"Generation Cancellation" is a 2022 single by the Russian

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

band Little Big. The song was released on 23 June 2022, in response to the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

, and it condemns the invasion.

Background

Little Big frontman

Ilya Prusikin Ilya Vladimirovich Prusikin (russian: Илья́ Влади́мирович Пруси́кин, born 8 April 1985), is a Russian musician, singer, record producer, vlogger, video director and screenwriter. He is best known as the front person ...

said that the song was recorded on 25 February 2022.Холод (2 July 2022)
«Было бы глупо петь о том, что Путин развязал войну. Это частушки» – Илья Прусикин из Little Big — о войне, критике со стороны украинцев и личной ответственности за происходящее
(in Russian). Retrieved 6 July 2022. In March, the band left Russia for Los Angeles and shot the video for the song shortly after. Because of the post-production process, which was done by the Russian crew "who went all over the world", the release of the song was delayed. "Generation Cancellation" was released on 23 June 2022. In previous interviews, Prusikin criticized the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, stating "We adore our country, but we completely disagree with the war in Ukraine, moreover, we believe that any war is unacceptable." The band also announced that they had left the country and relocated to Los Angeles, stating that "we are so disgusted by the Russian military propaganda machine that we decided to drop everything and leave the country."

Composition

The song is described as an "aggressive hard rock" song with a few lyrics, mentioning how the younger generations, mostly

generation Z Generation Z (or more commonly Gen Z for short), colloquially known as zoomers, is the Western world, Western demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort succeeding Millennials and preceding Generation Alpha. Researchers and popular me ...

in Russia, are facing a new, war mongered civilization. According to William Lee Adams, editor of

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

fansite '' Wiwibloggs'', the lyrics "clearly express the helplessness that many opposed to the war feel."

Music video

Along with the song's release, a music video was released on Little Big's YouTube channel. The video makes references to major political leaders portrayed by David Alan Graf and Sam H. Clauder II; and shows the destruction brought by the Russian army. In the video, the video first shows an evil political figure, who is kept alive with an IV tube filled with

crude oil Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...

, using soldiers (Howard Campbell, Andriy Zozulya, Qi Gu and George De Sclar) as chess pieces for the invasion, and giving a child (Ivan Logut) a hot dog with a missile. Later, a news anchorman (Christopher Matthew Spencer) is shown broadcasting with the graphic "FAKE NEWS". The camera is then moved to shown the anchorman sitting a toilet, to show that they are "full of shit". In the last scene, a security guard (Neil Stephens), shown as a priest of the Russian orthodox church, is shown "blessing" someone (Jordan Reed) with a cross made of a baton.

Critical reception

In response to the song, Iosif Prigozhin, a Russian music producer, called for the revocation of the citizenship of the members of Little Big, stating that "people who are poorly educated have moved to the United States, hinking that it's‘the most peaceful state in the world,’ and they are trying to talk about

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

through their videos. eanwhile I'm not afraid of this word." He later claimed that "the West is engaged in the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

of our people."

References

{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022 songs 2022 singles Little Big (band) songs Songs about the Russian invasion of Ukraine