Rise & Fall of Cringe Pop in India
What is cringe pop?
Cringe pop is spit on the grave of Tanseen and Mozart or in anyone’s ear. Cringe pop is a genre of music which is too bad to exist. Song and video so bad that you can’t stop watching them.
History –
The first video known to be put in this category was by an American teen singer Rebecca Black named Friday which came out in 2011. Friday did not become a hit in India for the internet users were less compared to now. There was not unlimited data like today which made it valuable, we had to use the data carefully (sometimes I wish it was still like that, but then torrents!)
With time internet became easily available and smartphones became popular in India, and so did Taher Shah the first cringe pop star known in India. A middle aged man dressed as an angel in hideous neon colored robes, walking around in a golf course, singing a song which proclaims him as an angel. People hated him so much that they loved it.
Rise of Cringe Pop –
It won’t be wrong to say that introduction of JIO was rise of all the cringe worthy content on internet. Dinchak Pooja’s first single Swag Wali Topi was a ground breaking internet sensation. It was all over the internet. People shared it, laughed at it and shared it some more. The caption read ‘My ears are bleeding’, ‘It ruined my day so it shall ruin yours’. In no time, Dinchak Pooja became our country’s own famous cringe-pop-star and meme material and what not. After Swag Wali Topi Pooja made more songs and also more room for this genre.
Not one, not two, then came numbers of song which made us cringe. We kept digging for such songs and found several more cringe-worthy songs and singers. Pikotaro’s – PPAP (Pen Pinapple Apple Pen), Bhim Niroula’s – Sunday Morning Love You, Vennu Mallesh’s – It’s My Life Whatever I Wanna Do. Not just from India we embraced cringe-pop-star from across the world all alike. These songs were catchy and none of us could deny not humming these songs. If not all, at least one, if not for long time, for at least once.
Every cringe worthy song on internet is so bad that it makes one feel good about himself that there are more dumb-witted people and they have displayed themselves on social media. It is a good ego boost for all the people who think less of themselves.
So will cringe pop not be a Thing if everyone do think less of themselves? NO!
There are other sides to it as well, and it is one of the many aspects.
Everyone was cool until… Om Prakash Mishra!
Om Prakash Mishra came out of nowhere and took the internet by storm. We were beholding the most popular cringe-pop-star of the country. Om Prakash was not too big on numbers but by the way how people started talking about him. Panels were made, debates were held, stars took social media to say things about him, psychologist were asked their opinion on how the youth is becoming misogynist, death threats were given, flash-mob were organized.
Web media portals started talking about cringe pop. How bad it is and why people like it. Doctors, journalists, and thinkers were asked their opinion on why people like it.
Doctors dig brains in the search of the reason of its popularity and claimed to find it. They said the youth of the millennial is becoming frustrated and misogynist.
One acknowledged reason is meme. Meme has become the biggest thing on internet these days. People are rigorously religious about it. And Om Prakash, Dinchak Pooja and basically all the cringe-worthy songs make great meme material. Memes and their creators have played equal part in making this genre a phenomenon.
People started coming out and talked about. In favor of or against, points were made. Those who were against said it was depressing and misogynist and his fans gave rape threats to the journalist who requested or rather ordered Youtube to take the video down. The video was taken down. Those who were fine with it, said Om Prakash’s Aunty Ki Ghanti was not the only video of this kind. And there are Bollywood songs which also objectify women and are misogynist. But soon the fuzz settled down and the biggest cringe-pop-star disappeared. He released part 2 of the song which was a fail. Now we hardly see him or his memes.
Fall of Cringe Pop –
Dinchak Pooja was sent inside the mad house in the most popular reality show in India in Big Boss. She was not limited to internet only, she got a bigger platform. A Nation TV channel but as soon she was evicted people forgot about her. Popularity of here songs decreased. Once here song got 31 million hits on YouTube, it became limited to 2 or 3 million (not bad as well). The same thing happened with Om Prakash.
People have had too much of cringe pop and these Youtubers, they are dead-meat in the terms of Youtube hits now.
In closing I’d like to say, I hope to see no such songs ever again and that it has; Fallen. For. Good!
In the not-so-loving memory of Cringe Pop : 2011-2017
Amen!