As banned 'Fragile' nears 33mil views, Namewee says he wants people to care

 

Rapper Namewee is never far from controversy and after China banned his latest song ‘Fragile’ for allegedly insulting the nation, views have responded resoundingly by giving the song 32.78 million views in just over a month since its Oct 15 premiere.

Musically, the tune is not hard-hitting hip-hop but a saccharine duet in Mandarin with Australian Kimberley Chen that pokes fun at Beijing and its supporters among the Chinese diaspora who readily accept China's official media line.

“I thought the song would resonate but I couldn’t have imagined the huge response

“We get very angry about certain news but when our anger or hopelessness passes a certain point, we can only laugh at the absurdity of it.

“I wanted to use a sweet, sarcastic way to respond to this,” said Muar-born Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee.

Fragile targets “little pinks” in reference to young nationalists who rush to the defence of the Chinese government on the internet.

With references both subtle and direct, it contains terms such as “re-education camp”, “cotton”, and “inseparable relationship”, highlighting issues such as China’s treatment of minorities in Xinjiang, democracy in Hong Kong and Taiwan sovereignty.

It also features stuffed toys in the shape of bats, poking fun at China sensitivity over the origin of the Covid-19 coronavirus.

The video is tremendously popular in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore, despite the ban in mainland China, whose state media claims it is insulting to the Chinese people

“Different people get different messages from it. If some are offended it means they are the people described in my song.

“It is unfair to say that ‘Chinese’ can refer only to the Chinese Communist Party or the Chinese state,” added Namewee.

This latest brush with controversy is not surprising to the man who has a string of flashpoints in his career that includes songs such as ‘Negarakuku’ (2007), ‘Oh My God’ (2016), ‘Like A Dog’ (2018) as well as the movie ‘Babi’ (2020).

“I have been going to court for the past decade. It has become a part of my life,” he told the BBC.

“Some people think that my work is controversial and I am always crossing the line.

“Sometimes I intend to do so and there are reasons for it.

“I want more people to know about certain issues. I want more people to care,” he said. - Mkini