KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — You’re not alone if you have been bopping your head to the infectious melody and beat of “APT.”, the latest pop-rock solo single from Rosé of K-pop superstars Blackpink.
Along with another musical juggernaut Bruno Mars, the duo shares an undeniable chemistry in the fun music video which saw them rocking out in punk aesthetics.
But what is going on in that catchy chorus? Were they actually singing in Malay asking “apa tu?” — or “what’s that?”
From drinking game to global virality
The hint is right there in the song title — “apateu” is the Korean pronunciation of the English loan word that means “apartment”,
In a recent cooking video with the magazine Vogue shared on YouTube, the Korean-Australian singer said that the word refers to a drinking game — lovely with the concoction known as “somaek”, a mix of soju and beer (“maekju”).
She also explained how easy the game is, basically involving a few people where everyone has to put their hands in the middle while one of them has to call up a random number.
For example: if the person calls up a number nine, then the group has to stack their hands from bottom to top until they reach the number and whoever gets their hand on top has to take the shot.
In short, it’s something like the Malaysian game of “enjit enjit semut”.
Rosé shared that she even played the game while working on her upcoming album Rosie, leading her to write the song about the drinking game.
“So, basically we were hanging out in the studio, and I was like, how about I teach you guys some drinking game, a Korean drinking game and I started doing it.
“I did it, and they were obsessed with it,” she said in the video.
Yeah, not really ‘apa tu?’ but that’s not stopping us
The similarity of the sound in the Malay language has prompted local social media users to showcase not just some dance moves but also using the song to cheekily promote their businesses along with some humorous take on the song.
Here are some examples!
Yesterday, Rosé’s agency The Black Label said the music video already reached 100 million views on YouTube — achieving the feat in just five days since release, the fastest music video ever to do so this year.
It has so far swept all music charts in South Korea and topped the iTunes Top Songs Chart in 40 regions.
Rosé’s first solo full album Rosie will drop on December 6.
