| I recently reviewed a song by the artist “Sanguine Pussy” with the title “Jacob’s Liquid Dream.” The description given on the artist’s website is: “Liquid Dreams at that. Your name not jacob? Insert your first name so you can have your liquid dream too.” Now, what comes to mind? Sexy. Wet dreams. Private parts. Sex. That was my interpretation when I reviewed this track, and I based my sour score partly on the fact that this track didn’t seem sexy to me in the least.
This is just one of the many ways a song’s title or an artist’s name can be confusing. “Sanguine Pussy” is meant to be interpreted as “Bloody Pussy.” Bloody is one of the definitions of “sanguine.” This defeats the whole sex appeal factor. After my review was published, S.P. wrote me complaining that I should have done my research and that I based the review too much on something I didn’t fully understand. Which side is right? Did I not do a good job as a reviewer because I didn’t know the definition of “sanguine”? Or is the artist merely whining because they got a bad score? Why don’t we take a closer look. Many people aren’t familiar with the term “sanguine,” which could lead to confusion and misinterpretation. But, before I wrote this article, I took the liberty of looking up the definition of the word. One definiton reads: “the color of blood; ruddy; said esp. of complexions.” Ruddy pussy. Not very sexy at all, but still not the “Bloody pussy” interpretation meant by the artist. The next definition: “having the warm, passionate, cheerful temperament and the healthy, ruddy complexion of one in whom the blood is the predominant humor of the four.” Warm, passionate, cheerful pussy. If one was to interpret it this way, it wouldn’t be a dark, disgusting image given but a sexy, happy one. “Cheerful and confident; optimistic; hopeful” is the final definition of “sanguine.” This could definately give mixed images. Cheerful pussy could mean sexually aroused. Confident pussy could mean something along the lines of, I don’t know, an independent woman? Optimistic, hopeful pussy… horny? (Definitions from Webster’s New Dictionary and Thesaurus). It seems to me that more definitions of “sanguine” point to sexual stimulation than disgust, the image hoped to be portrayed. So, who’s at fault? I think both the artist and myself are equally. I, as a reviewer, should not have based part of a review on an artist’s name without first consulting the artist or had a better understanding of the word. Sanguine Pussy should not have assumed that people would interpret her name as she would have liked, considering the multiple varying definitions. And, especially combined with the track title, “Jacob’s Liquid Dream,” the sex appeal seems to be very much implied, even though to my recent new understanding, it is the complete opposite. So, I hope we can all learn something from this. People will interpret your song titles as they will based on words they know and are familiar with. So, try not to confuse your listeners too badly. It could hurt you in the end. Note: The review was only based in a very small part on the sex appeal factor. |
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