The BBC has denied claims that it removed the Irish-language intro from CMAT’s new single Euro-Country, stating it aired the version provided by the artist’s record label.
The Irish singer-songwriter voiced frustration online when the track’s debut on BBC Radio 1 on Tuesday was missing its 40-second Irish-language intro.
Taking to her Instagram Story after its first play on Jack Saunders’s show, CMAT told fans: “It was not my decision to have the Irish language edited out of the first-ever play of Euro-Country on radio.
“I don’t know if it was a mistake or what happened.”
The singer, whose name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, then confirmed the BBC had since reached out and would play the full version, Irish intro included, on air on Wednesday.
“However, they have just gotten in contact and said that they are gonna play the Irish-language intro, full version of Euro-Country tomorrow to make up for it,” she shared on her IG story.
The broadcaster has since clarified it had aired the radio edit it received from CMAT’s record label.
A spokesperson for the BBC told The Standard: “BBC Radio 1 did not edit the Irish language from this single, we broadcast the radio edit of CMAT’s new song Euro-Country that was supplied by the record label.”
Adding: “BBC Radio 1 has already played the full version that includes the Irish language intro today on ‘Rickie Melvin and Charlie’, and it will be played again on ‘Going Home’, and Radio 1’s New Music Show with Jack Saunders.”
The intro’s lyrics reads: “Cad is gá dom a dhéanamh mura bhfuil mé ag bualadh leat? (What am I to do if I’m not meeting you?)
"Tá ceann folamh agam, yah, agus pearsantacht nua (I have an empty head, yah, and a new personality)
“Eirím níos dofheicthe, is tú imithe, ó mo shaol (I become more invisible, you are gone, from my life)
“Níl aon rud fágtha sa scátháin (There’s nothing left in the mirror), An mbeidh mé álainn mhaol? (Will I be beautiful bald?).”
The track, one of the lead singles from her forthcoming album of the same name, set for release August 29, also takes aim at alleged political corruption under former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and those involved in 2008 collapse of the Celtic Tiger.
In one verse, she sings: “All the big boys, all the Berties, all the envelopes, yeah, they hurt me / I was 12 when the das started killing themselves all around me” - a line widely interpreted as a reference to Ireland’s post-recession suicide crisis.
