Robin Thicke may have three VMA nominations, a headlining pre-Video Music Awards performance and a bona fide “song of the summer” under his belt, but according to the singer, there was a time when his label wasn’t very enthused with the steamy single “Blurred Lines.”
“Well, when we first recorded the song, you know, you get this buzz about it where you feel anything is possible,” Thicke told MTV News. “And then reality kicks in and the record company says they don’t get it. And then you have to kind of re-convince yourself that there’s still something special there.”
Thicke told The Associated Press that the record company didn’t pay for the now-iconic, nude lady-crammed video — the vid that one could say launched a thousand boob-filled spin-offs. “Rémy Martin paid for the video,” he said.
Ironically, it was the video — of which there are both dirty and clean versions — that changed everyone’s minds about the hit song. “As soon as we made the video, all of a sudden everybody got it and immediately everybody thought it was going to be a big hit,” he told MTV News. “I started to believe in it again once the video was finished.”
And so, apparently, did the public at large. The Diane Martel-directed “Blurred Lines” video is now up for three VMAs: Video of the Year, Best Male Video and Best Collaboration.
While Thicke could easily gloat ’til Brooklyn — where the VMAs go down on August 25 — he’s pretty humble about his newfound success.
“After you’ve had this many ups and downs, it’s hard not to have perspective on it,” he said of his sudden fame and long career. “I always try to remind my fellow peers: If you sell 10 million records, that means 300,000 million people didn’t buy it.”
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