LAST week, I shared my tale about launching a music video made in collaboration with a former student for a song that’s 20-odd years old, and how we inadvertently stereotype ourselves.

A few days after I released that contemplative production, I tried a social experiment that was presented as sort of a dare by two friends – one a KLite engineer/musician and the other a Sabahan filmmaker – to do something as a follow-up to a short video by former defence minister Mohamad Sabu, where he comments on petty crimes committed by the working class versus the acquittal of an ex-chief minister.

His “performance” is pedestrian at best, but it has the sort of panache that’s largely absent in our politicians from both sides of the divide. It’s pretty punk rock, too. Mat Sabu has got to be one of the most endearing MPs we’ve ever had, judging by the number of cute memes created by Malaysians upon his appointment to the previous cabinet.

A disclaimer: I’m not a registered member of any Malaysian political party (I don’t need to join a “party” to party proper), nor do I have any inclination towards one in particular, because when it comes to politics in this country, we have to be pragmatic and logical, two criteria sorely lacking in most of our dealers (yes, that’s what they really do).

I can’t remember what transpired after reading the social media posts (in which I was tagged) by my two friends, but as with most fruitful ideas, you should never dwell on them like you’re trying to write an essay that’s due by midnight. You take note of it, park it somewhere in the recess of your mind, and get on with life for the rest of the day. If it’s a good idea, it will emerge again later and linger against your will – to me, this is an indication that the idea is worth pursuing. I’ll do something – I won’t write something completely novel – but it will most definitely be spontaneous, with little effort.

I don’t compose in the stereotypical way most average Joes and Janes think musicians do – sitting down at a table in the afternoon, ashtray at our disposal with a cigarette in hand, a big notebook laid out and a recorder of some model (maybe digital, since that’s our epoch) to capture the brilliance that awaits the world. While I don’t deny that this scenario is entirely plausible (and very conducive), my method is more haphazard and random.

So, the next morning, after feeding my kids breakfast (and myself, too, of course), on the way to the shower in my singlet and sarong, I glanced at my guitar with my best “muka tak mandi” look, sat down, knocked three chord sequences out (all you need are three chords, really) and came up with a melody (if 4-year-olds are excited by and approve of it, you’re doing something right).

Mat Sabu already had the “lyrics”, so I just sang them (our first collaboration, even if he doesn’t know it). Told my kids to be quiet, recorded it in one take, christened the song Jeng Jeng Jeng, and uploaded it to my social media accounts: YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

My experiment? With the right political reference, source and hashtags, I was very sure I would fish a few “machai” cybertroopers out of the murky pond that is the internet, and figured I would probably get a higher number of views than the more thoughtful music video I had launched just a few days earlier. I was excited, whatever the outcome might be. 

After a refreshing shower and doing work online, I checked my social media accounts at the end of the day, and “wah lah”, I caught a couple of fat “machai” fish in the comment section (their favourite habitat)! And boy, do they stick to the same old script. They assumed I was a party faithful, and tried their best with their snide, baiting remarks. I resisted replying – don’t take such lowbrow bait.

As the supportive and amused comments outnumbered the cybertroopers’, lo and behold, a few days later, the views, “likes” and comments for the clip surpassed those of the earlier, sleeker music video. Such is the culture of our time – the immediately gratifying stuff is often what catches people’s attention (which runs increasingly short), like a sugar rush or an espresso shot of our amusement fix, before we move back to life and living. You must bait the haters as much as the lovers in the attempt to grab attention – anyone’s – for the attention economy is the one truly free domain for all.

As Andy Warhol allegedly prophetically declared: “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.” Famous for what? That, sometimes, is something we have no control over. – June 26, 2020.

* Azmyl Yunor is a touring underground recording artiste, and an academic in media and cultural studies. He has published articles on pop culture, subcultures and Malaysian cultural politics. He adheres to the three-chords-and-the-truth school of songwriting, and Woody Guthrie’s maxim “All you can write is what you see”. He is @azmyl on Twitter.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.