Bad Reaction

Brian McFadden's new single, "Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar)", didn't turn out as hot as I think he wanted. It turns out that fans were actually very repulsed by the song and even go as far as calling it the "Date Rape Anthem". And while I think he has reacted well to the angry response, and even making an effort to show how much of a sensitive subject rape is to him, rumors are that Universal is pulling the plug on the music video.

In the Australian iTunes charts, the single has poor reviews. A grand total of only 2 out of 5 stars. And that is with 138 ratings. That is nowhere close to the successful reviews to his single, "Just Say So", with 4 out of 5 stars with over 300 ratings. And although it is just under "JSS" in popularity, fans are not pleased. Some even went to the point as saying that they would never buy his music again.

This is how he responded via his Twitter:
"feel sick that my single is getting so much attention for the wrong reason. i love making music but i do not want this song played on radio or being sold to profit myself if people think its about "date rape". its not about date rape. i'm gonna give all my profits from the song to victims of rape. because it disgusts me. sorry people misunderstood my lyrics. someone let me know a worthy charity who supports victims...and finally.... my song is supposed to be fun... not offensive....... guess not everyone has the same sense of humour...this is not a publicity stunt... so don't think i'm backing down and agreeing. I just wouldn't give the haters the pleasure. x"

He also urged the media to follow his example:
"i also propose to all the news papers and media who were so concerned about the apparent message in my lyrics should also make a donation"

But I guess all of this was bad timing. This single, plus his rumored incident on the Virgin flight has caused problems later on down the road. This was reported by the Herald Sun:
"Universal has cancelled the video shoot for his latest single Just the Way You Are (Drunk at the Bar).

The shoot, which had been booked for Sydney this week, was thought to be a parody of McFadden's recent Virgin flight, which saw the former Westlife star questioned with Kyle Sandilands by Australian Federal Police...
Insiders said Universal bosses did not want to fuel the fire after fans slammed the song's lyrics for glamourising date rape."

But Brian has denied these claims on Twitter, saying "i decided not to shoot the video for the new single. it was going to be a comedy video based on an airplane. universal didn't scrap anything".

I really don't have a problem with the song. It is upbeat and fun, like Brian intended it to be. But when you do hear things in the song like "taking advantage" and things like that, you can't help but wonder if there was a more uncontroversial route for him to go down. And also, I felt uneasy when he said that the song was about Delta. I adore Delta to the highest, and I don't think holding her in high regard would be like that. What happened to the usual love songs? And I feel that song smears Delta's good name in some eyes.

So what do you think? Did you listen to the song? And what do you think of the supposed "Date rape" message behind it?

-Tyler