"Radio-Friendly Pop Song" is a song written and performed by British recording artist Matt Fishel. It was released as a single on 18 March 2013"iTunes-Music-Matt Fishel-Radio-Friendly Pop Song-Single"
Retrieved on 06 December 2013. and appears as the opening track on Fishel's 2013 debut album '' Not Thinking Straight''."iTunes-Music-Matt Fishel-Not-Thinking-Straight"
Retrieved on 06 December 2013.

Themes and lyrics

Lyrically, "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" is a comment on homophobia in certain parts of the music and entertainment industries.Towle, Andy

'' Towleroad'', USA, 18 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. Fishel has described the song as both a "fun, tongue-in-cheek response to certain A&R guys in major labels""Queer Radio Interview with Matt Fishel"
'' 4ZZZFM.org.au'',

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 11 May 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. and as "an anthem of pride in celebration of the LGBTQ community.""RightOutTV Music & Video Awards Winners"
''RightOut TV Awards'',

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, Retrieved on 6 December 2013. The song is inspired by Fishel's experiences of the entertainment industry as an out, gay artist and of being repeatedly advised to remove any openly gay content from his work."JD Doyle Interviews Matt Fishel April 2013 The Script"
''

Queer Music Heritage JD Doyle (born September 24, 1947) is an American LGBT music and history archivist/historian and radio producer. He is a staff member of the weekly radio show Queer Voices and produces the monthly radio shows ''Queer Music Heritage'' and ''OutRa ...

JD Doyle JD Doyle (born September 24, 1947) is an American LGBT music and history archivist/historian and radio producer. He is a staff member of the weekly radio show Queer Voices and produces the monthly radio shows ''Queer Music Heritage'' and ''OutRa ...

'', USA, April 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. The lyrics to the first verse of the song talk about the music industry and the second verse refers to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

and the movie business.. 10 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. In an interview with

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

's GayNI Magazine, Fishel said "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" is "based on my (and many others’) experiences of being a gay artist in the entertainment industry, and the latent homophobia that still lies underneath the surface of certain corporate companies. I’ve had meetings in the past with A&R guys from the majors who have said to me: 'your songs are great, you just need to get rid of all the gay content, you should sing about girls so as not to alienate your audience'." He went on to say "I’ve always felt uncomfortable with the idea of deliberately ‘ dumbing down’ my lyrics for any kind of commercial gain...So I wanted to write a fun, tongue-in-cheek response to those people, which basically says 'I’m gay, I’m out and I’m proud, I’m not prepared to hide from that and I’m gonna be true to who I am.'"Fishel, Matt (Interview)
"Matt Fishel - Not Thinking Straight"
''GNI Magazine'',

. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.

Release and artwork

"Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was released on 18 March 2013 as Fishel's fifth single, taken from his debut album '' Not Thinking Straight''. The single was released worldwide on Fishel's own record label Young Lust Records as a one-track digital download. The artwork for the single is an illustration by

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

comic book artist and illustrator

Joe Phillips Joe Phillips is an American artist, known for his gay-themed illustration, erotic animation, and his earlier work on superhero comic books. Early life Phillips was born in Atlanta, Georgia in the 1960s. He attended Northside School of the Arts ...

and is taken from the '' Not Thinking Straight'' album booklet."Not Thinking Straight - Audio CD"
, Retrieved on 06 December 2013.Hopps, Gordon
"Songs In The Key Of Gay - Matt Fishel"
'' Bent Magazine'', UK, 15 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. The image incorporates themes from the song's lyrics. It portrays two male characters, one of whom is playing guitar. They are kissing in front of three businessmen, each of whom is covering either their eyes, ears or mouth. There are gold discs on the wall and the

Hollywood sign The Hollywood Sign is an American landmark and cultural icon overlooking Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. Originally the Hollywoodland Sign, it is situated on Mount Lee, in the Beachwood Canyon area of the Santa Monica Mountains. Spelling ...

is in the background.

