Last night, Love Island gave us very little to comment on, once again. From Brad McClelland’s and Lucinda Stafford’s dire date chat to scenes all about what Islander’s favourite animals are, viewers seemed to have nothing to say but how excruciatingly bored they were. Perhaps that’s why then, when an acoustic cover of Mr Brightside played over the night-time scene, people ran with the opportunity to tweet about it: and boy were they mean.
From Nick Grimshaw saying the song made him sick to meme after meme about how awful it was, people ran riot with their opinions about it online. It made such a splash that ‘Mr Brightside Love Island’ was a breakout search term on Google Trends this morning. But the thing is, the artist who sang it saw all of them, and she’s made an important point about the commentary.
Who sang the Love Island cover of Mr Brightside?
Charlotte Campbell, the musician that covered Mr Brightside, had tweeted as soon as it aired how excited she was that her song was featured on the show. After all, she’s now has an audience of millions, many of whom could become potential fans. Some of them shared their love for the song, which she retweeted, but when the hate started, she had an incredibly positive attitude.
‘I’m really buzzing about tonight,’ Charlotte tweeted. ‘This is such a huge moment for my career. To see so much hate for my cover is really disappointing but I’m just going to focus on the positives. I’m so grateful for all the kind messages…have a great night.’
It’s noble of her to take it on the chin so well, but there’s something to be said about one particular retweet she shared. After Nick Grimshaw called her ‘emo rendition’ ‘nauseating’, Charlotte made sure to remind him ‘Not so much of this Be King shit around lately is there.’
And she’s right. No matter your opinions on the cover, it’s wildly ironic that after weeks of calling to ‘Be Kind’ in the run up to Love Island, it only takes one song to turn everyone into trolls. When tweeting hatred of the cover, it might not have even occurred to some that the artist would see it – but that’s exactly why many get away with trolling anyone with a public platform, by feigning ignorance.
Actually, we should be more than aware now that near anyone has the capability of seeing what you tweet about them – and #BeKind should extend to them soon. Sure, you’re allowed to despise a song, but it’s shouting that message publicly to the person who wrote it – often in deeply hurtful ways – that feels unnecessary.
Charlotte Campbell is simply a 31-year-old woman trying to make music, in fact she made a name for herself as a full-time busker in London. Her street performances gained her festival slots, European tour opportunities and built an online fanbase that has allowed her to release three albums. Clearly, she’s a talented singer – and something like featuring on Love Island could break her career open to a huge new audience.
So even when you’re bored to your skull, even when a song you don’t like feels like the nail in the coffin to a terrible episode of your once-favourite show, it’s still worth it to #BeKind. If anything, those are the moments we should be, we can’t forget all the lessons we’ve learned about the toxicity of trolling during this show just because Brad wouldn’t shut up about Amble.
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