Do: watch this video to improve your cải lương skills. Don’t: use this video to practice English pronunciation.
Vietnam’s online community has grown so much in the last few years. From a generation of late adopters in the digital age, local netizens have caught on to international trends at an impressive rate. The country’s cybersphere now houses beauty vloggers, educational channels and sterling meme artists.
YouTube user Vietglish Fun is one such artisan. Having transformed Adele’s ‘Hello’ and Drake’s ‘Hotline Bling’ into whimsical Vietnamese hits, she’s now decided to come up with her own cải lương rendition of teen heartthrob Justin Bieber’s ‘What Do You Mean?’.
The video is as bizarre as it sounds, complete with an áo dài, nón lá and đàn tranh – a Vietnamese zither. The experience of watching the cover is closer to a strange dream one has after an acid trip than a cải lương performance, so enjoy at your own risk.
[Video via YouTube user Vietglish Fun]
