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5th October 2024
11:13am BST
A woman has called into Joe Duffy's Liveline show to complain about Charli XCX and Billie Eilish's hit single 'Guess' being played on daytime radio.
The caller, named Olivia, featured on the RTÉ radio programme on Friday (5 October) where she criticised the song's "pornographic, explicit lyrics".
In particular, her issue was the impact that "the sexually explicit content of this music and pop music now in general" could have on children who hear it via the radio.
She recounted to Duffy: "I was driving my kids to school the first week back and I'm listening to one of the more pop sort of radio stations and the new Billie Eilish / Charli, I think she's XCX, song came on.
"It's called 'Guess' and I had my eight-year-old and ten-year-old in the car. The lyrics are just atrocious. It's appalling. I don't even want to say what it's about because there's probably young kids listening."
The radio presenter then argued that in order for Olivia to complain about the song's content, she must describe it.
In response, she said: "To me, when you're listening to the song, it's a song describing oral sex and it's on at nine o'clock in the morning.
"I got an awful shock. I could see my daughter actually having a reaction. Her head was kind of cocked to one side and she was looking, sort of going: 'What's this?' And I just changed the station.
"But I'm finding now I'm just not listening to the radio in the car now with them, which is an awful pity... All the stations are playing it as far as I know."
If you'd like to hear the track, you can do so below:
Olivia also explained how she looked into lodging a complaint about the single with Irish broadcasting regulator Coimisiún na Meán.
"I contacted the broadcasting authority... and they said I had to email directly the broadcasters in question. So I sent two of them an email. I got one response and it wasn't sufficient for me," she explained.
"Generally, the response was: 'It's a very popular song... Well, yeah when you read the lyrics like that, it seems explicit. But like, young listeners don't pick up on it.'
"I don't think that's good enough. I think children are amazing at picking up on music and it has a profound effect on them.
"And I think the sexually explicit content of this music and pop music now in general is having an atrocious effect on young children or will in years to come and there's nobody saying it... Parents are sick of this."
Olivia added that she felt Coimisiún na Meán's response to her complaint was "not good enough".
She also suggested that such sexually explicit songs should only be played after 9pm at night.
Duffy, meanwhile, agreed that the lyrics are "extraordinarily explicit," adding: "I think people will be disappointed in Billie Eilish... commodifying sex and her underwear and other parts of her body."
Another called named John defended Charli XCX and Billie Eilish's artistic expression and praised their track for its Berlin techno influence.
He did ultimately agree, however, with Olivia's point that the song "doesn't have to be played at this hour of the day".
RTÉ 2FM also sent a statement into Liveline in which the radio station said it does not play the "full explicit version" of the single.
