“I Hate You When You’re Drunk” by Olly Murs

Olly Murs dealt with a bit of cancel culture-like backlash upon the release of “I Hate You When You’re Drunk”. But why? This is because some listeners deem the lyrics to be offensive, despite the fact that they are relayed towards an unspecified addressee. 

What is speculated is that said addressee is a romantic interest. Or in any event it is clearly a loved one, and more specifically we may say a female whom the vocalist spends a lot of public/party time with. And at the end of the day, it’s hard to hate on Olly if he is indeed disgusted when she gets inebriated and proceeds to, in his eyes, make a solid fool of herself.

It does appear, in the bridge for instance, that he does proceed to treat her pretty badly – in a manner of speaking – when she behaves like this. For instance, Olly will refuse to hug her upon request, and he even goes as far as to state that he “got no sympathy” for homegirl when she’s boozed like that. 

But in the third verse, a bit conversely, he also puts forth that he will “love (her) all the same” no matter what and will continue to “pick (her) up” every time she gets too drunk to handle herself.

So cancel culture being what it is, perhaps Murs and his team should have expected some type of notable criticism due to how heavy-handed some of the lyrics are. But it’s also quite clear that this is an exercise in tough love, i.e. the vocalist dissing the addressee, so to speak, in the name of encouraging her to clean up her act.

Why do people hate drunk people?

Having a drink or two occasionally is great when you’re celebrating or simply want to have some fun. But when you’re unable to control yourself and drink to the point of being drunk, then that’s where most people start having an issue. Drunk people, although some may say they’re fun, are usually irrational. They can go from being fun drunks to crying or trying to start a fight. Some will even go to the extent of drunk dialing their exes or friends and ranting on nonsensically. Ultimately, they have an increased likelihood of becoming a nuisance to society as they are unable to think rationally.

The above are apparently some of the reasons why Olly Murs also doesn’t like the song’s addressee whenever they’re drunk.

Did Olly Murs write “I Hate You When You’re Drunk”?

Yes, he did. However, Olly didn’t compose this song all by himself. He received writing assistance in the persons of the following:

• Jessica Agombar
• David Stewart (who also produced the entire track)

When was this song released?

November 25th, 2022 marks the song’s official release date. On the said date, Olly and his team unveiled the song as the second single from the album “Marry Me”.

Controversy surrounding “I Hate You When You’re Drunk”

As soon as Olly dropped this song, it was met with controversy. Many critics blasted him over and over again for being “misogynistic” in the song.

According to his critics, it was wrong for Olly to criticize his significant other for getting drunk. In the eyes of these critics, reprimanding a female lover for being drunk so is not only “cruel” but also very “misogynistic”.

Furthermore, these critics claim that based on the content of the lyrics, Olly presents himself as a boyfriend who is very controlling. Many even went as far as to call for the song to be axed because it is very offensive.