I Know That Song! When Paradise Is So NOT Paradise

This song is sung from a third person perspective about seeing a man crossing the street to avoid a homeless woman, pleading for people to do something about the situation and not simply turn a blind eye. 

Today’s singer remembers leaving the studio and seeing a homeless woman with two children who were begging for money. While the song shines a light on the issue, it also made him realize that, when confronted with it, he reacted the same as everyone else.

"What (the song) deals with is people's awkwardness with it. When it happened to me, I just walked straight past. I thought, I'm doing the same thing as everybody else... I felt awkward. I didn't ignore her but at the same time I didn't stop and give her some money... That's what the song deals with, people just sort of starting to pretend it's not happening."

The black-and-white music video, featuring today’s singer, drummer and frequent band frontman, performing the song interspersed with images of homeless people, was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form. 

It was no match for Paula Abdul and her rapping animated cat: "Opposites Attract" won the award.

It was only inevitable that the song would generate some haters because as today’s singer said, “"This is one I got a lot of flak for because I'm a multimillionaire"

He told theNew York Times, "When I drive down the street, I see the same things everyone else sees. It's a misconception that if you have a lot of money you're somehow out of touch with reality."

Despite the haters, radio listeners loved it, taking the song to #1 in America, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.


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