Derision on social media as Singapore’s list of ‘offensive’ songs by Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande hits the wrong notes

A list of “offensive” lyrics by performers such as Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Nine Inch Nails was distributed to Singapore parliamentarians on Monday

It was used cited as examples of songs that could affect racial and religious harmony in the city state

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Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. Photos: TNS, AFP

Published: 7:31pm, 2 Apr 2019Updated: 4:02pm, 3 Apr 2019

A list of “offensive” songs that was circulated to Singapore parliamentarians to highlight examples of lyrics that could harm racial harmony has evoked indignation from social media users after it was shared online by an opposition politician.

Chen Show Mao, from the opposition Workers’ Party, posted a picture of the supposedly offensive song list – which included lyrics by popular US singers such as Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande and Nine Inch Nails – on Facebook after Law Minister K Shanmugam spoke about the need for the city state to regulate hate speech to preserve racial harmony.

The picture shared by Singapore member of parliament Chen Show Mao. Photo: Facebook

During the 90-minute address, Shanmugam said music was a potential medium for hate speech. “Listening to violent music stimuli, even without lyrics or videos, can cause greater aggression than listening to no music at all,” he said. His statement came just before an anti-fake news bill to strengthen the city state’s firm approach to dealing with online misinformation was introduced in Parliament.

After the Facebook post generated debate, the minister on Tuesday clarified his views, saying that none of the songs listed would be banned.

“People who did not listen to the speech may misunderstand that the list contains songs which have been banned (!) or are going to be banned (!),” he wrote on Facebook.