Cringe pop is a broad "genre" of

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

, which is written intentionally to be cringeworthy. It encompasses songs and music videos that are essentially awkward in nature. This awkwardness is intentionally produced for the purpose of gaining attention from people and going viral. The element of how cringeworthy the music is determines the virality of the song.

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. The rise of social media and streaming sites, especially

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

have provided a platform for cringe-pop writers to publish their work and these platforms are fundamental for their existence.

Rebecca Black Rebecca Renee Black (born June 21, 1997) is an American singer and YouTuber. She gained extensive media coverage when the music video for her 2011 single "Friday" went viral on YouTube and other social media sites. "Friday" was derided by many ...

's song "

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth day ...

" is usually credited as giving birth to the genre. The song, which was released in 2011, has over 149.6 million views and 3.8 million dislikes on YouTube as of January 2021. Black was soon followed by Taher Shah, a Pakistani singer. His music video "

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles include ...

" went viral. His first music video, " Eye to Eye", was released in 2013, and "Angel" was released in 2016.

Examples

Jacintha Morris, an Indian civil servant, released "Is Suzainn the Sinner" in 2016, which was labelled a cringe pop song. Morris herself denied that the song was intended to be cringe pop. Other examples include "Aunty Ki Ghanti" by Indian rapper Omprakash Mishra released in 2015 and "

PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen) is a single by Pikotaro, a fictional singer-songwriter created and portrayed by Japanese comedian Daimaou Kosaka. It was released as a music video on YouTube on 25 August 2016, and has since become a viral video. , the official video has been ...

" by Japanese comedian

Pikotaro , better known by his stage names and , is a Japanese comedian, television personality and entertainer. Kosaka insists that Pikotaro is another personality promoted by him, but they are considered the same person. He is currently signed with Av ...

, and the "Pokémon Go Song" by Czech child singer Misha/Mishovy Silenosti, both released in 2016.

Tony Kakkar Tony Kakkar (born 9 April 1984) is an Indian singer known for his cringe pop songs. Kakkar made his debut in Bollywood in 2012, as a music director with the film '' Mr. Bhatti on Chutti'', for which he composed the song "Good Boys Bad Boys". He ...

, an Indian singer and composer, is often called out for cringe-worthy lyrics.

Reception

Such songs are described as being "so bad, that you can't stop watching them".

References

{{Pop music 2010s in music 2010s neologisms 2020s in music 21st-century music genres Outsider music Pop music genres

History

Examples

Reception

See also

References