If You Seek Amy by Britney Spears

Three days ago (Thursday), a bunch of college friends and I went to Mid valley's Golden Screen Cinemas to watch Terminator Salvation. At first, we intended to catch the 3.00pm show but as it was the first day of screening, it was fully booked, so we landed up buying tickets for the 4.10pm show. However, I will not be talking about Terminator Salvation in this post. It was just that this outing led to the discussion Daniel and I had in the car after the show.It was 5.30pm, the roads were very jam; Daniel and I were stuck in the car for at least one hour before we reached my house.

Daniel's car radio was on as usual, tuned to Hitz.FM. Somewhere along the journey, the song "If You Seek Amy" by Britney Spears was aired. That then reminded me of what my sister told me about this song. I then asked Daniel if he knew the controversy of the title of the song, but he had no clue. I realized that many people are not aware of the undertone of this song title, so here I will be sharing how the song writers have used language to imply another meaning to the song title.

If you listen carefully to the lyrics, part of the chorus containing the song title as below:

Love me hate me, say what you want about me,
But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy.

Does the last line make any sense to you? It depends on how you perceive it, but to many, this does not make sense if the words are taken at face value.

The song writers were able to use euphemism to create a pun out of the title of this song, by using betters words to replace the real meaning of the intended conveyed message. If you listen carefully to the pronunciation of the song title, you will be able to guess what message is trying to be conveyed.

If sounds like F
You sounds like U
See sounds like C
kA sounds like K
my sounds like Me

Put it all together, and there you have it. The true meaning of the song. In the context of language, this is also known as a double entendre. It is a phrase which can be understood in two ways. For example in this song, the first meaning is pretty much straightforward but the second meaning is not straightforward and in a way, it is inappropriate and definitely not allowed.

In my opinion, I find it fascinating that these song writers were creative enough to come up with such a phrase to convey a message that would otherwise have been disapproved by the public if expressed in the actual words. Now that you know the hidden meaning behind the song, what is your opinion? Don't you think that this is a great way to communicate when you do not want to be too straightforward? Or even a great way to swear at somebody without being obvious?


Written by,
Hooi Kit Wei