Korean students running scared of 'APT.' as Rosé's catchy earworm derails exam prep

Students preparing for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), known as suneung, are steering clear of "APT.," the recent collaboration between Blackpink's Rosé and Bruno Mars.

Blackpink's Rose in one of her YouTube videos [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Students preparing for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), known as suneung, are steering clear of "APT.," the recent collaboration between Blackpink's Rosé and Bruno Mars.

The song's catchy lyrics — repeating "apateu," the Korean word for apartment — in an addictive melody have made it a global sensation. The track has topped Spotify's Global Top 50 chart and is seeing a vast amount of content using the music on short-form video platforms.

The song is becoming a taboo as students fear it might linger in their minds and disrupt their concentration, especially with the suneung approaching on Nov. 14.

Previously, SS501’s "U R Man" (2008), SHINee's "Ring Ding Dong" (2009) and Red Velvet’s "Dumb Dumb" (2016) were infamous among students preparing for big tests. While most of these catchy songs are popular idol group hits favored by teenagers, even children’s songs like "Baby Shark" (2015) and some catchy ad jingles can cause distractions to students trying to concentrate on exam preparation.

“I’m worried that the song will play in my head even during the exam,” one student told Yonhap News on Sunday. “Adults might laugh and say, ‘Why stress over something like that?’ but for us, with such an important test ahead, it can feel unsettling.”

In online communities used by exam-preparing students, posting "bait" links that play these banned songs has become a long-running prank, even leading to account suspensions for some who go too far.

One user commented, “I saw one of these banned songs on the internet by accident, and now I can’t get it out of my head — it’s driving me crazy. How do I make it stop?”

This phenomenon, where a song’s melody keeps replaying in one’s mind, is known as an earworm.

Girl group Red Velvet's Yeri in the music video of ″Dumb Dumb″ [SCREEN CAPTURE]

For the general public, earworms can help relax a tense mind, but for students, they are often disruptive.

“Our psychology is more fragile than we realize, and simple, repetitive sounds can easily trigger emotional bias. Youths, especially those with less experience, are more prone to experiencing earworms,” said Dankook University psychology professor Lim Myung-ho in an interview with Yonhap News.

“Listening to soothing classical music, practicing light meditation, breathing exercises or stretching can help calm anxious minds. Developing a personalized routine before mock exams can also be an effective way to manage stress.”

BY YOON SEUNG-JIN [yoon.seungjin@joongang.co.kr]