Former Mouseketeer Britney Spears is not threatening to go berserk on a live broadcast, nor did she include actionably indecent material on anything meant to be broadcast. But if you say the title of her new single fast, you may have a problem.
The song – “If U Seek Amy” – doesn’t use any of George Carlin’s heavy seven verboten words, but it spells out the one usually first on the objectionable list if you say it out loud quickly. That is done in the song’s chorus. The tune is from the album “Circus,” and according to MTV News, its fate at radio stations is largely undetermined at this point, and the FCC is not issuing any guidance.
Songs with objectionable language occasionally are aired with bleeps or alternate language spliced in, but that does not appear to be a great option in this case. MTV news quotes its use as “"But all of the boys and all of the girls are begging to if you seek Amy."
RBR/TVBR observation: Pop songs come, and pop songs go – most have ephemeral fruit fly life spans. In the current climate of six-digit indecency fines, unless there is something awesomely compelling about this ditty – which there probably isn’t, or it would’ve been pushed first – then we suspect most stations will simply choose to err on the side of caution and keep the song off their playlist.
