Photo by RB/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images
Lukas Graham’s live Spotify Singles session dropped last Friday, including a performance of the band’s own “Love Someone” as well as a cover of “SAD!” by late Florida rapper XXXTentacion. Less than a week later, Lukas Graham has removed the song from Spotify and apologized to fans after backlash due to X’s unresolved domestic violence case at the time of his death.
In a Facebook post, the band’s frontman Lukas Forchhammer explained that he didn’t know about X’s history when they recorded the cover. “Our cover of ‘SAD’ will be taken down ASAP,” he wrote. “I had no knowledge of his violent history. I’m very sorry for the pain I’ve caused. Again, I’m very sorry.”
X, real name Jahseh Onfroy, was awaiting trial on multiple felony charges at the time of his death, including battery and aggravated assault of a pregnant victim, battery by strangulation, and false imprisonment. The case was dropped due to his June 2018 murder, but subsequent recordings released by Pitchfork seemed to reveal X confessing to multiple violent crimes.
“SAD!” in particular has drawn scrutiny due to lyrics that many believe are about X’s relationship with the woman he was charged with assaulting:
Who am I? Someone that’s afraid to let go
You decide if you’re ever gonna let me know
Suicide if you ever try to let go
I’m sad, I know, yeah, I’m sad, I know, yeah
At one point, Spotify moved to ban XXXTentacion’s music, along with that of R. Kelly, from official playlists on the service, but backed away from its plans after industry backlash.
The shadow of X’s case has not stopped the popularity of his music. “SAD!” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week after his murder, and has since gone 4x Platinum. His first posthumous album, SKINS, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart last December, and included a collaboration with Kanye West.
Lukas Graham’s “Love Someone” performance is still available on Spotify.
Read all the lyrics to XXXTentacion’s “SAD!” on Genius now.
