Pijos represent a social subculture in Spain, characterized by a focus on high-end fashion and the demonstration of elevated social status. The term "pijo" has evolved in Spain over several decades, encompassing two main aspects: individuals from wealthy families who conspicuously spend money on luxury goods and leisure, and, more broadly, young people who closely follow trends dictated by advertising and mass media, placing significant emphasis on appearance. Therefore one of the main components of the "Pijo" culture, is based on a high level of economic income, or at the very least, on the appearance of such.
The "pijo" subculture maintains a strong emphasis on impeccable presentation, adhering to current fashion trends. Distinctive attire includes: for men, tailored trousers or pressed jeans, custom-made striped shirts, wool sweaters worn over the shoulders, diamond-patterned socks, and loafers, often accompanied by hair gel; for women, flowing blouses or men's shirts, skirts of varying lengths depending on current fashion, fitted jeans, suits, silk scarves, gold jewelry, and straightened hair; and for both, essential accessories such as sunglasses, watches, and specific luxury car brands favored and easily identified through advertising.
vs.
Digital Horror is a broad genre of horror that is disseminated through online mediums and uses the aesthetics and technology of the early-to-mid digital era (roughly the late 1990s to the early/mid 2010s) to create feelings of dread, nostalgia, and unease. The genre is defined by its medium and its thematic content rather than a single, cohesive visual style. Unlike its predecessor, Analog Horror, which focuses on the decay and limitations of physical media like VHS tapes, Digital Horror draws its scares from the corruption of familiar digital experiences. This includes haunted video games, cursed websites, real life recordings of supernatural occurrences, sentient AI, and disturbing web animations. The horror often comes from taking a nostalgic and seemingly innocent piece of early internet culture (like a Flash game, an old YouTube video, a pop culture character, or a personal website) and twisting it into something sinister and unsettling.
While Digital Horror does not have a single, uniform style, its visual identity is defined by the intentional replication of the aesthetics, artifacts, and limitations of early internet culture from the late 1990s to the early/mid 2010s. The genre deliberately employs a low-quality or "lo-fi" presentation to evoke a sense of authenticity and nostalgia. This includes the use of low-resolution video, pixelated graphics, and the distinct visual markers of outdated software, such as the watermarks from screen recording programs like Bandicam, the simple title cards of Windows Movie Maker, and the use of default system fonts like Comic Sans. These visual elements support the genre's central narrative tropes, which prey on the audience's familiarity with early digital life. A key characteristic is the corruption of nostalgia, where a seemingly innocent piece of media, like a Flash game or an old website, is revealed to be sinister or haunted. This horror is often expressed through the theme of haunted technology, in which sentient AI, corrupted data, paranormal forces or "glitch entities" cause digital worlds to behave in impossible ways, subverting the viewer's nostalgic memories to create a sense of dread.
By request of the amazing @eskamtrash, today I’m gonna talk about probably the best thing that has happened to my country after Skam España and OT. The song is so amazing that after the lyrics of the song, I’m gonna put the translation of what they say in the subtitles in the video, bc they are priceless.
I just wanna get into this so you can see how amazing it is, but first, you have to know this song is mocking a certain demography of Spain population we call “pijos”, think of them as kinda the British Tories: rich, daddy’s kids, really conservative, disguised (or not that disguised) fascists, that type of stuff. If you have watched Skam España, the guy that (spoiler) hit Lucas in the face was a “pijo”. Here are some “pijo” starter packs so you can get an idea of what to expect:
(the title is “Your name is Cayetano (hint hint) or Borja if...” and the things are: bulls and bullfighting; a group called “Taburete”; those shoes, we call them “náuticos”; I don’t know what that is; a university of Madrid called Ceu San Pablo; Ralph Lauren polos; Apple products; PP political party; the Pijo Look tm; that fucking wristband with the Spanish Flag holy shit)
(Title is “not from the right nor from the left , liberal” starter pack, the things are: Ciudadanos political party; Ibex 35 (the Spanish Dow Jones); the ABS newspaper; ForoCoches.com, an internet forum; I don’t know who that guy is; the sentence “each one pays what’s theirs”; The OK Diario newspaper, The Spanish flag with the phrase “proud of being Spaniard”, 13tv, a TV station; I don’t know drinks sorry; cocaine; the phrase “long live the king”; and an asshole called Álvaro Ojeda)
(title is “madrileño pijo starter pack”), and the things are: being a Real Madrid FC member; using a lot of hair gel; studying fucking Business and Law; iPhones; the fucking flag wristband again; being named Borja; that other type of pijo look TM; cocaine again (see a pattern?); the fascist political party VOX; those fucking shoes again; the university Francisco de Vitoria (or as we call it, the “Paquito”)
(title is “fascist in a party starter pack”: that’s the most basic pijo look tbh)
As someone who lives in one of the most pijo infested areas in all of Spain, I can confirm all said in these starter packs and in the song is real. Tbh, I even had the feeling I had been to the house of the Music Video when I was watching it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had filmed it near to where I live honestly.
