Chris Brown isn’t fazed by a viral review that bluntly dubbed his new album, Brown, a “piece of s***.”
“F*** that! We kickin’ they ass, goddamnit,” the “Run It!” singer, 37, exclaimed in a selfie-style video posted to his Instagram Story on Tuesday, May 12. “We ain’t lettin’ up. I’mma keep my foot on they neck, and we ain’t stoppin’. You heard me?”
Brown shared that he and Usher still plan to proceed with their upcoming R&B Tour despite the criticism and teased that he has other projects in the works.
“I’m not gon’ tell you what’s more to come, but it’s comin’!” he said.
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The two-time Grammy winner went on to declare that he does not “give a f***” what haters have to say about his latest record.
“I know exactly who my fans is, and I know exactly who hearing this album,” he added.
Brown concluded his video message by taking a swipe at pop star Zara Larsson, saying, “If you not my fan, I don’t want you to listen to my s***. Go listen to motherf***in’ Zara Larsson or somebody.” (Larsson, 28, once said she had Brown blocked on Spotify.)
The “With You” crooner’s response came hours after Pitchfork published a review of Brown, which he released on May 8. The music website gave the 27-track album a paltry score of 1.3 out of 10.
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“[Brown] isn’t romantic or funny or sexy or sultry or dancey or soulful or vulnerable or honest or creative or inspired whatsoever,” senior writer Alphonse Pierre opined. “It’s soulless, hit-chasing music with nothing going for it if you aren’t personally invested in the Chris Brown culture wars.”
Later in his critique, Pierre went so far as to write, “This album is a real piece of s***. Why even write about it? For years, traditional media has been tiptoeing around the popularity of Chris Brown, and in reality, that benefits nobody but him. The lack of critical engagement with his music has allowed him to contextualize his own redemption with statistics and sob stories. … Not every musical legend deserves to be a martyr.”
Pitchfork‘s review immediately went viral on X, where it has amassed more than 10 million views as of Wednesday, May 13.
Brown previously addressed the “mixed reviews” that his new project has gotten, writing via his Instagram Story on Sunday, May 10, “I can take my audience’s criticism and opinions. The last 3 albums have came [sic] under the same scrutiny and it eventually grew on people. Thank you for even taking the time out to listen.”
