Cringe pop

Cringe pop
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly 2010s, United States[citation needed]
Other topics

Cringe pop is a broad "genre" of pop music, which is written intentionally to be cringeworthy.[1][2] It encompasses songs and music videos that are essentially awkward in nature.[2] This awkwardness is intentionally produced for the purpose of gaining attention from people and going viral.[3]

The element of how cringeworthy the music is determines the virality of the song.[2][irrelevant citation]

History

Cringe pop has spread due to the advancement of technology, essentially allowing anyone with a laptop to be able to produce a song and a music video.[4] The rise of social media and streaming sites, especially YouTube have provided a platform for cringe-pop writers to publish their work and these platforms are fundamental for their existence.[5]

While the origins of cringe pop are unknown, an Indian magazine credited Rebecca Black's song "Friday" as giving birth to the genre.[6][7][8] The song, which was released in 2011, has over 149.6 million views and 3.8 million dislikes on YouTube as of January 2021.[9]

Black was soon followed by Taher Shah, a Pakistani singer. His music video "Angel" went viral.[10] His first music video, "Eye to Eye", was released in 2013, and "Angel" was released in 2016.[11]

Examples

Jacintha Morris, an Indian civil servant, released "Is Suzainn the Sinner" in 2016, which was labelled a cringe pop song.[12] Morris herself denied that the song was intended to be cringe pop.[13]

Other examples include "Aunty Ki Ghanti" by Indian rapper Omprakash Mishra released in 2015[14] and "PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)" by Japanese comedian Pikotaro, and the "Pokémon Go Song" by Czech child singer Misha/Mishovy Silenosti, both released in 2016.[15]

Tony Kakkar, an Indian singer and composer, is often called out for cringe-worthy lyrics.[16][17]

Reception

Such songs are described as being "so bad, that you can't stop watching them".[1][18][10]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ramakrishnan, D. & Sharma, R. (December 15, 2018). "Music Preference in Life Situations A Comparative Study of Trending Music". International Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. 4 (6). doi:10.20469/ijhss.4.10005-6. S2CID 231591296.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ a b c Perera, Sasanka; Pathak, Dev Nath (January 25, 2022). Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times. Taylor & Francis. p. 147. ISBN 978-1-000-53540-2.
  3. ^ Perera, Sasanka; Pathak, Dev Nath (January 25, 2022). Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times. Taylor & Francis. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-000-53540-2.
  4. ^ "Taher Shah & the Rise of Cringe-Pop". Arré. April 11, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  5. ^ Hirmer, Monika (January 1, 2018). "Taking Cringe Pop Seriously". Economic & Political Weekly.
  6. ^ Dutta, Ankuran (January 1, 2019). "Why Cringe pops are popular in social media? A closer look on an Indian Cringe Artist and virality of his cringe creativity". South Asian Journal of Communication Studies: 46.
  7. ^ Martell, James (2021). "Archephonai: The Dangers of Music". doi:10.26021/12234. ISSN 2463-333X. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Aswal, Pratik (September 13, 2017). "Cringe Pop: The Genre That Has Taken The Internet By Storm". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  9. ^ "Rebecca Black - Friday" – via YouTube.
  10. ^ a b Nath, Parshathy J. (April 29, 2016). "Cringe benefits". The Hindu. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  11. ^ Nauman, Qasim (April 13, 2016). "See the 'Cringe-Pop' Music Video from Pakistan Taking the Internet by Storm". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  12. ^ "'Cringe pop' creator defies her critics". BBC News. June 18, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  13. ^ "It was my dream project: Jacintha Morris". Deccan Chronicle. June 11, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  14. ^ "The psychology of cringe-pop fans: Why people like Omprakash Mishra's Aunty ki Ghanti". Hindustan Times. September 25, 2017.
  15. ^ "Pen Pineapple Apple Pen: This cringe pop wonder from Japan has taken internet by storm - Firstpost". Firstpost. September 28, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  16. ^ Jain, Vaishali (July 21, 2022). "Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 10: Ali Asgar, Tony Kakkar & Sumeet Vyas likely to participate | Deets Inside". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  17. ^ "Neha Kakkar's Goa Beach, Adnan Sami's Tu Yaad Aya and Asim Riaz anthem: Top Hindi tracks of February 11". The Indian Express. February 12, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
  18. ^ Dutta, Ankuran (January 1, 2019). "Why Cringe pops are popular in social media? A closer look on an Indian Cringe Artist and virality of his cringe creativity". South Asian Journal of Communication Studies.