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Coco (PewDiePie song)
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Wikipedia article
"'Coco'" is a satirical diss track by Swedish YouTuber Felix "PewDiePie" Kjellberg (co-written with David "Boyinaband" Brown), directed at American YouTube channel Cocomelon, though the track makes heavy references to American rapper 6ix9ine and Kjellbergs past competition with Indian record label T-Series. The song and music video premiered on YouTube on 14 February 2021. Just four days after the video was uploaded, on 18 February, YouTube removed it for having "violated the Terms of Service". However, the original song as well as official instrumental and a cappella versions are available on streaming services such as Spotify.
Background
The name of the song, "Coco", is derived from the first four letters of the YouTube channel Cocomelon, on which the diss track primarily focuses.
In the months leading up to the song's release, Cocomelon had begun to close in on Kjellberg's subscriber count and was expected to overtake him soon, becoming the second most-subscribed channel on YouTube. Cocomelon finally surpassed him on 25 April of the same year. Kjellberg had hinted at the track's release for several weeks prior to its release. At the end of the song, Kjellberg states "I'm just playing, Coco; you know I love you", which is a reference to American rapper Eminem, as he has used the phrase "I'm just playing (x); you know I love you" in songs such as "Kill You" and "Killshot".
Composition
In the song, Kjellberg expresses how he negatively views companies that take advantage of the YouTube algorithm to target children. The lyrics are set to a nursery-rhyme inspired trap beat, produced by Oxygen Beats. The song also includes references to 6ix9ine, J. K. Rowling and Kjellberg's previous subscriber contest with T-Series. The producer uploaded the official instrumental and a cappella to YouTube on the same day as the music video.
Disses directed at Cocomelon
PewDiePie disses Cocomelon as the primary target of the song. It includes lines such as "It's not even funny and your head is really big", referring to the art and animation style of Cocomelon's videos, which Kjellberg criticised in a video uploaded in June 2020, remarking that the heads of certain characters appeared disproportionately large compared to the rest of their bodies. Other lines include "Your audience is just a bunch of motherfucking virgins" and "Scrub behind your ears ('Okay'), then you rinse your eyes" as a reference to a video Cocomelon has produced by the name of "Bath Song". He also goes after the parents by saying "Babies must be viewing when their mommy is asleep, while their brain is developing, before they can talk. They learn to subscribe before they can walk".Disses directed towards other people
Despite the song being advertised as being about Cocomelon, it includes numerous lines about American rapper 6ix9ine, including "Don't eat lead paint or you'll cry (cry, cry) / Then your brain will end up like 6ix9ine (nine, nine)" and Kjellberg calling the rapper an "ankle-monitor-wearing cunt" and "snitch". At the end of the song, Kjellberg challenges 6ix9ine to a "legal fight". He also throws a line related to 6ix9ine's involvement in a child sex complaint, telling the children to watch out for him after their bath.PewDiePie also aimed at J. K. Rowling, saying "I'll spoil 'Harry Potter'; wait, J.K. already did that."
Disses directed at T-Series
PewDiePie dissed T-Series too, saying, "Last time that I dissed, it took a government to blacklist me", referring to the Indian government banning PewDiePie's past diss tracks against T-Series, "Bitch Lasagna" and "Congratulations".Music video
The music video, released on 14 February 2021 alongside the song, features Kjellberg in simple-coloured environments. The first one has decorated, vibrantly coloured props on a white background while wearing a red sweater, possibly referencing attire commonly worn by Fred Rogers on 'Mister Rogers' Neighborhood'. The next scene shows PewDiePie in camouflage clothing in front of a blue-and-white backdrop. Pewdiepie later confirmed in a video that this was a reference to Stanley Kubrick's 'Full Metal Jacket'. There is also a scene in which he is dressed as a samurai (that was made by Cosplay Shop Select Style) and concludes with PewDiePie wearing a suit covered in a transparent raincoat with an axe, referencing 'American Psycho'. Some of the scenes show PewDiePie with children, usually a group of them. Some of the children featured in the music video are the children of Oxygen Beats, the producer of the song. The segment of the music video accompanying the break of the song shows PewDiePie destroying watermelons (Cocomelon's logo is a combination of a television and watermelon) with various weapons. The children also participate, but with cardboard cut-outs instead of actual weapons. The music video also contains a 3D animated section for the first leg of the third verse, which was animated by BadHistoryTV. At the time of the song's deletion from YouTube, it had received over 11 million views.
Reception
Controversies
In the music video, there are several scenes in which PewDiePie appears to use profanity in front of children, who then repeat it back to him. This has raised some concerns regarding child harassment and bullying. A day after the music video's release, Kjellberg confirmed in a livestream that a censored version of the track was used on the set of the music video, so he did not play or use actual profanity in front of the children. Oxygen Beats, the producer of the song, commented on the music video that the children were not swearing.Policy violation and removal
On 18 February 2021, the music video was removed by YouTube for supposedly violating YouTube's policy on harassment and bullying. In response to a fan, YouTube stated on Twitter that, "Our policies prohibit content that leads to repeated patterns of harassment on-and off-platform. Following a review, we've removed the video in question for violating those policies because they had the effect of encouraging abusive fan behaviour", despite diss tracks being explicitly stated as an exception from said policies.See also
* List of diss tracks
* Criticism of YouTube
References
Category:2021 YouTube videos
Category:2021 songs
Category:2021 singles
Category:Criticism of Google
Category:Diss tracks
Category:Obscenity controversies in music
Category:Online obscenity controversies
Category:PewDiePie songs
Category:Protest songs
Category:Satirical songs
Category:Songs about children
Category:YouTube controversies
Category:Swedish hip hop songs
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