Arnel Pineda has spoken out after facing criticism for his poor performance at Rock in Rio earlier this month.
On Monday, the Journey frontman took to Facebook to share a lengthy post addressing the backlash and challenging fans to vote him out of the group if they were no longer happy with him as a member of the rock band.
Pineda, 57, began his post by thanking everyone who has attended the band’s shows since February before sharing a link to a viral video of his performance of “Don’t Stop Believin'” at the biennial music festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In the 48-second clip, Pineda is seen singing his heart out while walking around the venue to interact with fans. However, the singer misses the right notes on several occasions.
The voice of some was most captured by Arnel Pineda during the presentation of Journey and Rock in Rio Brasil on September 15.
“I understand this so well… no one in the world feels more pain about this than me… it’s amazing that 1,000 things you did right will be forgotten because of THIS… and of all places, it’s at Rock In Rio,” he wrote in his post.
Pineda went on to admit that he suffered a lot after seeing harsh criticism of his performance in the video. “Mentally and emotionally, I suffered, and I’m still suffering… but I’ll be okay,” he admitted.
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Before ending his post, the Filipino artist challenged fans to vote for him to “Stay” or “Go” in the post’s comments section. “If GO reaches 1 million… I’m gone forever… do you guys play games? Let’s get started,” he wrote.
Many fans were quick to voice their support for Pineda, encouraging him to stay and ignore the negativity. One commented, “STAY, a million times STAY!!! You’re a monster singer and a great person. Period.”
Another fan wrote, “STOP Arnel! Haters are always there no matter what you do because they are jealous and envious. But you have more people and fans who love you and want to hear and see you sing…”
Another added, “Every entertainer has haters. There are a lot of people who like to live in the past. Those people can stay home and you can STAY with Journey.”
After analyzing the viral video, Billboard reported that the singer appeared to have had trouble hitting the right notes in Journey’s hit due to an issue with his headphones.
Pineda officially joined the rock band in 2007 to replace previous lead singer Steve Perry, who left Journey in 1998 after suffering a hiking accident and refusing hip surgery so they could continue touring at the time.
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Journey Card, Steve Perry