Tweens Have a Feeling

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I was checking out iTunes today– I always like to see what kids are watching and listening to. I noticed that the Black Eyed Peas song “I Gotta Feeling” was still the #1 most downloaded song, and its video is at #5. I’ve blogged about this song and video before. The song is very catchy. And like most of their songs, it doesn’t contain explicit lyrics, so it’s deemed “clean.”

Then there’s the video.

Sigh.

This is also deemed clean. If you didn’t catch my last blog about it… you might want to take a look at it. Your kids can see this music video on YouTube, AOL, iTunes… anywhere. After all, most computers that have some sort of “Net Nanny” or “Cyber Patrol” parental controls don’t block iTunes. (I use a monitoring software on my kid’s computer, but it allows iTunes) 

After looking at iTunes, I searched YouTube to see what kind of traffic the video was getting and I found this homemade video from two little girls.

I’m a little torn when I watch this. On one hand I see two cute little tween girls (they look about my youngest daughter’s age- somewhere between 10 and 12) who really seem like they are really having fun making a fun music video. It’s cute- swinging on swings, jumping on couches and doing gymnastics. But then you see them doing what the music video world has taught them well– imitating the party scene, and mouthing words like “Losing control” and “Take it off.”

I’m not freaking out… I’m not judging anyone. To me it’s just sad to see the loss of innocence. The contrast between two little girls playing on swings one moment, then holding up a Martini glass, tossing money in the air like a rapper… pretty intriguing. And if that contrast isn’t enough. Click from the innocent image of a child doing cartwheels on the grass to the original video where women in bikini tops grope and kiss each other. What are the odds that these two girls did NOT see this official Black Eyed Peas video? Would you want your 11-year-old seeing that video? Would you want her remaking that video?

Hmmmmm.