{"id":12563,"date":"2017-08-09T19:52:00","date_gmt":"2017-08-09T19:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2017\/08\/09\/tfboys-goamigo-is-a-summery-slice-of-pop-propaganda\/"},"modified":"2017-08-09T19:52:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-09T19:52:00","slug":"tfboys-goamigo-is-a-summery-slice-of-pop-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/tfboys-goamigo-is-a-summery-slice-of-pop-propaganda\/","title":{"rendered":"TFBoys' 'Go!AMIGO' Is A Summery Slice Of Pop Propaganda"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rob Schmitz<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Chinese boyband TFBoys’ song “Go!AMIGO” is a big hit in China this summer.<\/p>\n

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VCG\/VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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VCG\/VCG via Getty Images<\/p>\n

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The first words of the hit song “Go!AMIGO” are sung in three languages: English, Spanish and Chinese. Its music video shows the three teenage members of TFBoys \u2013 China’s hottest boy band \u2013 gathering friends for a game of baseball.<\/p>\n

It all seems pretty innocent. But there are calculated reasons behind the song’s linguistic flair, the video’s focus on baseball and even the band itself: “This video is proof that Communist Party propaganda is evolving,” says cultural critic Zhu Dake, who teaches at Shanghai’s Tongji University.<\/p>\n

He says the TFBoys are the latest example of a pop group engineered by a company whose aim is to champion the values of China’s Communist Party. The “TF” in the band’s name shares an acronym with Time Fengjun, a Beijing entertainment company that selected the boys for the group, writes its songs and produces its videos.<\/p>\n

“This video is interesting,” says Zhu as he watches the video for “Go!AMIGO.” “It features baseball, a sport we don’t play. It’s American, so it’s aspirational. But the song’s message is about teamwork and serving the collective \u2014 communist values. Usually, China’s state propaganda is filled with dreary platitudes concocted by government workers with low IQs. But this is very clever.”<\/p>\n

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“We rely on each other,” the TFBoys sing in “Go!AMIGO.” “It’s so magical to have you along the way. We’ll soon reach our glittering dreams.”<\/p>\n