Robin Thicke has reflected on his controversial 2013 single ‘Blurred Lines’, claiming that his original intention for the track was to “get [everybody] up and dancing”.

‘Blurred Lines’, which saw Thicke collaborate with Pharrell Williams and T.I., was widely criticised following its release with its lyrics and accompanying music video accused of perpetuating misogyny, male chauvinism and a culture of date rape.

The track was also the subject of a major lawsuit from the estate of the late Marvin Gaye, which successfully sued for copyright infringement in 2015 after ‘Blurred Lines’ was found by a federal jury to share similarities to Gaye’s 1977 song ‘Got To Give It Up’. The late musician was awarded with a posthumous songwriting credit for ‘Blurred Lines’, and Thicke and Williams were ordered to pay $5million (£3.6million) to Gaye’s estate in 2018.

Speaking to Zane Lowe in a new interview for Apple Music, Thicke defended ‘Blurred Lines’ when asked about the controversy that greeted the song eight years ago.

“Well, really, I never saw it that way when I sang it or performed it. Usually, the first piece, when it goes, ‘Bum, bum, bum, everybody get up,’ the crowd goes crazy,” he said about his experiences of playing the track live. “Even people who aren’t big fans of mine, that’s the only [song] they know.

“You just kind of take it with a grain of salt,” the singer continued. “The reason I started all of this is because I love music, I love to make music, and then, once I started to perform, I love to perform, so I just go for that part of it.

“We’re just jamming, everybody is meant to get up and dance. That’s all the song is meant to do.”

Back in October 2019, Pharrell publicly disowned ‘Blurred Lines’ in an interview, saying that his “mind [had] opened up to what was actually being said in the song and how it could make someone feel”.