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Why does ABC ME’s launch song have an American accent?

Australian stories with Australian voices? ABC ME pushes hip hop to the front of the queue.

Newly-branded kid’s channel ABC ME has launched with its own music video, Unique (Me2U) by 16 year old NSW Performing Arts student Angel Tairua, who previously appeared in The X Factor and Australia’s Got Talent (2013).

“It’s about kids in general and how we see ourselves. How we need to make a change. We are the newest generation and we need to step up,” she says.

The song is a hip hop track produced by Uncanny Valley, and ABC ME is inviting kids to send in their best dance moves on video to win a spot in a mega ABC ME film clip airing later in 2016. Fair enough.

But while ABC ME is clearly aiming to connect with kids with styles that speak to them, I’m less convinced the public broadcaster should be so quick to be doing this in an American accent.

I thought we were looking to tell Australian stories in Australian voices?

Or is this indicative of the path ABC ME will be diverting to from the former ABC3?

I was recently talking to a Millennial who told me she refused to watch anything with an Australian accent, which I found bitterly disappointing.

No disrespect to a talented 16 year old looking to make her mark in the music industry but this track doesn’t sit particularly well with me as a channel launch song. Word.

9 Responses

  1. Speaking as a 21 year old, I can tell you that the vast majority of my peers have no interest in Australian content what so ever. It’s just too low-budget.

    I remember watching ABC Kids in the afternoon block in the early 2000s, I often became bored and uninterested in a lot of the Australian shows, because they were trying too hard to be Australian. The American shows (aside from higher budgets) were just more to the point with the storylines.

    I am not surprised that with most of the popular music coming from overseas and things been driven more to an online point (Pewdiepie is massive with tweens and he is a Swedish man), that if the ABC wants to appeal to kids, they need to give them what they want, not what some government board would like them to want.

  2. Another reason why the ABC is irrelevant – American accents and unbalanced news reporting.
    Forget about banking royal commissions we need one into our public broadcasting.

    Why is it acceptable for the former communications minister now PM Malcolm Turnbull to force community stations from broadcasting off the digital TV spectrum yet money is still being funnelled into ABC stations especially Triple J — especially when most youth “the iGeneration” stream their own music and listen less to the traditional radio network.

  3. I remember back in the seventies people were criticising the Brian Cadd theme for Class of 74 because it had an American accent. As recently as a few years ago I remember watching afternoon TV and the ads for toys all had American accents.

      1. Totally have to agree with you. A lot of Australians really lack patriotism including the media (to be honest).

        There is nothing wrong with being proud and Australian, speaking with an Australian accent, watching Australian drama. People should stop faking it… if you were born or spent most of your life in this country you are Australian and not American.

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