Why are Malaysian musicians localising K-pop hits? Blackpink’s Ice Cream and Kill This Love are just two songs that have got a more sanitised, Islam-friendly remake
- As the hallyu wave goes global, K-pop’s influence has shown up in unlikely places, such as BTS fans supporting America’s Black Lives Matter movement
- But groups have been criticised for cultural insensitivity too: NCT U turned Iraq’s Imam Husayn Shrine into a prop while B1A4 flouted customs in Malaysia
Although K-pop has its own conservative elements, there’s certainly a more explicit side to it as well: lyrics laced with sexual innuendo, performers’ provocative stage outfits and, at times, culturally insensitive use of religious imagery in performances and music videos.
Last year, all-female quartet Blackpink and Selena Gomez’s single Ice Cream came under fire for the line “play the part like Moses”, as some felt that it made light of the significant figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The boy band NCT U met criticism the same year after exploiting the Imam Husayn Shrine in Iraq, a sacred site for Shia Muslims, as a stage prop, and later as an official piece of merchandise.
In 2015, another K-pop boy band B1A4 stirred up controversy when members hugged three female Malaysian fans during their mini concert, which nearly led to the girls’ arrest for “indecent acts in a public place”.
But while some Muslim fans responded to such incidents with criticism, others have been proactive in attempts to adapt K-pop to better suit local palates.
Some Muslims seem to sympathise with the point made by the label in that K-pop lyrics and music videos can be offensive to the believers
K-pop lyrics, reimagined
Amid this cultural clash, in recent years some Muslim musicians in Malaysia have made efforts to localise K-pop by replacing naughty lyrics with more wholesome, sanitised cover versions that better adhere to Islamic principles.
A major player in this movement is the Kuala Lumpur-based pop label Tarbiah Sentap Records. Rabithah, one of the label’s groups, released cover versions of Blackpink’s Ice Cream and Kill This Love ― renamed Hatiku (My Heart) and Bersama Kau (With You) in Malaysian. Both cover versions transformed what the group deemed as inappropriate allusions in the original lyrics to ones focusing on unending love and dedication to God. Each has garnered more than 300,000 and 400,000 views on YouTube respectively.
The genre that Tarbiah Sentap Records produces is known as pop nasyid, a Malaysian a cappella style that emerged in the 1990s. It focuses on fusing modern Western pop music with Islamic values and local traditional musical elements. The style appeals to a younger generation of Muslims, as it represents a Malaysian Islamic version of modernity while still incorporating popular global trends.