Music

MAGIC! are sick of their song 'Rude' just like the rest of us

by Jesse Locke

Before it took home the 2015 Juno for Single of the Year, I called MAGIC!’s “Rude” the worst song of 2014.

Not only is “Rude” an insufferable faux-reggae earworm with less self-awareness than Mental Note, but its lyrics about asking your girlfriend’s dad for her hand in marriage and then calling him “rude” when he says no remain a jaw-droppingly awful display of entitlement. “Can I have your daughter for the rest of my life?” Barf. And how does “that girl” who will “go anywhere I go” feel all about any of this?

Well, it seems MAGIC! singer Nasri Atweh (formerly known just as Nasri in his previous role as a solo artist and songwriter behind the reunion of New Kids On The Block) is as sick of “Rude” as everyone else. Since removing his slouchy toque for the release of MAGIC!’s upcoming album Primary Colors, Atweh talked to Rolling Stone and told them he was “instantly” tired of performing his band’s biggest hit:

“The second it’s a hit every day you’re singing ‘Rude.’ I always wanted to write a song called “Dance Monkey Dance” but I hadn’t experienced it. And then when “Rude” became a big hit it actually became something more. It was like, ‘Oh, I’m a f*cking dancing money right now.’ I always enjoy singing ‘Rude.’ It’s not like I don’t. But when you’re doing promo it’s different than when you’re touring. When you’re doing promo you’re singing one or two songs over and over again. We would sing “Rude” three times a day, every day, often acoustically. It was like, ‘This is ridiculous!’”

Atweh calling himself a “dancing money” might be a typo on Rolling Stone‘s part or a truly telling Freudian slip. However, he continues to explain that “Rude” haters “don’t like anything” and describes them as “a certain crowd that judges everything.” Finally, according to Atweh and interviewer Dan Hyman, “true reggae artists” in Jamaica, Barbados, and Trinidad “embraced” the song. Read the full interview here.