Mad at Disney

"Mad at Disney" is a song by American singer-songwriter Salem Ilese, most likely featured on her upcoming debut studio album. It was released on July 24th, 2020 as a single and a music video was released on October 15th, 2020.

A parody of the song, titled "Mad at 2020" was released on December 28th, 2020.

The song's full demo version was leaked on January 30, 2021. It featured an alternate second verse, while the instrumental was slightly different to the official version.

Background
The song was written in August 2019, during a writing session between Salem Ilese and the songwriters/producers Bendik Møller and Jason Hahs. The title was inspired by Hahs' disappointment after viewing the 2019 remake of The Lion King the day before, telling his co-writers, "I'm a little mad at Disney." Ilese then related the statement to the "false view of relationships" given to her by viewing animated Disney films. The song was released on July 24, 2020, but gained popularity in September 2020 after becoming popular on video sharing platform TikTok.

It was sent to contemporary pop radio stations in the United States on October 6th, 2020 for further promotion.

On October 23, Ilese released an interview with Genius, explaining the song's meaning. It currently has almost 650,000 views.

Theme
The song describes being disappointed and deceived with love after getting false expectations of romance. This is compared to watching Disney princess films, in which the prince and princess live happily ever after.

Genius states that "On “Mad at Disney”, Salem changes the ending of her life story, from the usual “And they lived happily ever after!” to “And she lived forever deceived!”, that says, Disney taught her to dream of true love, and growing up she realized that in real life it’s a lie."

Lyrics
Original version=

Clean version=

Demo version=

Critical Reception
Chris DeVille of Stereogum called the single "a hell of a pop song", writing "["Mad at Disney"] manages to sound like every other new pop song on the radio while also standing out from the pack." Elias Leight of Rolling Stone called the song "a skipping, four-on-the-floor pop missile". Singer-songwriter Mollie King, writing for Marie Claire, called the song "subtle yet hugely relevant" and referred to the lyrics as "thought-provoking", comparing Ilese to fellow singer Julia Michaels.

Commercial Performance
In September 2020, after becoming popular on TikTok, "Mad at Disney" peaked at number one on the Spotify Viral 50 charts in the US and globally, while peaking within the top 100 of Spotify's global chart. The song peaked at number 49 on the Irish Singles Chart and 60 on the UK Singles Chart.