Guys, stop what you're doing: Liam Payne has created a biexualanthem. No, he hasn't come out – he’s written a bisexual anthem purely about women. You know, because writing about female love through the male gaze is not completely and horrendously overdone or problematic at all.
In his newly released Both Ways, Payne – who is credited as one of five writers on the track alongside RuthAnne, Steph Jones, Ian Frenzino and Andrew Haas, according to Genius – sings about having a bisexual girlfriend, having threesomes with her and being ‘young and stupid’ – you know, because bisexuality is just a stupid phase guys, didn't you know?
‘My girl, she like it both ways. She like the way it all taste,’ Payne sings. ‘Couple more, we'll call it foreplay. No, no, I don't discriminate.'
‘Lovin' the way that she's turning you on, Switching the lanes like a Bugatti Sport,’ he drones on. ‘Nothing but luck that she got me involved, yeah. Flipping that body, go head, I go tails. Sharing that body like it's our last meal. One and a two and a three, that's for real.’
And wait, it gets worse. ‘She said we're young and we're stupid,’ he belts out. ‘She said, "Come on, boy, let's do this". Make every day my birthday. Let's celebrate, like oh my gosh, She do things you won't believe.’
You just WON’T believe it, guys! Bisexual women exist PURELY for the sexual pleasure of men! Honestly, get yourself a bisexual girlfriend, every day she gives you the gift of a full live porno like it's Christmas!
Not only is Payne perpetuating the tired narrative that two women would only be together for the pleasure of men, but also that bisexuality is something you one day look back on and laugh off as a moronic phase. And we’re not the only ones taking issue.
‘As a bisexual woman, it was extremely uncomfortable reading the lyrics to "both ways" by Liam Payne,’ one Twitter user commented on the song. ‘He openly fetishizes the fact that a woman likes boys and girls, and he even mentions bi women in threesomes which furthers the stereotype that all bi ppl are only into that. [sic]'
According to Payne's own Instagram, he actually wrote the song in 2016, posting a snippet of him singing to it at the time. So yeah, this masterpiece had three whole years to stew without anyone stopping to say 'hmmm, maybe we don't offend an entire marginalised group of society?'.
Alas, Payne is yet to respond to the criticism – instead talking about One Direction in his new interviews, implying the band will reunite in the next two years. Of course, given how drastically different his music is to that of say, Zayn Malik or Harry Styles – we can’t imagine all the men feel the same.
Because, if you don’t remember, Styles recently released his own, beautiful bisexual anthem. Perhaps then, Payne needs to take a few pointers from his former bandmate before he starts anticipating a reunion - he truly needs the help.
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