Cringe pop
Stylistic originsPop
Cultural originsEarly 2010s, United States
Regional scenes
Cyberculture
Other topics
Outsider music

Cringe pop is a genre of pop music written to be cringeworthy, deliberately or unintentionally.

History

Rebecca Black's song "Friday" is usually credited as giving birth to the genre.[1] The song, which was released in 2011, has over 149.6 million views and 3.8 million dislikes on YouTube as of January 2021.[2]

Black was soon followed by Taher Shah, a Pakistani singer. His music video "Angel" went viral.[3] His first music video, "Eye to Eye", was released in 2013, and "Angel" was released in 2016.[4]

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.[5]

Examples

Jacintha Morris, an Indian civil servant, released "Is Suzainn the Sinner" in 2016, which was labelled a cringe pop song.[6] Morris herself denied that the song was intended to be cringe pop.[7]

Other examples include "Aunty Ki Ghanti" by Indian rapper Omprakash Mishra released in 2015[8] 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.[9]

Tony Kakkar, an Indian singer and composer, is often called out for cringe-worthy lyrics.[10]

Reception

Such songs are described as being "so bad that you can not stop watching them".[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ Aswal, Pratik (September 13, 2017). "Cringe Pop: The Genre That Has Taken The Internet By Storm". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "Rebecca Black - Friday" – via YouTube.
  3. ^ a b Nath, Parshathy J. (April 29, 2016). "Cringe benefits". The Hindu. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Taher Shah & the Rise of Cringe-Pop". Arré. April 11, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  6. ^ "'Cringe pop' creator defies her critics". BBC News. June 18, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  7. ^ "It was my dream project: Jacintha Morris". Deccan Chronicle. June 11, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  8. ^ "The psychology of cringe-pop fans: Why people like Omprakash Mishra's Aunty ki Ghanti". Hindustan Times. September 25, 2017.
  9. ^ "Pen Pineapple Apple Pen: This cringe pop wonder from Japan has taken internet by storm - Firstpost". Firstpost. September 28, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  10. ^ "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.
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