"Fuck the scene, I'm the Queen
Headline spot goes to the abuser (that's right)
Half my idols are fucking losers
If I'm the bitch just starting rumours
What about the dogs turned into groomers"
Headliner is the artist or band on a concert or festival that performs last, and they are considered to be the biggest artist of the concert/festival.
Hannah (Scene Queen) grew up in the scene subculture.
Men are sometimes called dogs/dawgs in slang.
It's called grooming when an adult manipulates a minor into performing sexual things for them.
She's calling her (former) idols abusers, losers and groomers.
There's also a double: bitch is a female dog and dogs can be groomed, which is like barber shop and haircut place, but for dogs.
The double also hints, that she might have been one of the girls that these male artists were grooming, when she was underage.
"Good bands save their fans, oh, I laugh at the irony"
Music and art in general are a powerful force. The lyrics and how they are delivered, the instrumental, and how all of these things make you feel can truly save lives and make you overcome a lot of the issues you face in life. People have woken up from coma when they hear their favourite song. There are multiple studies on this topic by people way more qualified to speak on it than I am, so I'm not getting too much into it here.
For teenagers, their idols are almost god-like figures. The music and shared experiences with the artists make them feel like they know the artist on a personal level. It's called a parasocial relationship and adults can have them, too. Teenagers' brains aren't as developed as adults', they lack the life experience adults have, the hormones in their body make them more emotional and their changing bodies and society's expectations make them insecure about themselves. They are very vulnerable and easy to manipulate. They connect with the music and feel a connection to the artist, express their admiration and love and then they are even more vulnerable because they love the artist and if the artist shows any attention to them at all, they feel validated, seen, heard, understood, etc. It means the world to them.
Good artists (good people who are artists) recognize the power imbalance and let the fans know they are valid and appreciated, without getting too much involved with them. But some artists get too involved with their fans, in this example to the point of grooming them for sexual favors. So, it is ironic if a band member "saves" a fan with their music, but abuses the power they have over the fan by giving them decades / life long trauma by grooming them.
"Shitheads get off on blatant misogyny"
Getting off means to be sexually aroused / get sexual satisfaction about something.
Misogyny is hatred towards women.
She's saying they get sexual satisfaction, literally, by being blatant misogynists, by using their (underage) female fans for their own sexual pleasure. If they'd care about the girls, they'd realize they are children who look up to you. They are not adults, they cannot consent to sex with you. And sleeping with fans is a bit shady in the first place, because of the power imbalance. If you care about girls/women, you don't use them like that.
"I'll go full ice pick lobotomy
If I see one more notes app apology"
Lobotomy is a procedure where the frontal lobe is separated from the rest of the brain. It leaves the lobotomized person unable to i.e. speak and move voluntarily (things you need to be able to groom someone and take sexual advantage of them). It was used back in the day to "cure" people from various mental problems they had, leaving them in a zombie-like state. Ice pick was a common method, since it left a small, clear exit wound that was easy to sew. Nowadays, it's considered cruel and barbaric.
'Notes app apology' is an apology someone has quickly jotted down on their phone, because their PR person told them to, after they did or said something wrong. It's viewed as fake, as something you do to make the public like you again instead of actually being sorry for what you did. A proper apology can save your ass in some cases. But even that is not enough when we're talking about statutory rape (sleeping with underage fans).
"I'm sick of good people getting overlooked
If a bitch wants to be famous
Tell 'em 'Write a better hook, pussy'"
Bad people use shady methods to get ahead in life and to get famous. Then they headline shows and some of them abuse their fans. Good people don't get the attention, they get overlooked, because the bad people steal the spotlight.
Scene Queen is "gently" recommending that the bad people wrote better music instead of using said shady methods to get ahead.
"Pink wristbands on the guest list
Bras hanging on the bus
Yeah, you get a lot of girls
But not one is eighteen plus"
In concerts or bar gigs, underage attendees are sometimes let in, but they have to use a wristband of certain color so bartenders can easily recognize them and not sell them alcohol. In this song, the wristbands are pink. Most of Scene Queen's songs are "Pink [something]". I think it's her way to be hyperfeminine and provoke people. It's kinda genius. And very punk. I mean, all she's doing is being girly AND smart, and if someone hates her for it, they're just exposing their own bigotry.
The underage people with the pink wristbands are on the guest list - they're going to the afterparty, to spend alone time with the band...
Bras hanging off a tour bus means there's band member(s) in the bus, having sex with women. Give them privacy. Many bands also collect bras like this, to brag how many women they've slept with.
This is the chorus and Scene Queen is making it VERY clear that these "women" are under 18 years old, they're underage girls.
"Eighteen plus, eighteen plus
Get those children off your bus
Eighteen plus, eighteen plus
Get those children off, you're busted"
If they're under 18, they're CHILDREN.
In the music video, Scene Queen is driving a yellow school bus with bras hanging on it, btw. Very good visualization of the problem.
