Cardi B Shuts Down Payola Rumors After Single 'Up' Hits No. 1
By TheBlast Staff on March 24, 2021 at 10:49 AM EDT
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Cardi B scored her fifth No. 1 song of her career earlier this week with her new "Up" single which was originally released at the start of February. Up debuted at No. 2 at the time but it continued to gain a lot of buzz and momentum and finally claimed that top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Cardi has received a lot of love since then but sadly, at the same time, she continues to deal with haters on her social media feeds.
Critics Continue To Accuse Cardi Of Using Payola To Boost Numbers
For a while now, one thing that Cardi critics have tried to use against her is rumors of using payola in order to boost her streams and radio play. Cardi has been an established star since 2018 but nonetheless, these people still believe that payola is a factor from her and Atlantic Records. This is sadly assumed to be the case even after being part of five chart-topping songs. Cardi took to her Instagram feed to shut this talk down, though.
Cardi Denies Any Use Of Payola
Cardi responded to these critics as she took to her Instagram feed. She explained how payola isn't a thing for her at all as "Up" didn't debut at No. 1 and her 2020 chart-topping "WAP" single with Megan Thee Stallion barely reached radio play due to its sexual content.
"They love to run with that “Payola “ to make them feel better mind you I didn’t debute number 1 because of my low radio play and WAP barely made radio cause it was so explicit yet still made number 1."
Cardi Says She Will Address Haters On Upcoming Album
In Cardi's IG post, she added that she will be speaking to her haters in her upcoming sophomore album. The release date and title have still yet to be revealed. She also added that when you start winning, stories like this will continue to be a thing as she doesn't seem too surprised about these critics who bring up topics such as payola.
"WHEN YOU START WINNING THE STORIES START SPINNING!!! Imma adress all the hate on my album tho wait on it!!!"
Cardi Performed 'WAP' At GRAMMYs With Megan Thee Stallion For The First Time
A few weeks ago at the GRAMMYs, Cardi also made noise there as she performed her "WAP" single with Megan Thee Stallion for the first time. Fans loved their performance as this record also recently reached 5x platinum certification by the RIAA in the US. Oddly enough though, people submitted the WAP Grammy performance to the FCC and tried to claim that it was too pornographic for TV. This has been a claim by critics of the song since its release last summer but nothing has stopped it from continuing to win the way it has been.
