Ah, Singapore Social. Where does one even begin? When Netflix dropped the trailer for a reality show revolving around the country’s socialites (or socialite-adjacent), the backlash it garnered crushed all hope that it would be any good.
And I completely see why it got as much disapproval as it did — Netflix marketed it as a look into the challenges that “young Singaporeans” face. Which technically ain’t wrong, but when the “young Singaporeans” in subject are well-off, well-connected and are sitting comfortably in the higher rungs of the social ladder, it’s probably hard to feel anything close to sympathy for their apparently-not-scripted predicaments. I don’t know, maybe it’s because my parents can’t afford to fly me over to New York just to shop around for schools to study in.
RELATED: Just the tip: Singapore Social on Netflix
Then Singapore Social actually went live on our Netflix home pages on Friday (Nov 22) and it wasn’t too difficult to miss thanks to the font they used for the title logo. It did a great job in portending the quality of the content itself, which was an absolute cringe-fest.
Through all the vapid conversations, the petty plights, the out-of-touch individuals, the lack of genuine chemistry between them, the level of pretence and pretentiousness, Singapore Social is… entertaining? Enjoyable in the sense that it’s fun to yell at the screen and ridicule the awkwardness of it all.
Hate-watching in its purest form.
Critical acclaim be damned; Netflix probably burst through their KPIs when it came to online buzz about Singapore Social. Over the weekend, Twitter and Facebook lit up with sweet, sweet rants about the show, creating a communal experience in how we all survived (or gave up) getting through all eight episodes. Take a gander below.
In short, it seems that Singapore Social is about vapid privileged caricatures and their asinine lives. It's like a Netflix intern with dreadlocks backpacked ASEAN, watched Crazy Rich Asians and pitched a rip off version that would cause blindness and intense head trauma. https://t.co/fTRqwH9ald
— Colin Cheong (@colinctc) November 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/parlimentpanik/status/1198787077854228482
So Aristophanes' theory about soulmates in Plato's Symposium is profound but in Singapore Social when Vinny said 'im looking 4 a prawn' and Mae said 'im looking 4 a prawn too' I literally wept cos it's so beautiful
— Delfina Utomo (@anniefled) November 24, 2019
#SingaporeSocial who lah these people???? Aiyooo….why so staged??
Morning here ppl eat roti prata or nasi lemak lah what red wine white wine all ????
— Von Phelferphelfer (@poofthefcknot) November 24, 2019
https://twitter.com/DarcelAnastasia/status/1197889901879939074
https://twitter.com/joeltheobscure/status/1198631870813986817
https://twitter.com/AudiKhalid/status/1198647107147698176
https://twitter.com/FrancinaSimone/status/1198428744945291264
https://twitter.com/nikkizoey02/status/1198181526548013056
https://twitter.com/joannasuyin/status/1197860610400116736
OK NO IN ALL SERIOUSNESS THOUGH WHAT IS SINGAPORE SOCIAL – i'm 15 mins in, the amount of unacknowledged privilege is off the roof – am i the only one feeling the same way about the show ?????
— JUNIPER MCLARSON (@prostalkr) November 23, 2019
https://twitter.com/tzehern_/status/1198256582833790976
https://www.facebook.com/StanlyNeo/posts/10156862271002405
https://www.facebook.com/bear.haw/posts/10158178628403352
https://www.facebook.com/mohd.radzi.737/posts/10219407372148509
https://www.facebook.com/yeolo.sg/photos/a.1017450378339996/2493534957398190
