GUM Diss Track

GUM Diss Track
Thumbnail of the song on YouTube
Song by Zabëlle Skye
Released	3 January 2020
Recorded	1–2 January 2020 Main Building, New Leeds, Principality of New Eiffel
Genre	Comedy music
Length	01:04
Label	None; released independently

"GUM DIS TRACK: THE UNITED MICRANATIONS is better", commonly known as "GUM Diss Track" and originally titled "THE UNITED MICRANATIONS is better", is a satirical diss track by New Eiffelic amateur experimental artist Zabëlle Skye on contraGUMism, micronational warfare and YAMOs. Released on 3 January 2020, it was Skye's first non-album single to not be released under his stage name DJ Zeddy because of the nature of the song. Lyrically, Skye sings as a young and unprofessional micronationalist who disses the intermicronational organisation the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM) as he is a member of the rival United Micronations. The song's lyrics contain juvenile insults towards the GUM, whom the singer threatens with war by using Nerf Blasters.

"GUM Diss Track" was released on YouTube alongside a music video. Since its release, the song had attained moderate notability in the MicroWiki community during 2020, and by July 2021, the music video has been viewed more than 230 times before being deleted. It was positively received by both GUM supporters and contraGUMists, as well as by micronationalists who did not identify as either; it subsequently became Skye's signature song. "GUM Diss Track" later became one of the two national anthems of the Cupertino Alliance on 20 March 2020, "having higher precedence" which meant that it got to be played first. However, following backlash from the community, the anthem was repealed in early June 2020.

Development

The contraGUMist Organisation of Active Micronations partially inspired the song

Zabëlle Skye had been a supporter of the Grand Unified Micronational (GUM) since New Eiffel became a provisional member state on 28 April 2019. He became increasingly annoyed with contraGUMists throughout December, and on 1 January 2020 began to work on the song using Apple's GarageBand. Skye envisioned for it to have an accompanying music video that appeared to be poorly shot as he viewed most contraGUMists as young or unprofessional. The song was finished on 2 January, and the music video was shot on 3 January—the same day as the song's release.

The fictional United Micronations (UM) referenced in the song was named as such due to the name being incredibly generic and common for new intermicronational organisations. The fictional UM was partially inspired by the Organisation of Active Micronations (OAM)—which Skye had founded on 21 November 2018—under the leadership of noted GUM critics Charles Ross and James Ellis. The line "the United Micronations has 100 members" directly references the OAM's peak membership of 47, which made it the largest intermicronational organisation at the time, though Skye claims that most of them were inactive. The song also satirises micronations that claim Bir Tawil and portions of Antarctica, the most claimed territories by micronations.

The music video was produced and directed by Skye who, alongside his younger brother Janus Smith, also did the music video's cinematography. To make the video seem all the more unprofessional, Skye edited it with iMovie, added misspelled and improperly-timed subtitles, and did not cut out the background audio for some of the scenes. The video was shot on Skye's iPad 5 and at 30 frames per second—the lowest frame rate setting possible on his device—to further reduce its quality. After being downscaled to the low-definition resolution of 240p, the video was uploaded onto YouTube.

Release and reception

The song was released on 3 January 2020 on YouTube with the accompanying music video. Because of the comical nature of the song, it was Skye's first non-album single to not be released under his stage name DJ Zeddy. Skye also chose to release "GUM Diss Track" independently without his record label Zmusic Records, which's releases were instead reserved for mostly electronic dance (EDM) and experimental music. The song was widely circulated on MicroWiki@Discord, causing it to attain a moderate amount of notability in the MicroWiki community during 2020. By July 2021, the music video had been viewed 236 times, though the video was later deleted in late 2021. Critically, both the song and music video were received generally-positively by both supporters of the GUM and contraGUMists, as well as micronationalists who did not identify as either. "GUM Diss Track" became Skye's signature song, becoming more popular than his non-satirical music.

Cupertino Alliance anthem

"GUM Diss Track" briefly became the national anthem of the Cupertino Alliance after being proposed during the 69 Hour Session

During the Cupertino Alliance's 69 Hour Session held between 14–17 March 2020, several different songs were nominated to become the national anthem of the alliance, including "GUM Diss Track". Due to the large number of submissions, Chair of the Board Jayden Lycon organised a tournament. After several rounds of voting, "GUM Diss Track" made it to the final voting round alongside a YouTube video named "Is Jacking Off a Sport?". On 20 March, it was agreed that both would with be the official anthem of the alliance, however "GUM Diss Track" would have "higher precedence" which meant that it got to be played first. "Is Jacking Off a Sport?" immediately garnered a huge amount of controversy from the rest of the MicroWiki community, and the song was later stripped of the status two days later. In early June 2020, following criticism of "GUM Diss Track" as an anthem, its status as an anthem was also repealed.

Music video

The release of the song onto YouTube was accompanied by a music video which, like the song, has a runtime of one minute and four seconds. The video concerns a young and inexperienced micronationalist singing a diss track on the GUM due to being a member of the rival United Micronations. The video commences with him counting play money, after which he sings the diss track while wearing a sailor hat and holding a plastic sword. He then presents a Nerf Blaster followed by the MicroWiki page for the United Micronations, which shows a member state count of 100. He shows a map of micronational Antarctic claims followed a map of the claims of his micronation the Glengarian Empire, which lays claim to four entire macronations. After presenting a large modified Nerf Blaster, he crosses out a drawing of "GUM" on a piece of paper, after which he presents a poorly drawn currency called the United Micronation dollar then dabs while wearing a mask. Afterwards, he gives a thumbs down to the flag of the United States and adjusts his sailor hat. The next scene shows his sailor hat on top of his plastic sword, after which a missile crashes into the logo of the GUM.

See also

• Music of New Eiffel
• 2020 in New Eiffelic music
• New Eiffel and the Grand Unified Micronational

External links

• "GUM Diss Track" on YouTube [archived via the Wayback Machine]