Looks like there’s another release that made people… react, to say the least. Well, I’ll bring a new POV on it.
I didn’t listen to Internet Girl on release, but after I saw the initial complaints. The hook, the nonsense, the way it didn’t hit as well as Gnarly… Reading all that, I couldn’t help but think of the concept of “denpa music”.
For those who don’t know, denpa music is a Japanese genre characterized by fast tempos, overwhelming production, cutesy/babylike vocals and most importantly, nonsensical lyrics. The nonsense is meant as “toxic radio waves” meant to hypnotize and delude the listener. Denpa literally translates to “radio waves”, but in this usage is roughly analogous to a combination of “delulu” and “brainrot”. I could go on and on about the connotations of denpa, but I’ll stop for now.
Full disclosure, I’m not that into denpa music. But I do know of a few notable songs, like Marisa Stole the Precious Thing or Mesmerizer. Since the former’s more heavy on the nonsense, I’ll compare Internet Girl to it.
Listening to Internet Girl as a denpa song actually improved my experience with it. The zucchini and emoji lines felt more like the toxic hypnosis that genre is meant to convey, not much different from “wara ningyo ni”, “gee check it” and the like. The lines that make more sense sound like they’re fighting against the brainrot. Even the baby voice is close to what I call an “anime girl voice”.
Before I go further, I’ll illustrate why Gnarly worked with a similar example. That’s right, I’m gonna talk about Eurovision again.
Nonsensical songs have been present for a long time in that contest. Some are satirical, like Austria 1977 hiding scathing words about the pop industry behind a nonsensical chorus. Some are more lighthearted, like Germany 2000. This is another topic I could go on and on about, but I’ll stop again.
The main comparison for Gnarly I have is Ukraine’s entry in 2007, Dancing Lasha Tumbai by Verka Serduchka. While it came second that year, it became a more iconic song among Eurovision fans that the winner, as we saw Verka in many future contests to come. The key to this success was unbridled camp and fun factor: her blindingly bright silver outfit and stage presence allowed everyone at home to sing along to the absolute nonsense and just have a good time. Not too dissimilar from Gnarly, is it?
I could also get into the failed attempts at nonsense and camp the following year, but I’m getting ahead of myself. What matters is the campiness of both Gnarly and Dancing Lasha Tumbai appealing to general audiences more.
Back to denpa music, and this is the time to highlight the audience. Denpa songs are not meant for general audiences, but a subset of anime and video game fans, among others. Marisa Stole the Precious Thing is literally a remix/lyrics added version of a video game soundtrack and has the name of one of its characters in the title. As far as I know, denpa songs and albums are distributed in fan conventions – already a rather subcultural space.
If Gnarly reminds me of something meant for general audiences and Internet Girl reminds me of something for a subculture within a subculture, then no wonder people are hating on it so much. I get it myself, but I also get why most people wouldn’t. I can’t defend this song despite liking it, because I don’t think most people know about my reference point.
Now, I don’t think this was anywhere near the intention behind this song, but I think people have already talked about its actual intention. I just thought I have a unique perspective on it, that’s all.
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