Now When Cringe Matters - Words All Mine

Is it fair enough to make a celebrity through negative publicity?

Gone is the time when success would come by dint of hard-work only in the direction conforming to social acceptance. The scenario seems to have disappeared where full-day toil would fetch you money enough only to meet the basic necessities of life and support the family. The advancement of online technology which has taken on in every aspect of life, not only provides convenient trading options through e-shopping and freelancing but also leaves an open stage for anyone to perform before a widespread pool of online audience.

Just as everything comes with its own set of goods and bads, the freedom to publicise anything on social media of ‘your choice’ has also given both the positive and negative results. This online trend has definitely given bright career opportunities to a massive crowd with tyrannous jobs or no job at all. But it also spurs in some people a tendency to try seeking extensive media attention in their greed for fame or money, or both.

It was on the last Sunday evening when my sister in law mentioned to me about a cringe singer who became famous with the screen name of ‘Dhinchak Pooja ‘ for her lousy music albums gone viral on the internet.

As I searched on YouTube, the links to hundreds of videos related to ‘Dhinchak Pooja’ unveiled in a second. There I was, completely bowled over by the mind-numbing cacophonous albums and non-sense interviews and memes the internet was peppered with.

It was not less than a shocking fact that the newly appeared cringe pop element had gathered extensive social media attention with over 10 million views on each of her videos. Further the interviews and memes had made her publicity soar higher.

As updated on 15 October by Google, she has hooked over 2.5 lakh subscribers and 38 million views, adding up to her income of over 4 lakhs per month. Not only that, the celebrity-turned girl got wild card entry in a national television reality show like Big Boss. Can you imagine that?

I felt sucker punched in my stomach to see the bitter part of reality which appears to sideline the power of knowledge, skills, competency and talent for the use of shortcuts to become famous which may stand as a bad example for the flourishing young generation.

Yet Pooja is not the only person who gained overnight fame over the media through her despicable music videos. Many people with ofcourse smart brains have fooled the audience before like the American Friday-girl – Rebecca Black, Pakistan’s most instant internet celebrity -Taher khan, India’s Vennu Mallesh, Bhim Niroula and many more.

While on the tough track was my friend, Sanchit Miglani a trained classical singer who barely got 1000 views in not less than 6 months on his hard made music album on river Ganga.

Just like him, there are millions of people who don’t get recognition for their online workshops until they boast a good polished content, use standard web-market tools and strategies and wait for a long spell with patience and consistency to let the magic begin. Besides, a large number of laudable players end up losing the game.

I feel extremely sorry for all those hardworking online artists out there.

In hindsight, making someone a celebrity by criticism also brings the human instinct in the light of doubt. It is strange that despite hurling abuses and claims to feel tortured by the bad music, people still watch and refer these videos to their friends.

This makes it important to think if deep down inside of us, there is an uncanny attraction towards that which is bad that makes the cringe content go viral.