Critical reception

The response to "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was positive. British actor and celebrity tweeter Stephen Fry wrote about the song the day after its release, calling it "fabulous".Fry, Stephen
"Stephen Fry Twitter"
'' Stephen Fry on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

'', 19 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

entertainment blog The G-List Society called "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" "our favourite track of 2013" and "the most buzz-worthy song of ishel'sdiscography." They wrote of the song: "This catchy tune serves as a confrontational truth to mainstream music industry’s hesitation to allow same-sex love songs to be promoted to the masses. The lyrics blasting status-quo are genius and the choruses are spot on. We have lived to hear many hit singles pushing the buttons of controversy; yet, we have never heard a delectable tune challenging the seemingly homophobic practices of the music industry.""THE G-SOUND: 'Radio-Friendly Pop Song' By @MattFishel -MUST HEAR!!!"
''G-List Society'', USA, 11 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. Jeremy Feist of

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

magazine

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former pr ...

said "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was "really good" and "super catchy".Feist, Jeremy
"Radio-Friendly Pop Song"
''

'', Canada, 18 March 2013. Retrieved on 6 December 2013. Rebecca Eisenberg of viral content website Upworthy called the song "pitch perfect", saying "when ishelfires back at 2:44, I was grinning like a fool. So good!"Eisenberg, Rebecca
"The Music Industry Asked Him To Change 1 Word In His Songs. His Response Is Pitch Perfect."
'' Upworthy'', USA, June 2014. Retrieved on 29 July 2014. Cate Matthews from

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

called "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" "''ridiculously'' catchy", and said "we're supremely happy that Fishel is standing up and singing his heart out - with one caveat. We don't know how we're ever going to get his songs out of our heads."Matthews, Cate
"The Music Industry Doesn't Want You To Hear These Songs Because They Aren't 'Radio-Friendly'"
''

'', USA, 17 July 2014. Retrieved on 29 July 2014.

Music video

An official music video for "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was released on Fishel's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel on 10 March 2013, produced by Tyjens Media and animated by Kenneth Wilcox. The video is a lyric video which incorporates all the song's lyrics, animated at a fast pace in time to the song.

Awards and nominations

"Radio-Friendly Pop Song" won the 2013 "Song Of The Year" award at the 2013 RightOutTV Music & Video Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Pop Song". The song also won the Song Of The Year award at the 2013 Co-operative Respect 'Loved By You' Awards, voted for by the public."Respect 'Loved By You' Awards 2013"
, UK, 19 December 2013. Retrieved on 20 December 2013."CoopRespectLGBT on Twitter"
UK, 19 December 2013. Retrieved on 20 December 2013.

Co-operative Respect 'Loved By You' Awards

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RightOutTV Music & Video Awards

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Festivals

In June 2013, the music video for "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was screened at the 27th Festival Mix Milano LGBT Festival"27 Festival Mix Milano Di Cinema Gaylesbico E Queer Culture"
Retrieved on 6 December 2013. in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

as part of the 'Can't Stop The Music' programme."27 Festival Mix Milano - 'Can't Stop The Music'"
Retrieved on 6 December 2013.

Personnel

According to the album sleeve notes, "Radio-Friendly Pop Song" was written and arranged by Fishel, produced and engineered by Fishel and

Mark Crew Mark Crew (born 21 February 1985) is a songwriter, record producer, and mix engineer based in London, known for his work with Bastille, Rag'n'Bone Man, and the Wombats. Production and songwriting Crew produced the albums '' Bad Blood'' (UK #1 ...

at both Superfishel Studios and Unit 24,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, UK and mixed by Crew. Fishel performs all lead and background vocals, guitars, synths and programming on the song, with additional guitars and bass by Jonas Jalhay and additional programming by Crew.

Track listing

* Digital download #"Radio-Friendly Pop Song" – 3:49

References

External links

* {{Official, http://www.mattfishel.com 2013 singles 2013 songs LGBT-related songs Matt Fishel songs Songs about radio Songs written by Matt Fishel