this post was submitted on 05 May 2024
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chapotraphouse

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When North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un released his latest song two weeks ago, surely he couldn’t have foreseen it becoming a hit on TikTok.

But the propaganda tune has gone viral online with Gen Z users bopping around to the synthy-electro pop.

Most are clearly quite oblivious to the Korean lyrics praising a man who’s vowed to “thoroughly annihilate the US” and launched dozens of ballistic missiles

thought-side-r-1 xi-plz thought-side-r-2 yea

But the sunny pop hides something more sinister, experts say.

nerd

there’s more than just commercial considerations at play when writing a chart-topper in North Korea - authorities want an earworm that penetrates minds.

There’s no space for abstract phrasing or timing that’s overly complicated , says Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music.

Melodies have to be simple, accessible, something people can easily pick up.

Tunes also need to be pitched at a vocal range where they can be sung by most people. The masses can’t keep up with vocal gymnastics, so forget about multi-octave riffs.

the songbook also rarely contains any tracks with real emotion

Hive mind npc communists brainwashed by appealing simplicity of juche-pop hit

Pyongyang keeps its pop tracks for those at home. The state has paraded its opera troupes and symphony orchestras on overseas missions – but its lighter ensembles are kept for a domestic audience only.

It's streaming. You are literally writing an article about it going viral

The song sheet and lyrics of the latest songs - which only come out sparingly - are printed in newspapers and magazines;

“A song is almost like the newspaper in North Korea.”

morshupls they print the "songs" in these newspapers, but it's almost like the songs are the newspapers. What else is in the newspapers? Idk probably just more songs

usually they also have to learn dances to go with it

“By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person,” he says

dafoe-horror "I am currently hitting the griddy for Ukraine"

Meanwhile on TikTok, users are just enjoying the music.

For many American users, the irony’s not been lost on them that a Communist song has gone viral on the Chinese-owned app while US lawmakers are trying to ban it.

thonk

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[–] dumpster_dove@hexbear.net 72 points 1 year ago (2 children)

praising a man who’s vowed to “thoroughly annihilate the US” and launched dozens of ballistic missiles [...] But the sunny pop hides something more sinister

lmao that's unintentionally very funny

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 44 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

If only they could be normal and launch missiles into Gaza by the thousands, instead of over the ocean in the dozens like warmongers😤

[–] SacredExcrement@hexbear.net 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You don't understand, he VOWED to annihilate the US

That's much worse then ACTUALLY destroying or destabilizing places like Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iran, Korea, Libya, Laos, Cambodia, Bosnia, Syria....

[–] SexUnderSocialism@hexbear.net 64 points 1 year ago

Everything bad country does is propaganda. Everything we do is not propaganda. I am very smart. very-smart

[–] wombat@hexbear.net 63 points 1 year ago

uncritical support for the DPRK in its heroic struggle to liberate occupied Korea from the genocidal American empire

[–] nurjahreszeiten@hexbear.net 56 points 1 year ago (2 children)

But there’s more than just commercial considerations at play when writing a chart-topper in North Korea - authorities want an earworm that penetrates minds.

In NK they penetrate minds with catchy songs.

[–] nohaybanda@hexbear.net 27 points 1 year ago

Also, the mendacious Asiatics produce art for reasons other than profit

pearl-clutch

[–] Mokey@hexbear.net 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] NecroticEuphoria@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 year ago

Where they penetrate minds with bullets

[–] Tabitha@hexbear.net 56 points 1 year ago (5 children)

There’s no space for abstract phrasing or timing that’s overly complicated , says Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music. / Melodies have to be simple, accessible, something people can easily pick up. / Tunes also need to be pitched at a vocal range where they can be sung by most people. The masses can’t keep up with vocal gymnastics, so forget about multi-octave riffs. / the songbook also rarely contains any tracks with real emotion

all this nonsensically critical technobable and it's like some regular-ass song

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 35 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the songbook

yeah let's extrapolate an entire country's musical culture from one song book. no fucking shit you want your national music to be accessible to people who aren't formally trained.

[–] Mokey@hexbear.net 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No one talk about the American songbook that has complicated melodies like There Will Never Be Another You

[–] reaper_cushions@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago

What this woman is describing here is the concept of a catchy tune. She must have experienced seeing Kim Il-Sung in the flesh the first time she heard “Call Me, Maybe”.

[–] Mokey@hexbear.net 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

QThe massively subjective statement passed off as fact at the end there

Also just imagine the chart for this song, all those hits at the end, the double time, the layered orchestration. Its different and kind of out of style but its not simple

You can apply this bullshit to anything like Japanese Taiko drumming represents the Japanese unwillingness to let go a foregone past and their imperialist roots as the rhythms are simple and lack any nuance or progression in difficulty

Like maybe this shit is their culture and its their culture because the country got a good chunk of their culture and sense of normalcy blown away by the fash

[–] SpiderFarmer@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

Damn, I bet this author shits their pants at folk music. That's as simple and catchy as it gets.

[–] SeventyTwoTrillion@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

this is just the musical equivalent of body language experts

"Putin/Xi/Raisi/etc slightly stumbling that one time is actually deeply emblematic of their health problems and this is reflected in their countries, over which they have a totalitarian rule. I've analyzed the average angle at which their left hand moves versus their right while walking, noting a difference of 0.004 radians. The best training the FBI gave me shows conclusively that this means they intend to commit a brutal war/genocide in the coming years."

also

"Biden stumbling repeatedly both verbally and physically while walking is actually a show of strength, indicating that American democracy is not dependent on the person elected but every single person. If more leaders were willing to display weakness while knowing that this is actually strength, the world would be a fairer and more democratic place."

then again, there are probably 100x more of these grifters draining state resources than remotely competent empire custodians, so godspeed to them wasting as many agency/corporate resources as possible

[–] kristina@hexbear.net 53 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Taylor Swift was not expecting to get blown out of the water right after dropping her new album,” one fan joked online.

