, Rafferty said he's been getting inquiries from fans of the lead singer's performance. She continues to want anonymity, he said.
Rafferty, studying in Vienna, Austria, this semester, said he is overwhelmed by the response.
"It's like an out-of-body experience," he said. "I figured it would be popular on campus, but not really go anywhere else."
Rafferty said he's now thinking of a possible sequel, but doesn't want to "half-ass it."
He said he's learned an important lesson from the experience: The price of success with a filthy song is having to tell your parents.
"I told them about it, but said they could never listen to it. Despite my warnings, they did go ahead," he said, laughing nervously.
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