Statistics – Song by Lyfe Jennings and A Femanist Analysis
For my second blog I will be discussing a popular song in the R&B world and the video to the song. The artist’s name is Lyfe Jennings and the song title is Statistics. Although I am a fan of Lyfe’s work and I had the fortune of knowing him when I was a youngster, I had no idea that he would go on to write songs like this. I, as a songwriter, greatly appreciate and admire his lyrics and his ability to send a very realistic message to his audiences in such a way that it is arranged so addictively beautiful and yet thought provoking. In fact, in his song he says, “ Something to think about when you’re taking a shower. Something to swallow when you’re drinking bottled water.” We all know that there are many a song sung in the shower whether you’re a professional or not and it’s a place where a lot of time is spent. We also know that water represents life and sometimes issues can be hard to face/swallow. Basically, the song is entitled Statistics because Lyfe the artist is teaching his audience of women how to decipher relationships, how to realistically look at the odds of finding the ideal man who loves and respects her and the importance for a woman to keep high esteem and confidence in herself.
At the beginning of the video there are a number of ethnic women who offer their own personal testimonies of the bad relationships they have been in and what type/form of abuse they endured or the obstacles they had to face as a result of those relationships. They shared how they found out the guy was cheating, being verbally abusive, mentally abusive, emotionally abusive, they gave up their virginity, being hospitalized, heartbroken and the last woman said, “You should forgive, but not forget.” What is compelling about the women is that they look like people you see every day and you know that these things do happen everyday to women.
In the song, Lyfe breaks down the statistics of the types of men or what their issues are such as:
“25% of all men are unstable
25% of all men can’t be faithful
30% of them don’t mean what they say
and 10% of the remaining 20 is gay
That leaves you a 10% chance of ever finding your mate
That means you better pay attention to these words that I say
I’m gonna teach you how expose the 90%
and show you what to do to keep the other 10.”
So, basically there is only a 10% percent chance of finding the ideal man according to Lyfe. He then in the chorus line gives women a set of rules to live by in order to “keep the other 10%.” In essence he says, “Don’t be loose, if he doesn’t respect you, then he will forget you. If you met him and he was in a relationship with another girl, then if he cheats on her, he will in turn cheat on you. Tell him you’re celibate and he is going to have to earn your respect and your body, uphold your worth. Lastly, be the person you want to find…if you want someone with good morals, then have them yourself.”
In the second verse he talks about what percentage of men have complexes, men who don’t practice safe sex and issues of not having a positive father figure, therefore, you have a highly probable chance of marrying a coward. What this means to women is the pressure they may have to deal with because men have these issues. Women want someone they can feel secure with, they don’t want someone who acts out because he’s insecure with himself. Many women are forced to have to deal with risking getting pregnant or an STD because he doesn’t want to wear a condom.
So, how Lyfe sums it all up is in his bridge where he tells the woman, “Be patient, don’t settle for less, what’s in the past is in the past, get a backbone (be strong/firm), stop feeling sorry for yourself and keep a checklist.” Eventually, you will find the right one and you will go about it the right way.
I think this song is encouraging to all women and particularly to ethnic women because often times we are challenged with these issues. We know that in studying Feminism and Suffrage and women’s rights in general that ethnic women were not as respected, not that they weren’t respectable, but because of society’s views of what is the ideal woman, ethnic women were disrespected. I like that he gives the message of a harsh reality, but he offers positive reinforcement in that we should maintain our integrity and standards because we are worth it.