Shaggy is releasing an updated album of his hits, and apparently It Wasn’t Me is an ‘anti-cheating song’

It's the soundtrack our summer needs.

Shaggy aka Mr Boombastic aka Mr Lover Lover (stop me when the references get too old for you) is back! Unbelievably it's been 20 whole years since Shaggy first graced us with his growling Reggae tones and dancefloor fillers like Oh Carolina, Angel and Boombastic. His tracks were cheesy, cheery earworms that were far more sexy than our repressed little nation was used to. There's no denying that It Wasn't Me was an absolute banger – even if we were far, far too young at the time to understand exactly what 'banging on the bathroom floor' was about. Well, now Shaggy is back with an updated version of his original album, Hot Shot 2020, which includes a new version of the 'anthem'.

“It’s been 20 years since my album, Hot Shot, and the now infamous ‘anthem’ It Wasn’t Me and to commemorate this milestone, I decided to reproduce this classic hit. In doing so, I wanted to make sure we stayed true to the integrity of the original recording while finding ways to modernise it, being that the song remains a recurrent hit, garnering a new and younger fan base each year.”

We're pretty sure that the world wasn't crying out for a new version of this song, so what a 'new and younger fan base' will think of it in the post MeToo era is anyone's guess. Consider, for instance, just this snippet in which our 'hero' gives a masterclass in gaslighting: To be a true player you have to know how to play If she say a night, convince her say a day Never admit to a word when she say And if she claims ah you tell her baby no way Nice. However, Shaggy now insists that the intention of the song was misunderstood – not the gaslighting, unfortunately, but the general advice on getting away with cheating.

“While it may come as a surprise, It Wasn’t Me is actually an anti-cheating song! In the original version, the ‘apology’ from Rik Rok comes at the very end, yet by then, most DJ’s had mixed or gone into another song, so it was often missed ... the point is that the guy who was cheating didn’t follow the players advice.”

Hmmm.... Definitely one that requires pushing your political correctness to one side, but sure if we can guilt dance to Robin Thicke then we can definitely still sing along to Shaggy. And if it helps your conscience, he's been doing some good work raising funds for the people of Jamaica during the Covid-19 crisis.