Bubblegum pop was a label coined in the ’60s for a then-emerging genre of manufactured music intended for pre-teen consumption. By definition, this music had to be upbeat, edgeless, happy, unsophisticated, silly—think The Archies, The Monkees, etc. Today the term applies to a much larger category (i.e. Disney Channel stars, boy bands) that for odd—sometimes disturbing—reasons is not exclusively consumed by kids.
Argentina’s Magio Lalala did a tribute to bubblegum pop, aptly titled “Chicle Globo,” and it initially feels like a very naïve approach to the theme. It’s all cute and harmless; the playful references to childhood dilemmas (“I peed in every swimming pool I’ve been to”), the abuse of the color pink, the easy-to-follow choreography, the girls reading The Little Prince and Ami at the school patio. Pure bubblegum pop, right? It almost feels like something you could play at a kindergarten class. Almost…
Eventually, however, the perverted side of Magio comes out and things aren’t so innocent anymore. Halfway through the video the schoolyard and park grounds are replaced by a sauna packed with half-naked people and later a rave, where the dancers have neon skulls painted on their faces and eat cupcakes in very suggestive ways. Was that bubblegum they were chewing laced with MDMA?
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