This Passive-Aggressive Song Should Really Be Played in ALL CNY Gathering

Wah, the last time I had to study Chinese was for ‘A’ levels more than 5 years ago. Asking me to do this again is… Woohoo, a task to brush up my Chinese for the coming Chinese New Year.

Okay lah, challenge accepted at 4.13pm.

So the context for this song is such that CNY is usually a time where we hear some happy, joyful and upbeat songs right? But sometimes, CNY can be a season of pain and frustration of some people.

This song is one filled with that kind of agony:

#大咖一起来:超低成本录制,大咖一起来《U 圆旺 ME》MV独家首播!

Posted by YES 933 on Thursday, 8 February 2018

The male lead of the song starts off with his side of the story:

Last year, I visited my relatives for CNY. I gave his kids 2 ang baos but he said they did not receive it. And because of that, he did not speak to me for a whole year. I’m thinking if I should visit him this year since I really did give his kids ang baos but he denied it.

Here’s the highlight and I would say, the chorus of the song:

你, 你圆旺 (yuan wang) me.

Okay, explanation time for those who jiak kan tang and cannot understand. What the guy meant is that his relative wronged him.

Wronged in Chinese is called “冤枉” (yuan wang), it has the same han yu pinyin as 圆旺 (yuan wang) though it sounds different in tone. But the only thing you need to take away is… that’s a wordplay in that song lah.

Because right, the two Chinese characters, 圆旺 (yuan wang), is considered ‘good words’. During CNY, we will say things like:

团团圆圆 (tuan tuan yuan yuan) – When loosely translated, it somehow means being reunited.

旺 (wang) – This is easy. You know how Chinese usually say “HUAT ah”, it has more or less the same connotation.

So, on one hand, it makes sense to portray the meaning of his relative wronging him for not giving the kids ang baos, but on the wordplay perspective, it’s still considered good stuff for CNY.

For the second part of the low-cost production, the female lead plays the relative and she apologizes for wronging him. Then the male lead continues with part 2 of his story:

Last year during CNY, I went to my friend’s house. I sat there eating one piece of Bak Kwa only but after that, she said all her Bak Kwa disappeared. And because of that, she scolded me for 1 year. But there were so many other people sitting there mah, why only say me? She like that say, I very malu one leh.

And we’re back to the chorus…

Thoughts

Okay lah, overall I think it’s quite funny and I think it’s so much better than the usual CNY songs we hear during CNY, especially from Mediacorp.

Haters, don’t hate. At least it was creative. Don’t you think so?

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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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