Why North Korea’s new propaganda song went viral on TikTok

When North Korea’s dictator released his regime’s latest propaganda hit two weeks ago, not even he could have predicted it would become a huge hit on TikTok.

Friendly Father (Friendly Father or Daddy) went viral on the social network, as Generation Z users danced to the electronic rhythm song.

Most of these users ignore the meaning of the lyrics, which praise a man who threatened to “completely annihilate” the United States, violated UN sanctions and launched multiple ballistic missiles.

“Let’s sing Kim Jong-Un, the great leader/ Let’s be proud of Kim Jong-Un, our friendly father”, says the song.

“Taylor Swift didn’t expect to be surprised right after releasing her new album”; “This song needs a Grammy”, “It’s so dystopian in the most catchy way” – these are just some of the raving comments on videos about it on TikTok.

But the sunny pop song hides something more sinister, experts say. That’s what we’re going to unpack next.

Friendly Father is just the latest in a series of propaganda songs produced by the communist state’s pop machine over the past 50 years.

It’s energetic, fast and dangerously catchy. Its beat and hook don’t differ much from pop hits made in the West, although it carries a certain production quality typical of the Soviet era.

“In this case, the music is heavily influenced by Abba. It’s upbeat, couldn’t be more catchy, and a rich set of orchestral-sounding sequences couldn’t be more prominent,” says Peter Moody, a North Korea scholar at Korea University.

But when producing a hit in North Korea you need to think about more than commercial issues – and look for ways to penetrate minds, says Alexandra Leonzini, an academic at the University of Cambridge who researches the musical history of North Korea.

There is no room for abstract phrases or timings excessively complicated. Melodies should be simple and accessible – something people can easily pick up on.

The song also needs to be tuned to a vocal range where everyone can sing it.

Furthermore, the country rarely produces music tracks that contain emotion. “The idea is that they want to motivate the nation to fight for a common goal for the benefit of the nation… they don’t tend to produce songs like ballads,” says Leonzini.

In North Korea there is zero tolerance for the arts or creativity outside of state control. It is illegal for musicians, painters and writers to produce works simply for the love of art.

“All artistic production in North Korea must serve the class education of citizens and, more specifically, educate them about why they should have a feeling of gratitude, a feeling of loyalty to the party,” says Leonzini.

The North Korean government believes in “seed theory,” she adds, in which every work of art must contain an ideological seed, a message that is then disseminated en masse.

North Koreans wake up every morning to propaganda songs played in village squares, according to experts. The scores and lyrics of newly released songs are printed in newspapers and magazines; People generally also need to learn dances to keep up with the rhythm, says Keith Howard, professor emeritus of North Korean musicology at SOAS University in London.

He visited the regime several times in the 1990s and 2000s and remembers firsthand North Koreans singing when greeting a foreigner.

“The moment music is incorporated into the body, it becomes part of the person,” Howard says of North Korean citizens. “A good ideological song does that – it needs to embody the message.”

Outside of North Korea, the same phenomenon can be observed in a more amusing way, perhaps, on TikTok: Western users joke that they can’t stop listening to the music.

“This song gets stuck in my head 24/7,” one user wrote.

The popularity of this song has also caused more people to listen to more hermit state propaganda songs.

“I thought, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” says Matas Kardokas, a British user who created TikTok videos set to various North Korean propaganda songs.

One of his videos says, “No one in the trendy coffee shop knows I’m listening to North Korean propaganda music right now.” It racked up over 400,000 likes, which surprised him.

“Something in me clicked and I was like, ‘Hey, I’m sitting in a coffee shop right now listening to this. Isn’t that the craziest thing you could imagine? I should make a TikTok about this because it’s not a universal experience.’ No one will identify with this,” he said.

The irony was not lost on many: at a time when the Chinese-owned app could be banned by the US, the propaganda of a communist regime took hold of users.

In the Western music world, fans are poring over Taylor Swift’s new album or analyzing the six-minute rap songs of Kendrick Lamar mocking Drake.

But for observers of the North Korean regime, the three-minute track released last month has its own clues. The regime has long had a tradition of telegraphing major changes in the country through its songs, and the message in Friendly Father left some alarmed.

It’s not the first song dedicated to Kim. But there is a notable difference in the language and vocabulary used.

For the first time, Kim is being addressed as “father” and “the Great” – terms previously reserved for North Korea’s first leader, his grandfather Kim Il-Sung.

Kim was initially called the “Great Successor” when he took office in 2012, following the death of his father, Kim Jong-Il.

However, more than a decade later, analysts think that Friendly Father It could be a sign that he is trying to reinforce his image as North Korea’s “Supreme Leader.”

He also recently replaced the lyrics of another propaganda song, changing “our father Kim Il-Sung” to “our father Kim Jong-Un.”

Music could be a sign of your direction, experts say.

Kim becomes increasingly hostile and aggressive with the military build-up of his regime.

Earlier this year, he declared that the North would no longer seek reunification with the South, which he proclaimed to be “public enemy number one”. Reports say Pyongyang demolished a large arch that symbolized hope for reunification with the South.

The removal was reported to have raised fears that North Korea would take a more aggressive stance against the South – as Kim increasingly resorts to building up his country’s military arsenal.

“A song is almost like a newspaper in North Korea,” says Leonzini.

“Songs are used to indicate the direction the state is heading… to signal important moments and important developments in politics.”

*Additional reporting by Rachel Looker in Washington