With a global pandemic spreading and 6.7 million residents of six Bay Area counties ordered to shelter in place, things are bad right now. And sometimes, when everything is terrible, we need to experience a little joy—which is why we’ve rounded up songs about the coronavirus that are actually catchy, hilarious, informative or all of the above.
Artists making light of the pandemic in a bid to go viral (do we need a new term for this?) might read as grossly opportunistic. But in some countries, public health authorities have harnessed the power of pop songs to spread accurate information about health and safety measures. And while not all the tracks on this list are exactly educational, they provide a fitting soundtrack for dancing alone during self-quarantine. What’s more 2020 than that?
Here are seven of our favorite coronavirus jams.
Gmac Cash’s Hypochondriac Anthem
Dressed in a hazmat suit and armed with a spray bottle of disinfectant, Detroit rapper Gmac Cash gives voice to contagion anxieties in his “Coronavirus” music video. “I’ma chill at the crib ’cause I’m safe here / I ain’t even about to drink a Corona beer / I’m bout to stay at the crib for about a year,” he raps over a tense piano loop as he frantically runs around town spraying everything and everyone in sight. Despite instructions to remain calm from public officials, the anxiety in the air surrounding coronavirus is palpable—at least Gmac gives us a laugh about it.
