Cringe alert: Pro-Beijing lawmaker denounces protests with cheesy Cantopop tune

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung has released a song berating the city’s protesters for “destroying” Hong Kong. Before you give it a listen, we warn you—it’s regrettably catchy.

“Why do you want to destroy [the city] for everyone? Why do you want to cause destruction?” The rhetorical lyrics go, referencing the Cantonese term “laam chau” meaning to perish together.

As Leung and her musical crew of other pro-establishment figures chorus, hands on their chests for that extra dose of passion, clips show black-clad protesters setting fires and moving barricades. One shot zooms in on the exterior of a vandalized Starbucks. Another shows a charred minibus.

“Hong Kong is already broken,” the song continues. “We’ve lost everything we had.”

The minute-long tune has all the elements of a cheesy Cantopop song—a predictable chord progression, repetitive lyrics and cringeworthy harmonies—which means we can’t get it out of our heads.

The song, shared Thursday, has received over 7,200 reactions on Facebook.

“It’s sung well, you sang my thoughts precisely. Add oil!” One comment read.

But even some with an anti-protest view found the song cringeworthy. “I’m blue,” one netizen said, referring to the color that represents support for the pro-establishment party. “Even I can’t bring myself to listen to this.”

Others found the song downright distasteful. “You’ve pulled down musical standards everywhere,” another commented.

But wait! There’s more

This song isn’t Leung’s first musical endeavour. In the run-up to the 2016 Legislative Council elections, she released a track called “Song of anti-filibustering” to criticize the pan-democrat lawmakers for deliberately delaying legislative work as a form of protest.

In the song’s music video, she even managed to recruit unwitting participants to sing the song. Cameos include a fruit-selling uncle (holding a questionably small watermelon, we must add) and a South Asian tailor unconvincingly bopping his head to the tune.

We know “Why destroy the city for everyone” just came out—but we’re already anticipating your next chart-topping hit, Leung. May it be no less cringeworthy than your previous two.