Cringe pop

{{Short description|Genre of the pop music}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}

{{Infobox music genre

| name = Cringe pop

| stylistic_origins = {{hlist|Pop|cyberculture|cringe comedy}}

| cultural_origins = Early 2010s, United States{{Citation needed|date=March 2023}}

| derivatives =

| subgenres =

| fusiongenres =

| regional_scenes =

| other_topics = {{hlist|Comedy|Denpa}}

}}

Cringe pop is a broad "genre" of pop music, which is written intentionally to be cringeworthy.{{cite book |last1=Perera |first1=Sasanka |last2=Pathak |first2=Dev Nath |title=Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times |date=25 January 2022 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-53540-2 |page=147 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIlSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT147 |language=en}} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Perera |first1=Sasanka |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sIlSEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1 |title=Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in Unstable Times |last2=Pathak |first2=Dev Nath |date=2022-01-25 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-53540-2 |pages=151 |language=en}}

The element of how cringeworthy the music is determines the virality of the song.{{Irrelevant citation|reason=The citation lists humor "and power" in South Asia, not cringe pop as a whole|date=May 2023}}

==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.{{cite web|title=Taher Shah & the Rise of Cringe-Pop|url=http://www.arre.co.in/culture/taher-shah-the-rise-of-cringe-pop/|publisher=Arré|access-date=December 17, 2016|date=April 11, 2016}}

The rise of social media and streaming sites, especially YouTube have provided a platform for cringe-pop writers to publish their work and these platforms are fundamental for their existence.{{cite journal |last1=Hirmer |first1=Monika |title=Taking Cringe Pop Seriously |journal=Economic & Political Weekly |date=1 January 2018 |url=https://www.academia.edu/36569199}}

While the origins of cringe pop are unknown, an Indian magazine credited Rebecca Black's song "Friday" as giving birth to the genre.{{Cite journal |last=Dutta |first=Ankuran |date=2019-01-01 |title=Why Cringe pops are popular in social media? A closer look on an Indian Cringe Artist and virality of his cringe creativity |url=https://www.academia.edu/42228955 |journal=South Asian Journal of Communication Studies |pages=46}}{{cite journal |last1=Martell |first1=James |title=Archephonai: The Dangers of Music |journal=Continental Thought & Theory |date=2021 |doi=10.26021/12234 |url=https://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/103100 |language=en |issn=2463-333X}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cosmopolitan.in/celebrity/news/a11726/cringe-pop-the-genre-that-has-taken-the-internet-by-storm/|title=Cringe Pop: The Genre That Has Taken The Internet By Storm|magazine=Cosmopolitan|first=Pratik|last=Aswal|date=13 September 2017|accessdate=3 June 2022}} The song, which was released in 2011, has over 149.6 million views and 3.8 million dislikes on YouTube as of January 2021.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfVsfOSbJY0|title=Rebecca Black - Friday|via=YouTube}}

Black was soon followed by Taher Shah, a Pakistani singer. His music video "Angel" went viral. His first music video, "Eye to Eye", was released in 2013, and "Angel" was released in 2016.{{cite news|last1=Nauman|first1=Qasim|title=See the 'Cringe-Pop' Music Video from Pakistan Taking the Internet by Storm|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2016/04/13/see-the-cringe-pop-music-video-from-pakistan-taking-the-internet-by-storm/|work=The Wall Street Journal|date=April 13, 2016 |access-date=December 17, 2016}}