Sooooooo, there’s been a heap of controversy over Avril Lavigne’s new video, “Hello Kitty.” I finally watched/listened and I didn’t hate the song. It’s not going to be a classic, but pop doesn’t need to be particularly well written, just catchy.* Of course only about half the complaints are about the music. The rest are about the video — specifically the 4 women all dressed the same who act as back up dancers/set dressing and the “typically Japanese” things Avril says and does. The question is: is it just pop culture or is it cultural appropriation?
Here’s the video. Watch it without the volume if you prefer, just know that she says kawaii and Hello Kitty a fair bit.
Now as a white middle-class(ish) North American woman, I’m not the most qualified to talk about cultural appropriation, but as someone immersed in pop culture, I am comfortable talking about that.
Let’s start with the straight-faced back up clones. Anyone remember Robert Palmer and his straight faced back up clones? Here’s a visual, from Simply Irresistible. It’s a trope that has been repeated many times in music videos since, and I think this is just one more example. Like Palmer, Lavigne is dressed differently — in this case with her trademark makeup, and outfits that mix and match cute and girly with her usual punk/goth look.
Lavigne uses the Japanese phrase “Min’na saikō arigatō” which is basically, “Hey, you’re great” or maybe, “You rock!” as a greeting to the audience/listeners. (“Domo arigatō, Mr. Roboto,” anyone?) 
She also uses the word “kawaii” which has made it pretty comfortably into North American slang as “soooooo cute!”
She takes photos — just like Gwen Stefani does in the opening of Hollaback Girl**; Stefani also says “Awww, super kawaii!” as she clicks the shutter. Considering we are living in the age of the selfie, the only weird thing is that Lavigne doesn’t include herself in the picture.
The rest of the lyrics are basically about having a slumber party and mention Sanrio’s famous Hello Kitty character many times, and since Hello Kitty is a popular print on pajamas and pillows, this makes perfect sense to me. Unless you don’t have kids and have been avoiding large swaths of the internet, you could probably draw the bow-wearing cat from memory.
You may recall last fall there was a similar uproar when Katy Perry performed on the American Music Awards with a mishmash of Asian stereotypes (this Kyoto Redbird post points out the problems with both the performance and also the media’s coverage of it). The thing is, Perry absolutely stereotyped makeup, gestures, and clothing of two distinct cultures and by mangling both, I believe that she was guilty of cultural appropriation. Avril Lavigne? Not so much.
*In order to write this, I watched/listened to the full Hello Kitty video about a half dozen times. It took no time for me to be bouncing along with it. It’s no worse/better than anything Lady Gaga or Beyonce has done in the past 18 months.
**Hello Kitty actually sounds a LOT like Hollaback Girl in places — the breakout rhythm is very similar — which may be why I like it. Also, Stefani’s whole album, Love Angel Music Baby (now 10 years old! **sobs**) was full of Harajuku girls and Japanese cultural references. I don’t recall any uproar.