It took a hot minute but Lauryn Hill has finally responded to online chatter that her new single, "Neurotic Society," is anti-gay for lines that deride "drag queens," "social tranvestism," and what sounds like "girl men." But according to the former Fugees frontwoman, the song's not hating on gays. It's hating on anyone who "hides behind neurotic behavior."
"'Neurotic Society' is a song about people not being, or not being able to be, who and what they truly are, due to the current social construct," Hill wrote on Tumblr.
"I am not targeting any particular group of people, but rather targeting everyone in our society who hides behind neurotic behavior, rather than deal with it."
"The world we live in now is, in many ways, an abhorrent distortion, an accumulation of generations and generations of response to negative stimuli. Many don't even have a concept of what normal is, by virtue of having lived afraid, ashamed, as victims of abuse, or inadequately handled for so long. I believe in coming up from under that fear and allowing the psyche/soul to truly heal. I understand that healing is a process, but I also believe that it is our responsibility to seriously care for ourselves, so that we can extend that level of concern for others and positively affect our environment.
"Everyone has a right to their own beliefs. Although I do not necessarily agree with what everyone says or does, I do believe in everyone's right to protest. The overarching message of my music is to get up and stop compromising! And hopefully it will stimulate and motivate the changes that our society needs."
She does not make clear what those changes may include, nor does she make clear whether she thinks drag queens and girl men are part of the compromising situation in which she thinks we've found ourselves.
