The Rise Of Afrobeats: Musical Culture Combinations On Calm Down Song
Keywords:
Afrobeats, Calm down, Cultural transmission, African cultureAbstract
Afrobeats is a genre of popular music originating from West Africa. At the beginning of its development, it caused controversy because of the ambiguity regarding African cultural identity. Even though it caused controversy, Afrobeats is now gaining popularity. This research aims to analyze and describe the popularity of the song Calm Down as a medium for transmitting African culture. The method used in this research is qualitative virtual ethnography. Data collection was carried out through observation and literature study. First, the researcher observed the music video, lyrics, views, and like frequency of the song on YouTube and Spotify. Then, netizens' comments were also viewed to get detailed information about the Calm Down song's popularity reasons. For the supplementary arguments, the researcher reviewed some scientific journals and news articles about the popularity of Afrobeats songs. Data were analyzed using the Miles and Huberman model. This consists of data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. The research results show that the popularity of the song Calm Down was caused by the song's rhythm which has a positive impact on mental health, its universal theme, and musical culture combinations. It is the main key to the Calm Down song’s success.
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