We've already established what "getting off" means.
Don't groom children or you're going to be busted = caught and arrested by the police.
There's doubles: get the the children OUT off your tour bus, vs "get them off", aka statutory rape (when someone under the age of consent says they consent to the sexual acts, but because they are UNDER the age of CONSENT, what they say is irrelevant - having sexual relations with them is illegal no matter what they say). Also, "bus" and "busted" have an alliteration (beginning of the word rhymes), which I count as a second double.
"If nice guys finish last (always)
Then a stadium tour is a victory lap"
Good people "finish last", bad people finish first... In many different ways.
If you run a race and win, you get to do a victory lap.
Like we talked about, bad and selfish people do achieve more in life. i.e. stadium tours.
"If the shoe fits, shove it up your ass"
Combination of three sayings:
"If the shoe fits, wear it" means that there's a generalized remark or criticism and if you relate to it, you should accept it as something that describes you.
"Shove it up your ass" expresses anger and disgust, and "put one's foot in someone's ass" means beating the shit out of someone.
She's saying that if you relate to this, if you do this shit to minors, you're disgusting and you should be beating yourself up for it, figuratively. You should be ashamed of yourself.
"Does prison come with an AA pass?"
The artists are criminals, so they belong in prison.
AAA is a backstage pass that gets you anywhere, it's like VIP but one step above it. But she says only two A's, so it could be like saying AAA, but "passing" on that offered "opportunity", like, no thanks. "AA-- pass!" 🛑✋ Stop the BS, talk to the hand.
AA can be Alcoholics Anonymous, but I don't think that's what she means. It could be one layer on the song, though.
AA could be Actor's Access, which is like a backstage pass to a theater production, but better. Because these abusive artists are acting like they're good people and acting like they care about their fans.
"Slap on the wrist, no one gives a shit
It is what it is, it is what it is
Slap on the wrist, no one gives a shit"
These situations are glossed over way too much. People saying sentences like "Boys will be boys!" or "It is what it is - the rock'n'roll lifestyle! What did these girls expect, being invited to the backstage?" Umm... I can tell what the teenage girls were NOT expecting - to be SA'd by their idols!
"I'm too old for this, get it?"
Scene Queen aka Hannah Rose Collins was ~26yo when this song was released. Over 18.
Vs. the expression "I'm too old for this", I've been seeing this same shit for way too long.
"The allegations that have been made against a member of-
Are a matter we do not take lightly
Oh, s-, they did it again"
--
"Refreshing page
Ahh, it's not that fucking hard!
Shame on you!"
In the song, this robotic voice reads this headline, that we've all seen countless of times: "The allegations that have been made against a member of *bleep bleep bleep* are a matter we do not take lightly" -- "Oh sh*t, they did it again" -- "Refreshing page"
She intentionally put three bleeps in the band name, because so many of the bands in the scene subculture have names with three words in them.
Out of this 5yo document alone: Band Accusations - Google Sheets we find Pierce the Veil, CallMeKarizma (which I did not know of! he's off The Vibe and I won't write about him on this blog anymore!), Front Porch Step, Black Veil Brides, Cage the Elephant, Nothing But Thieves, Tiny Moving Parts, You Blew It, The King Blues, Sad Dance Party, Stages & Stereos, She Wants Revenge, Smarter Than Robots. And that's JUST the bands with three letter names who didn't kick out the person who was alleged of such things. It's just a scratch off the surface.
But you get the point. Three words is a typical band name length in the scene. So using three beeps is intentional. It seems personal, but at the same time, it's very vague, because there are so many options of who it could be.
And then they get a slap on the wrist, like they're a kid who's misbehaving, even though they i.e. raped a drunken 15yo in their tour bus. It's glossed over, normalized and everyone moves on. It's horrible. These kinds of acts 1) should never happen in the first place, should not even cross anyone's mind to commit them 2) if someone does them, their career should be over. But no, they lay low a few months or years, or they claim none of it happened, and they just keep doing music and committing crimes.
It literally takes no effort not to rape someone. If they say no, do not touch. If they are underage, do not touch. If they are drunk or on drugs, do not touch. It's that simple. It's not that fucking hard!
PS. This blog post might get age restricted because of the nature of the lyrics, but I don't think it should. I think teenagers should be aware that this happens and that their idols might seem nice because of their lyrics or because you think they're cute or because they're nice to fans in front of the camera, but they might not be nice when no one sees what they're doing. And that if an adult says or does anything sexual towards you, any adult, artist or otherwise, it is not ok. An adult should not be interested in kids or teenagers in that way, only other adults. If an adult behaves like that towards you, do not believe anything they say, get as far away from them as possible and tell as many other adults as you can. Keep telling it until someone takes action and protects you and possible other victims. It is never your fault or something you should be in trouble for if an adult does or says something like this to you. Never. No matter what you did or said or anything, it is never your fault.
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