“ American Oxygen ” by Rihanna is one of the biggest flops by a contemporary pop singer in recent memory. The much-hyped single “American Oxygen” was at No. 91 last week on Billboard ‘s Hot 100 and is expected to fall off the charts this week. To add to the insult, Rihanna’s previous single, “B***h Better Have My Money,” also failed to make an impact.
Rihanna’s fans are angry and they think that racism, not the quality of the music, is preventing Rihanna from scoring a hit. They took to Change to petition Barack Obama to force radio stations to play “American Oxygen.”
“Rihanna has become another victim of racial discrimmination [sic] in the music industrie [sic] since radio stations have refused to play American Oxygen, Rihanna’s best song yet. We believe Radio stations hey are juging [sic] the song by Rihanna’s race and not the quality of song. Thave [sic] no problem playing the new song from Britney Spears because of her white privilege. They also play songs by that old white hag Sia..”
Rihanna’s fans aren’t the first to create a petition that accuses radio stations of racism. Last week, Mariah Carey fans created a petition at Change after her single, “ Infinity ,” failed to catch on at radio.
“Mariah Carey is the most important female artist in the history of music. She needs another number one hit and despite the fact that everybody loves “Infinity,” radio stations are refusing to play the song. This is only because Mariah is a proud African-American woman who recently married and divorced and African-American man. Racism in the music industry needs to stop!”
Mariah Carey’s petition has garnered 282 signatures in just one week. However, it hasn’t quite helped “Infininty,” even though the song did debut at No. 82 on Billboard’s Hot 100 . Most people, including Mariah’s fans who signed the petition, believe the main issue is ageism. In Rihanna’s case, the problem with “American Oxygen” may be that she decided to debut it on Jay-Z’s Tidal streaming service, which has been the target of a lot of criticism. Hits Daily Double weighs in on Rihanna’s mistake .
“Not only have the initial Tidal exclusives failed to move the needle, the Rihanna video exclusive on ‘American Oxygen’ appears to have actually hurt the launch of the song, which sold only 19k in its first four days. Deepening the irony, Jay’s Roc Nation is both her label and her manager. Thus far, Tidal is seen by most observers as a big miss.”
Do you think these types of petitions really help? What do you think is the main reason for the the failure of Rihanna’s “American Oxygen”? Let us know in the comments section.
[Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images]