In the track McElderry was just one of the stars that Dappy slated. The song focused on the rise of The X Factor and also took shots at Alexandra Burke and Simon Cowell.

 

The lyrics that McElderry took offence at are: “I heard Simon Cowell thinks I'm a little w***er/ And that I'm getting on his t**s like cancer/ I don't want to start mentioning names (f**k it)/ Where they all now? They're bankrupt.

 

“Joe McElderry, oh what a stand up/ Alexandra [Burke], pull your socks up/ Where your hits at, you ain't no winner/ I feel bad ‘cause your voice is amazing.”

 

Joe told BANG Showbiz at the European premiere of Magic Mike: “'I'm never one for putting people down in the music industry, I think everybody should just support one another.

 

“'You can be criticised and judged by a lot of people and I think it's just a bit sad that people do that but if that's what he wants to do, go for it. Personally I wouldn't do that to someone.”

 

McElderry went on to say that Dappy feels the need to talk about others in his songs in order to sell records, and said that he himself simply doesn’t find Dappy interesting enough to name drop him in a track.

 

He added: “'I'm not really bothered if he wants to write about me in a song. I don't really find him interesting enough to write about in my songs but if that's what he wants to do, he can do that.

 

“'I've met him loads of times and it's just one of those things. I'm sure he's probably just doing it to sell more singles, but there you go.” 

 

Cousin and ex-bandmate Tulisa also slammed the song, calling Dappy a “little s**t” and accusing him of having lost his mind.