Chris Brown might have been ordered by a judge on Tuesday to stay away from Rihanna for five years, but it hasn’t stopped the singer from reaching out to her in his new song, “Changed Man.” So, is the public ready to take the 20-year-old singer back in their hearts?
Though Rihanna is not mentioned in the lyrics of “Changed Man” — which as of press time has been streamed over 1 million times on YouTube after appearing on the video site last week — many of the lines appear to relate to the Feb. 8 incident where he assaulted his then-girlfriend.
“Ima make it up to you / And show the world / I’m a changed man,” Brown sings. “And everybody hates Chris / They can never understand / So can we love / Can we love again.”
In one passage, Brown sings about a possible future with Rihanna.
“This ain’t over / It ain’t over/ I remember your touch / God I miss u so much / Please believe me / Baby I’m sorry.”
The singer also acknowledged that making an apology would not change the events of the past.
“Saying I’m sorry / Doesn’t make it all right,” Brown sings. “I know / I know / But I believe that we can make it.”
Though “Changed Man” has blown up online, the song is not an officially released single. But this hasn’t stopped both satellite and terrestrial radio from playing it anyway. The song was on rotation on Sirius XM the weekend of Aug. 21 – 23 (Access reached out to Sirius XM for comment about the song’s popularity, but has not heard back).
Silvio Pietroluongo, director of charts for Billboard, told AccessHollywood.com that a handful of radio stations across the country have been spinning the unreleased single. The most plays come out of Philadelphia’s WPHI-FM 100.3 The Beat, which has played the song 53 times in the last seven days, according to Pietroluongo. But Silvio believes that online appeal and popularity in certain markets wouldn’t necessarily translate into a chart buster.
“While ‘Changed Man’ does move from No. 99 to No. 64 on the latest Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, the chance of it becoming a high-charting hit is slim,” he told AccessHollywood.com. “The amount of stations playing the song is minimal at the moment, and since the track was released without the involvement of Brown’s record label and is not considered an ‘official single,’ sustained airplay growth is unlikely.”
As for the millions of fans who’ve heard the song online, they appear to be divided.
One YouTube user wrote, “beautiful apology…let the world know Chris. still got love for you,” while another said, “rihanna shouldn’t go back to him.”
Another user questioned Brown’s motives behind recording this song.
“He’s ‘apologizing’ because he needs money… People are put away everyday for these kind of things and no one feels sorry for them. Why do people feel sorry for Chris? Because he is famous and they (for some reason) like his music,” a passionate user wrote.