We’ve all been there. You had an outfit you liked, a project you were doing, something you worked long and hard on only to find that those around you felt that it was…uh, how to say this…a piece of crap. It’s never easy, and these type of realizations happen every day in the entertainment world, where many an artist gets excited about a new single and release and force it on folks, only to find that those same folks wouldn’t touch that mess with a 10-foot-pole, let alone their hard earned cash. Here are 10 songs these artists thought were the greatest thing since sliced bread, but got the cold shoulder too fast.

Girl On Fire – Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys released the album Girl On Fire in November of last year, and being that it’s almost March and she’s still pushing the song “Girl on Fire” on us at every opportunity, you would think the album came out last month. It’s not a terrible song, but its attempt at being the girl power anthem of the decade fell short when people started noticing that Keys was doing a whole lot of yelling as opposed to singing. A bunch of remixed versions and different ways of performing it live couldn’t make it hot, but hey, you can’t knock a girl for trying. But it’s time to stop.

Source: themagicwhistle.blogspot.com

Most of us can agree that Brian McKnight’s “If You’re Ready to Learn” song was… something of a fail. And the singer has heard our opinions, on Twitter, in blog posts and even reaction videos. But clearly, McKnight is not ready to put the incident behind him. Instead he recently released a video, with the help of Funny or Die, for the infamous song. Ok, so it was a parody…and just like the song, the visuals take things a lot too far. Even if the video is a spoof at the ridiculousness of this song, we know it’s really just another way to keep people talking about that song and more importantly Brian McKnight. Well, since he’s gone this far, and not releasing any other types of music, then he might as well milk this attention cow for all it’s worth. We’ve talked more about Brian McKnight these past few weeks than we have in the past few years and I’m sure that’s just the way he likes it.

Well played Brian, well played.

Check out the video and be ready to cover your mouth in horror. Keep an eye out for the vadge puppet… No, we’re not kidding. There are pubes and everything.

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Source: globalgrind.com

Yesterday morning, I was on WorldStarHipHop watching all the craziness and depraved indifference to decency that only WSHH could offer when I came upon a video of Brian McKnight singing his forthcoming song.

According to McKnight, one day he was on Twitter – the place where all bad ideas come from – when he got a (bad) idea to do an “adult” mixtape. He asked Twitter what they wanted him to sing about and the responses mostly centered on the same stale ballads he’s been singing for most of his career.  Not heeding to their advice, McKnight went out and stepped on a ledge – a rather long ledge – and wrote a new song called “If You’re Ready to Learn.” He was so excited about it that he wanted to share parts of it with the blogosphere.  Hmm, sounds interesting. And so it was.

If you haven’t already seen the video through our site, the chorus went: “Let me show you how your p***y works / Betcha didn’t know that it could squirt / I have lots of things to show you / If you’re ready to learn.”

Oh Got-damn Brian McKnight!  Are you that desperate for a comeback? He went from howling his way through songs like “One Last Cry” to crooning about female ejaculation squirts. But I can’t lie, the song arrangement is dope.  As one of my Facebook friends said, it sounds like it should be a Lil’ Wayne song, and she’s exactly right. All the raunchiness of a hip-hop song but with a better melody. It’s a song that would even make Prince and R. Kelly blush.  After getting over the initial “What the Hell Brian”-ness of the track, after a few more listens, I found myself swaying from side to side, humming the lyrics to the song all day at work. Damn you Brian McKnight with your sultry voice and catchy tune.

But not everyone was ready to learn what McKnight was doing in between those times when he was crying over tracks. According to Gawker, “…the feedback on Twitter and YouTube was too much for McKnight, who eventually removed the song while lamenting his diminished status in the music industry….In its place, McKnight posted the innocuous “Live Without You” (“okay back to the safe love songs” reads its description).”

After pulling the track, McKnight tweeted: “It’s just sad that this is what I have to do get most of these people to even acknowledge me.” Damn, that is kind of sad. I’m actually ready to string a real life violin for him – to the tune of “If You’re Ready to Learn,” of course.

But seriously, McKnight’s dismal attempt at a comeback aside, his little stunt has also revealed the fate of what happens to artists, who no longer have a place in the finicky music industry. Old school crooners like McKnight, who made careers swooning the ladies and giving men a perfect background music to express their sentiments of real love and affection, have been replaced with young R&B singers. Their entire schtick involves ripping off shirts, half-rapping, half-heavy breathing into microphones about tawdry tales of butt buddies and one-night stands. Yes, the love songs are missing in today’s musical landscape. Most might blame the music industry, but truly, they only give us what we want to hear/settle for.

Oh Brian. Some people really need to learn how to stay in their lane, or at least how to venture out of their lane without losing credibility. Brian McKnight got those signals crossed today when he released a video, debuting his latest effort. The song, “If You’re Ready to Learn,” would be featured on  an upcoming “adult mixtape.” The song is not…well, I can’t describe it. Listen for yourself and then we can discuss it later. Have your headphones on deck, this is not something you want anyone to hear you listening to.

Hmmm. I’m not going to lie, his voice sounds great but the content though… *Shivers* I’m sure some of you will disagree; but this is just not right. It doesn’t coincide with who Brian has established himself to be as an artist. And furthermore how are you going to show me how my stuff works?! When he got to the squirting part, I was just too through. This could literally stand in as the soundtrack for some type of soft core adult video.

Social media outlets, including the Twitesphere that originally encouraged and provided ideas for this mixtape, have been very vocal about their aversion toward the song.

@hear_me_owt: Poor BrianMcKnight….that was…um….well frankly it made me uncomfortable watching it, like I was embarrassed for him.

@dj_RTistic: Brian McKnight is changing the game with a new genre. Ratchet & Blues FTW

@sixfoprez: It’s funny how Brian McKnight had a serious face on like he knew that song was gonna be a hit. Lol

And those are some of the nicer comments.

Unable to avoid all the backlash, Brian McKnight released this statement via his [unverified] Twitter page:

okay im taking it down and ill never do it again im putting up a safe song jeez no sense of humor but i trended for a little while

Oh yes, you sure did. More than a little while, Brian. People have been talking about this since 3 a.m. this morning. And then later he said:

its just sad that this is what i had to do to get most of these people to even acknowledge me

So does that mean, he knew it was wrong and he was just trying to get some shine? We’ll probably never know. Whether this was a serious project or not, and I’m inclined to believe it was, it’s still a pretty good way to keep his name in the limelight. Like seriously, did you think you’d ever see the day where Brian McKnight would become a trending topic?! But look what he had to do to get there…

Are you feeling the new B. McKnight jam?

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