Singer Pharrell Williams says he is "embarrassed" by the controversial 2013 hit "Blurred lines", which he recorded with Robin Thicke.

In an interview with GQ magazine, the 46-year-old musician shared that the song was a turning point for him, but he admitted that at first he "didn't get" why it was deemed "rapey", reports mirror.co.uk.

The song has lyrics such as "And that's why I'm gonna take a good girl" and "I know you want it", lines that Pharell says he would "never write or sing today".

"Some of my old songs, I would never write or sing today. I get embarrassed by some of that stuff. It just took a lot of time and growth to get to that place," he said.

The singer shared that at first he struggled to see why people were offended by the lyrics, which were condemned for belittling sexual consent. He said that he saw women sing and like the song, and then went on to realise that there are "males who use that same language when taking advantage of women".

"It just matters how it affects women. And I was like 'Got it. I get it. Cool'. I realised that we live in a chauvinist culture in our country. I hadn't realised that. Didn't realise that some of my songs catered to that. So that blew my mind," he said.

His views comes after Thicke and Williams were hit with a $5million legal fine over "Blurred Lines" after an appeals court ruled they had ripped off a much older track.

The singers were ordered to hand over cash and half of all their future royalties from the song to Marvin Gaye's family, after his relatives raised a copyright claim citing his 1977 hit "Got to give it up".