Rapper Astro released an original song titled “New Slave” on his YouTube channel, sharply criticizing the chaotic COVID prevention measures and resulting secondary disasters in Shanghai. In the video description, he wrote: "Written on 03/30/2022, the day before the Puxi lockdown in Shanghai. My heart remains unsettled." After the song was uploaded by netizens to domestic social platforms like Weibo, it was censored. Astro later set the original video to private.
On April 16, Astro uploaded another video titled “A Clarification” to address the controversy. He stated: "The original intention behind writing this song was because I witnessed lives being lost and felt powerless. I was deeply saddened. All of this comes from a place of love for it all."
Lyrics:
When freedom and independent thought are shackled by power
When “green channels” get blocked, becoming forbidden paths
When they wear uniforms but only care about their careers
When life and dignity are treated like shit by them
When healthy people are locked inside like they’re diseased
While the truly sick can’t even get through hospital doors
When following orders becomes a reason to hurt others
When they become walking corpses, their souls sucked dry
They show contempt for life, faces calm and cold
In a blink they forget they were once ordinary folks
Their arrogant confidence, loud and unshaken
As if not catching COVID means you’re not even sick
In this so-called “human” society, heartless acts are routine
Eyes of the hopeless filled with thorns and rage
Their hearts are too small to hold the words they once swore
Their hands too filthy, reeking with the stench of blood
Damn, that stench is foul
The air reeks of rotting souls
Calling themselves higher animals, yet crueler than beasts
Perhaps more terrifying than the virus is this cannibalistic world
Obeying orders from above like gospel, everything else sidelined
Ignoring all but their scraps of power, blind to the rest
No doubt, in this glamorous age
Housing prices soar, while moral standards collapse
No doubt, in this bustling age
In the law of the jungle, humanity has long been eliminated
Open your eyes, just open your eyes
Why does this vicious cycle keep repeating?
Open your eyes, just open your eyes
How many among us don’t deserve to be called human,
blending in with the crowd, nothing but noise
Open your mind, just open your mind
Skyscrapers hide countless sins and sorrow
Open your mind, just open your mind
The ruts left by rumbling wheels—who will fill those gaps?
You know, fuck the virus, fuck the government,
fuck the police, fuck everybody who doesn’t care about this shit.
And fuck everybody who still thinks government policy is correct.
Fuck you, fuck the world.