After 'Asian Girlz' Backlash, Band Writes Song About How Life Is Hard

By Kate Dries  |  August 5, 2013 | 6:20pm
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If you didn’t get a chance to watch Day Above Ground’s music video “Asian Girlz”, in which they wax rhapsodic about their love for Asian women, unfortunately, you never will. The band has pulled the video from YouTube and has released a follow-up song in which they complain about the how difficult it is to live in America today.

In a Skype interview with TMZ, Day Above Ground said that they “didn’t expect this kind of backlash this fast and this harsh right away” to “Asian Girlz”:

We knew it was going to be controversial to an extent, but it just got off from a blogging standpoint that it was just going to get attacked and that set a precedence for the whole thing.

Day Above Ground also implied that they’ve been worried for their safety, which is why they took the video down. Joe Anselm, vocals, said:

There’s been a lot of nasty things said that I’d rather not repeat about us, about the model in the video. It’s so out of proportion I don’t understand but it’s the way of the world today I guess.

When asked if they and Levy Tran, the model in the video, were getting death threats, Anselm said that they didn’t “want to talk about that at the moment.” Tran has apologized via Instagram and Twitter, calling them “sweet boys” who are “not at all racist.”

“It’s satire, it’s comedy, we didn’t mean any harm by it,” Anselm added.

The band’s follow-up video, “American Dream” was shot, edited and recorded on Saturday. It includes the following lines:

Under pressure, what do you treasure, what do you feel, how can you measure what you believe that is real
Not giving a fuck about any other people, I promise you this, we are not considered equal
This American Dream ain’t always what it seems
Land of the free, contradicting our slogan, more like a catchphrase
This is the moment where nothing is right, safe, nor sacred

Day Above Ground took the “Asian Girlz” video down at midnight on Saturday. Before that, Anselm sent us this email:

Hi Jezebel. Our latest statement go as this:
DAY ABOVE GROUND’s new music video for AMERICAN DREAM. You may find it illuminating.
ASIAN GIRLZ will be coming down tonight & will disappear from our channel & website forever.
Please send new questions in a list. Thanks

As of right now, the song is still streaming on their website and I have downloaded it for routine listening (email me if you want a copy! [email protected]). We have no further questions at this time, in list form or otherwise.

 
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