‘Shew fly don’t bother me, you are a waste of my time but you’re on my mind’ is talking about me overthinking situations and to try to let them be.” I would overthink a lot about situations and would have mad anxiety about things so this song described just that. “Part of it was because of its title, ‘Tight Rope’ and the lyrics in the song is using a circus as a metaphor for what was going on in my head at the time. I wrote this song in 2014, and I always thought this song would be perfect for a Circus themed music video, explains Marra. “The idea came about a few years ago to me after I recorded it with the band. The video is a spooky, mysterious and somewhat swashbuckling effort depicting a woman running away from something in the forest and ending up at an abandoned circus where she comes upon a fortune teller who reads her fortune charming her into her crystal ball in which the circus thrives with clowns, fire-breathers and freaks along with the band as they are sucked into this dream world Alice in Wonderland-style. It's unclear whether the video was removed by YouTube or Balvín.Īccording to YouTube's community guidelines, the streaming platform says it aims to "remove content that violates our policies as quickly as possible, using a combination of people and machine learning to detect potentially problematic content on a massive scale.The new music video for Lea Marra & the Dream Catchers’ song “Tight Rope” follows just a few months behind their latest seven-song album, Healing, released in August, yet it is a track off their 2019 release, Bleeding Heart. Net also wrote on Twitter that, to her, "Perra" does not seem "machista at all," adding "it is one of the few songs in the movement in which a man and a woman sing to each other about their desire, bellaqueo, etc (and the song was written mostly by Tokischa)." Journalist Núria Net described the video as "totally despicable and racist," adding that "taking it down from YouTube without making any kind of statement or mea culpa is very cowardly and does not solve anything." Twitter user added, "Not J Balvin walking black women on a leash!… This racist, disrespectful misogynoir has to stop!" User tweeted, sooo misogynistic and racist using all his Power for just treating black women in the Video like animals!" 'I'm fragile': J Balvin opens up about challenges with 'anxiety and some depression' The letter continued: "As if this were not enough, the lyrics of the song … violate the rights of women comparing them to an animal that must be dominated and mistreated." "While walking, the singer carries two women Afro-descendants tied with neck chains and crawling on the floor like animals or slaves." "The artist uses images of women and people (of) Afro-descendants … who are presented with dog ears," they wrote in the open letter, published on Oct. In a joint letter, Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez and Presidential Counselor for Women’s Equality Gheidy Gallo Santos called Balvín's video "sexist, racist, machista, and misogynistic." 'My heart is bleeding': J Balvín, Sofia Vergara, Viola Davis, more react to Colombia protests Paulus, who is also Tokischa's manager, has since deleted his personal Instagram page. USA TODAY reached out to YouTube and Tokishca's distributor Equity Distribution for comment. 10, but the video was taken down Sunday, according to Billboard and The Los Angeles Times.Īlthough an audio-only version remains on Balvín's YouTube channel, visuals from the "Perra" video are still circulating social media and sparking backlash. The music video for "Perra," featuring Dominican rapper Tokishca, depicts her and other people of color as animals, with Balvín seen walking two Black women on leashes at one point. Tokishca is also seen in a dog house on all fours, where she is fed fried chicken and cereal in a dog bowl.īalvín's music video, directed by Raymi Paulus, was originally released on the streaming platform on Sept. "Perra," which translates to "dog" in English but is commonly used as a derogatory term for women in Spanish, is a suggestive song about two people lusting for each other: "I’m like a dog in heat. Watch Video: J Balvin on Colombia protests: 'My heart is bleeding’Ĭolombian reggaeton artist J Balvín's controversial music video for his song "Perra" has been removed from YouTube after facing backlash over its "racist" and "misogynistic" depiction of Black women.