经济学人:俄罗斯脑腐歌曲如何成为儿童热潮 How Russian brainrot became a hit for children

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俄罗斯电子流行歌曲《Sigma Boy》在欧洲儿童中意外走红，引发学者和家长关注。歌曲通过社交媒体传播，被指可能是俄罗斯宣传，强化男性统治和轻视弱者的观念。这一现象反映了俄罗斯信息战策略的转变，也暴露了成年人对儿童社交媒体世界的理解不足。

重点单词:

electropop
/ɪˈlɛktroʊpɒp/ (n.) 电子流行音乐
tweens
/twiːnz/ (n.) 介于儿童和青少年之间的儿童
melody
/ˈmɛlədi/ (n.) 旋律
unintelligible
/ˌʌnɪnˈtɛlɪdʒəbl/ (adj.) 难以理解的
manosphere
/ˈmænəˌsfɪər/ (n.) 男性圈子（网络用语，指男性主义者社区）
influencer
/ˈɪnfluənsər/ (n.) 网络红人，影响者
bot farms
/bɒt fɑːrmz/ (n.) 机器人农场（大量自动化账号）
propaganda
/ˌprɒpəˈɡændə/ (n.) 宣传，政治宣传
reinforcing
/ˌriːɪnˈfɔːrsɪŋ/ (v.) 加强，巩固
masculinity
/ˌmæskjʊˈlɪnɪti/ (n.) 男子气概
contempt
/kənˈtɛmpt/ (n.) 轻视，蔑视
counterfactual
/ˌkaʊntərˈfæktʃuəl/ (adj.) 与事实相反的

俄罗斯脑腐歌曲如何成为儿童热潮

How Russian brainrot became a hit for children

“Sigma Boy” has spread faster than nits

THE BRITISH playground usually echoes to screechy impersonations of well-known artists such as Katy Perry. But if you approach one today you may well hear a seven-year-old adopt a vaguely Slavic accent and drone: “Sigma boy, sigma boy.” The lyrics come from an electropop track sung by two Russian tweens (pictured). The music video has racked up around 270m streams since being uploaded to YouTube in April. Academics across Europe are puzzling over its popularity. Some have called it “a cultural invasion”, says George Charonitis of the University of Thessaly in Greece.

For older listeners, the appeal is not clear. The melody is repetitive, and the Russian lyrics are unintelligible even in translation. (“I’m the icon of your icons / They dream about me as if I were bitcoin, got it?”) Some parents were appalled when their children began singing it; “sigma” is a term from the manosphere used to describe a lone (male) wolf who does not conform to norms or expectations. “It absolutely terrified me,” posted one parent: it “really made me think about the influences around my DS [darling son]”.

“Sigma Boy” spread through the perplexing ecosystem of youngsters’ social media. A clip of an influencer blasting the song in Munich’s underground has millions of views—as does a video of an AI-generated shark enjoying the song. But some think that a different sort of shark is behind “Sigma Boy”. Ukraine’s government says it has been promoted by bot farms, indicating that it could be Russian propaganda. A spokesperson claims the song helps Russia by “reinforcing among young people the idea of dominance, masculinity and contempt for the ‘weak’”.

This is not as far-fetched as it sounds, says Carl Miller of Demos, a think-tank. He has noticed a shift in Russian disinformation tactics in recent years, with less emphasis on promoting counterfactual versions of events and more on masculinity and patriotism. If nothing else the “Sigma” scare highlights how little adults understand about children and social media. It is not their playground. ■