The Monitor is a weekly column dedicated to everything that happens in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter.
Earlier this week, it seemed inevitable that this column would have something to do with President Trump’s second impeachment. In a week when Republicans likened the president’s impeachment to a “ cancellation ” and said Trump’s Twitter startup was akin to censorship, it was tempting to weigh in. (If freedom of speech is suppressed, how is it possible that it’s all I hear about every major media outlet in the world? How?) But I digressed. Why? Sea chanteys.
To keep everyone in the loop, sea chanteys are the smiling woman in the Distracted Boyfriend meme – they take your attention away no matter what should be in your time. Originally on merchant ships in the 18th century, the songs – intended to aid sailors in their duties – began taking off on TikTok after a 26-year-old Scottish postman named Nathan Evans posted a video of him singing a song called ‘Soon May the Wellerman Come ”(sometimes simply titled“ Wellerman ”) in the last week of 2020. It has since been duetted thousands of times and has become an online obsession. (If you haven’t scrolled to r / seashanties yet, you really should.)
Why? In the midst of a political crisis in the US and a global pandemic, why has everyone turned to songs that sound like what the Decemberists were trying to be? The conclusion most people have come to is that sea chanteys are a reprieve. That at a time when people need to be far apart, singing together – even via TikTok – feels like a moment of being together, or socially detached karaoke. (God, I miss karaoke.) “They are unifying, survivalist songs designed to transform a huge group of people into one collective body,” wrote Kathryn VanArendonk for Vulture, “all working together to keep the ship afloat.” Likewise, as Amanda Petrusich noted in The New Yorker, “It seems possible that after nearly a year of loneliness and collective self-exile, and of crushing restrictions on travel and adventure, the chantey could take a brief look at a different, more exciting way of life, a world of sea air and pirates and grog, of many people singing in unison, to ascend boldly to what Melville called the ‘real places’, the untouched vistas not found on any map. “(As for the spelling differences between” shanty “and” chantey “Your guess is just as good as mine.)
These things are no doubt true. After nearly a year of quarantines and fear, it’s welcome to have something simple to sing along to, even if you’re half deaf. The unironic embrace of something that feels old and ethereal is also right in the spirit of TikTok. But at the same time, collective culture consumption is one of the hallmarks of the pandemic, of a collective obsession with Tiger King to “WAP.” Not to mention, gamers sang chanteys while playing Sea of Thieves long before the pandemic hit. Yes, some of this popularity was due to the Longest Johns, the a cappella folk band that released a version of “Wellerman” in 2018, but still.