The recent Thai Children’s Day celebration at Safari World theme park was a bit different from the previous year. Kids and their parents showed up to celebrate the occasion, but didn’t necessarily do so by watching clever dolphins or ogling running ostriches. The kids were there for a punk rock gig that was staged especially for them (with the dolphin pond in the background, of course).
On stage was Paper Planes, the pop-punk emo-ish duo whose latest song “Song Yang Bad,” has become wildly popular with, to everyone’s surprise, the younger set. With the help of TikTok, the post-punk-inspired song, which was launched in October 2022 and involves a lot of “screaming”, became an overnight national sensation. You can now hear kids around the kingdom sing (or even scream) the lyrics out with nary a pause.
Paper Planes, composed of Thanwa “Hye” Ketsuwan and Nakarin “Zen” Khunbhakdi, has been making post-punk music with pop influences under GMM Grammy for over six years. Their music may have altered slightly over time, but their fan base has always been teenagers and Gen Z. Until now.
Over the course of three months, the front rows at their gigs slowly saw a shift from emo kids to hordes of parents bringing their kids to see “P Hye and P Zen.” It’s gotten to the point that the duo now ends their concerts by encouraging kids to brush their teeth before going to bed. And their young audience does comply—you have parents and dentists going online to thank the band.
Hye recently revealed to local media that their shifting fan base surprised them as much as everyone else. “I never once thought [the song] would be popular with kids,” he said, before adding that they’re now more conscious of their looks, manners, and language since their main fans see them as “big bros.”
Linguist Sujinant Jitwiriyanont, in an interview with The Matter and Workpoint Today, explains that the song’s popularity with kids can be attributed to its pattern of clear syllables and simple pronunciation, which are easy to follow. Music scholar Chudalak Pinan, in an interview with Workpoint Today, points out that repetitive syllables and “cool” lyrics help make the song popular among young boys.
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Paper Planes ended their Children’s Day gig at Safari World on a high note, with cute dolphins jumping in the background helping create a memorable image that made the front page of many dailies the next day. (Their pics were even larger than PM’s. Oops). As for their Children’s Day message, P Hye and P Zen wished for all kids to be able to find their true selves with the help of their parents.
“Song Yang Bad” currently has 55 million views on YouTube.