To say Carly Rae Jepsen’s “I Really Like You” is eliciting a tepid reaction from pop radio listeners would be a dramatic understatement.
Of the 34 active pop radio singles featured in Mediabase/Critical Mass Media’s May 22 listener callout report, it is the only song to possess a net negative reaction.
Its (rounded) positive score of 39.8 and negative score of 41.4 produce a net positive score of -1.7.
The next-lowest net positive score, which is possessed by Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney’s aged “FourFiveSeconds,” is a significantly better 11.9. Only one other song–Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen”–claims a net positive score of less than 20.
Not simply in possession of pop radio’s worst net reaction, “I Really Like You” also possesses the lowest raw positive score (39.8), the lowest favorite score (7.7) and the highest negative score (41.4).
Despite being fairly new to the market and outside of the rolling Top 30 on Mediabase’s airplay chart, “I Really Like You” claims the pop format’s twelfth-highest heavy burn rate (11.6).
Only one means of assessing audience reaction, callout research is neither an end-all, be-all barometer of taste nor a definitive determinant of airplay. Songs with high scores do not always rocket up the airplay chart, and songs with low scores do not always fizzle out.
But while they might not be damning, scores this weak are certainly concerning.