American rapper Doja Cat recently released her brand-new single track called 'Balut', which refers to a Filipino street food dish, as per CNN. After many wondered what the title meant, the singer took to Instagram stories to educate her fans about it. However, her inaccurate explanation of the song's meaning left many fans in the Philippines livid and sparked outrage online.
''I named the song 'Balut' because it signifies a bird that's being eaten alive. It's a metaphor for Twitter stans and the death of Twitter toxicity. The beginning of ‘X' and the end of ‘tweets,” she wrote in an Instagram Story, explaining its significance.
Doja Cat explains the meaning behind her new song ‘Balut':
— Pop Base (@PopBase) September 16, 2023
“i named the song balut because it signifies a bird that's being eaten alive. It's a metaphor for twitter stans and the death of twitter toxicity. The beginning of ‘X' and the end of ‘tweets'.” pic.twitter.com/MPJELOnYi9
Notably, 'Balut' is made of a fertilized developing egg embryo, which is boiled and eaten from the shell directly. However, the bird is not alive when it's eaten.
Her misinformed explanation didn't go down well with Filipinos who called it ''culturally offensive.'' Many took to social media to express their disappointment and called her out for wrongfully representing their culture in front of the world.
One user wrote, ''Eaten alive? Who eats balut alive? Girl, you don't need to shame my culture if you don't understand it.'' Another fan explained that ''balut is not eaten alive. It's already boiled.''
Here are some other tweets:
am i reading things right? Did Doja Cat really named a song "balut" bc it signifies "a bird that's being eaten alive"? 😭
— 🌸🦌Soraille🎆⛓️🔆🍤🌟🌸 (@1soraille2) September 18, 2023
Look man, i get inspiration from other cultures but she's just being ignorant with this one. Balut is cooked yo... we don't eat live chicks here yo...
this is how doja cat thinks filipinos consume balut pic.twitter.com/yGnlH2SrUQ
— clay (@wreckyourplans) September 17, 2023
If I had a nickel for every time a music artist misused something from Asian culture, I'd probably have a lot of nickels.
— Tem (they/them) 🇨🇳🇺🇲 (@SimplyTemonade) September 18, 2023
(Ariana Grande tattooing the wrong characters for 7 rings, Doja Cat saying balut is eating a live bird, etc)
She later also recounted her experience of eating the dish on Instagram Live.
''Balut was good. It reminded me of the liver. It was almost like you can tell that it's a small [serving] that is high [in] fat. I can taste the vitamins in it. You just know that [it is] good for you immediately. I liked it. [But] I don't think I had it properly. It was still warm,'' she said.
Doja Cat reveals on Instagram Live that she tried balut for the first time. pic.twitter.com/JkvsCQ7Muo
— Buzzing Pop (@BuzzingPop) September 18, 2023
'Balut' is part of Doja Cat's upcoming album Scarlet, which is scheduled to roll out this Friday, September 22.
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