Here’s Why Maroon 5 Is Trending on Twitter (It’s Not Good)

In February of 2020, Maroon 5 is trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons. The iconic pop band has had a rough go in the public spotlight these last few years, after attaining social media infamy for headlining the Super Bowl halftime show. Now they’ve managed to court criticism for another questionable performance.

The band was scheduled to headline the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile. The Festival has a long history of performances from both world-renowned artists and budding stars (Shakira famously placed 3rd competing in a singing contest at the festival in her youth). The show is part of a week-long, national celebration and it’s broadcast live on multiple radio and TV stations in Chile and other Latin American countries.

According to a BBC story, festival watchers were less than pleased with Maroon 5’s performance. The band was over 20 minutes late to the stage and played a shorter-than-expected set. Their late arrival forced the show’s hosts to fill time, a fact of which the audience was acutely aware. Lead singer Adam Levine reportedly gave a dull, disinterested performance, and footage that has since surfaced on social media indicates he struggled with his vocals. Fans say the band neglected to bid the audience farewell to close the performance, and simply left the stage. There’s also a video from after the show, depicting an upset Levine seemingly engaged in an expletive-laden argument with his manager about the event, saying “That was the end of the show. No way. That was a TV show that was an hour long. Not a concert.”

Twitter Reacts to Maroon 5’s Performance

As expected, Twitter was not kind to the band. Many disappointed fans voiced their issues, suggesting Maroon 5 no longer cares about live performances. Chilean festival attendees were upset by the notion that the band was unaware the show would be broadcast live, given the history of the event and that there was presumably a large sum of cash exchanged. Chilean celebrities also joined the Twitter rant. Popular Latina songstress Denise Rosenthal complained that Levine arrived at the venue late, demanding no one looked at his face, and continually facing the wall. Francisco Undurraga, a Chilean politician who was born without three of his limbs Tweeted Adam Levine had “less voice and soul” than his missing right arm.

Most musical acts have bad nights, and it’s possible the performance at Viña was just one such night for Maroon 5. Unfortunately for them, the internet is especially sensitive to anything that could portray the band as culturally insensitive, after the 2019 Super Bowl halftime show. That job was steeped in controversy after having been emphatically rejected by numerous mainstream artists as a response to the NFL’s treatment of former San Fransisco 49ers star Colin Kaepernick’s protest of the US National Anthem. Through what felt like a process of elimination, Maroon 5 landed the gig and has since been criticized for their failure to acknowledge the protests. Now, in the eyes of Twitter, Maroon 5 seems ignorant of the significance of a stage on which they perform yet again.

Source: The BBC

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