[–] PointAndClique@hexbear.net 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That fan was me and that was not a joke 😤

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[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 53 points 1 year ago (2 children)

authorities want an earworm that penetrates minds.

Everything is communist brainwashing socialism-spectre

[–] dead@hexbear.net 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Fun fact, the CIA invented the word brainwashing during the Korean war to try to explain why American POWs captured by China felt sympathy towards China when they returned home.

Fun fact, the CIA invented the word brainwashing during the Korean war to try to explain why American POWs captured by China felt sympathy towards China when they returned home.

The OG before 'Trotsky invented racism to shut down all political debate' lmao

[–] ShimmeringKoi@hexbear.net 34 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Solemn and serious songs? Communist brainwashing. Catchy i-love-not-thinking-earworms? Communist brainwashing. Nothing is ever capitalist brainwashing.

[–] PKMKII@hexbear.net 51 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There’s no space for abstract phrasing or timing that’s overly complicated , says Alexandra Leonzini, a Cambridge University scholar who researches North Korean music.

Melodies have to be simple, accessible, something people can easily pick up.

Tunes also need to be pitched at a vocal range where they can be sung by most people. The masses can’t keep up with vocal gymnastics, so forget about multi-octave riffs.

Unlike in America, where Taylor Swift releases songs in 11/4 time using the octatonic scale across an operatic vocal range.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 15 points 1 year ago

Was going to say, lol, this is like the most common criticism of pop music.

[–] HexBroke@hexbear.net 39 points 1 year ago

“By the time the song has sort of been taken into the body, it’s become part of the person,” he says

Orientalism in 2024?

N'ver a bad time for orientalism guv'na

ukkk

[–] came_apart_at_Kmart@hexbear.net 35 points 1 year ago

Next up, we have Toby Keith and Ted Nugent talking about how America's Red White and Blue Freedom: We're Gonna Bomb Iran Tour is about family, community, and togetherness. But first, here's Eric Clapton talking about how the presence of immigrants in London makes him remember being so strung out on heroin he threw his son out the window of his penthouse, and that's why those boats full of refugees should be sunk at sea with torpedoes by our brave lads in the Royal Navy.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This article is so fucking long for a tiktok wtf they are fuming

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 26 points 1 year ago
[–] MaoTheLawn@hexbear.net 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Glad someone posted this - I read it and was stunned at their talking points. It's not hard to put a case up against North Korea, especially in the average westerners mind, yet the BBC decided to go for the racist magical psyop explanation of what is quite simple a catchy patriotic song.

As if post 9/11 Country Pop wasn't the most brainwashed genre that's ever been produced.

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[–] silent_water@hexbear.net 24 points 1 year ago

anyone else hearing bars from the internationale at the start? this sounds like a pop homage.

[–] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why is it hard to find a proper version of the song. From the snippet I found, it kinda sounds like it's by Moranbong band, and it's a very typical tune for them.

[–] Pili@hexbear.net 25 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

those are clearly all paid actors

And the broken clock is finally right! Can't wait to inform the libs that they've finally been proven right on this one

[–] the_itsb@hexbear.net 10 points 1 year ago

This is awesome!!

That guy fist-pumping to the beat at 1:45 really got me 😂❤️

[–] Mokey@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago

Song rules, the video seems like it is supposed to be a little funny too

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[–] Gucci_Minh@hexbear.net 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Old NK-pop: Soviet style war songs with eastern influence (https://youtu.be/Ra5ZNNTpf10)

New NK-Pop: 80s anime openings (https://youtu.be/Nzb3dqRaN_8)

[–] Pili@hexbear.net 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The instrumental from We Will Follow You Only straight up sounds like it's from DBZ.

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

sick electric cello

also where'd they get a fucken roland?

[–] Thordros@hexbear.net 13 points 1 year ago

Same place the audio guy got the Sony headphones, I imagine.

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[–] hungrybread@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

These are all dope. Checked out With Pride too, pretty satisfying instrumentals.

This is going to make me sound like a lib, but does anyone know why does this group write tunes about Kim Jong-Un specifically? I tried digging around but of course the news is flooded with crap about Friendly Father. Feels like a great man of history situation. Of course, in the states we're only going to hear about stories about their "dear/Supreme leader" (whatever scary term is in use at the time), and not pro workers works, so we have that bias shaping our interpretations.

[–] Awoo@hexbear.net 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

does anyone know why does this group write tunes about Kim Jong-Un specifically

Because the bbc is right about it being propaganda lol, still bops. Seems like a group that's specifically part of the military?

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[–] Pili@hexbear.net 19 points 1 year ago

Because it's objectively an absolute banger, you libs.

[–] JohnBrownNote@hexbear.net 17 points 1 year ago

what even is north music like? the audience at that kpop concert ~~a few~~ several years ago didn't seem to have context for it. did they get soviet new wave? are they getting hiphop relabeled generically as "black american music" like the disney dubs?

[–] Sons_of_Ferrix@hexbear.net 12 points 1 year ago

Cuz it slaps

[–] hello_hello@hexbear.net 8 points 1 year ago

This is just an extended version of the "haha if they don't clap they will get punished by North Korean gulag" comment you see on any western aligned publication about the DPRK.

American empire is recycling all its jokes again.

Every accusation being projection has rarely felt more accurate.

[–] LaughingLion@hexbear.net 7 points 1 year ago

hahah i love this also cant get over the bass and drums sounding like they came straight from a 1980s cheap casio keyboard (i had one when i was a kid)

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