Finally, before starting, last week’s song was really special to me, so if you haven’t seen it, here it is
So, Carolina Durante ( “Carolina During”????) is a relatively new band from Madrid, forming in 2017, and just starting to explode. They are kinda punk, and became famous with their song “Perdona (Ahora Sí que Sí)”, featuring the winner of OT 2017 and representative of Spain in Eurovision 2018, Amaia Romero, who’s dating the singer (the song even got to be in Skam España s2!!!) Right now they are working on their first album. The members are: Diego Ibáñez (singer), Martín Vallhonrat (bass), Juan Pedrayes (drums), and Mario del Valle (guitar). They are honestly amazing, and I like to think about them as the modern “Los Nikis”, an 80s band kinda like them, one day I’ll talk about their biggest hit, “El Imperio Contraataca”.
The song itself, “Cayetano”, is named like that for one of the most common and stereotypical names among the “pijos”, Cayetano / Cayetana, along with others like Borja, Mauro, Candela, Almudena, or María Jesús / María José. As I said, it talks about the pijos, and I think this song got me so bad because it talks about literally 90% of my classmates during school and high school, and I find that amazing.
So, let’s go with the lyrics, and below I’ll talk a bit about the music video and I’ll translate the subtitles!
Todos mis amigos se llaman Cayetano
All my friends are called Cayetano
Zapatillas Pompeii, alguno tiene barco
Pompeii Sneakers (1), some of them have boats.
Siempre tres botones desabrochados
Always three buttons undone
Menudo pelazo, CEU San Pablo
Amazing hair, CEU San Pablo (2)
Joder, como mola el verano
Fuck, how amazing the summer is
Ibiza, Marbella, todos gaditanos
Ibiza, Marbella, we’re all from Cádiz (3)
Ojo a mis amigas del voluntariado
Look out for my voluntary service friends
La finca en Segovia, el puestazo
The estate in Segovia, the great place (4)
Cayetano, Cayetano
Cayetano, Cayetano
Todos mis amigos se llaman Cayetano
All of my friends are called Cayetano
Todos mis amigos se llaman Cayetano
All of my friends are called Cayetano
No votan al PP, votan a Ciudadanos
They don’t vote for PP, they vote for Ciudadanos (5)
Morat, Taburete, qué grupazos
Morat, Taburete, great groups (6)
En sus conciertos cómo lo pasamos
In their concerts we go wild
En las Big Four 100000 contactos
In the Big Four 100000 contacts (7)
¿Quieres entrar ahí? te recomendamos
Do yo want to get there? We recommend you
Salir de fiesta, el reservado
Going out, to the reserved
No pasa nada, está tó pagado
Don’t worry, it’s all paid
1. These are the shoes they are talking about
2. CEU San Pablo, along with the Francisco de Vitoria and Comillas, is the most “pijo” centric university. Needless to say, there are a lot of people who went to my school there. And also, fun fact, there’s a campus (I don’t know if it’s the only one) in my town, so yay
3. Three typical pijo hotspot during summer, along with others like Dènia or Sanxenxo.
4. Segovia is the province directly north of Madrid. In the south for example, these kinds of estates are called “cortijos”, which has spawned the term “pijo cortijero”. This is a cortijo:
5. PP is a traditional right-wing party, while Ciudadanos is a new one, that claims to be liberal and in the center of the political spectrum, although it has repeatedly worked with PP and the new fascist party, VOX, and never with the left. Fun fact, PP, Ciudadanos and VOX are usually called the “trifachito” ( “the three little fascists”)
6. “Morat” and “Taburete” (specially the latter) are considered the favourite groups of the pijos (and its true tbh). If you want to here how they sound, listen to “Cómo te atreves a volver” from Morat and “Sirenas” from Taburete, their two greatest hits. I personally like some of their songs, but that’s it. Not a huge fan really.
7. I had to look this up but, according to Wikipedia, the “Big 4″ are the top biggest accounting firms in the world.
And now, onto the music video. It parodies one of those programs where they visit other people homes, mostly because they are eccentric, or really luxurious, or weird, etc etc, and the singer is basically showing them their house, the typical pijo house. Here is what the subtitles say throughout the video:
(intro with no subs): “Sorry for being late, guys, I was in an important meeting. Well, let’s go inside and I show you the little hut, no? Let’s go!”
(subs start):
“Well then... this would be the house of Carolina Durante, the group. We are here in an artistic retreat preparing the new album, the first one. And here... the afternoon snack [”merienda”]. Well, if it isn’t my friend Mariajo! [Mariajo is the short form of María José]. Come on, beautiful, everybody is over there. And this is the Hall, where the important visits come from”. (Cayetano trying to impress the girl) (Cayetana is oblivious)
“Santi [short form of Santiago] is like part of the family, he is one more. Right, Santi? And that, Santi? What’s that?” (Santi): I’m sorry sir. “This is fucking incredible. Fuck Santi... Fucking incredible. Well... come in, let’s go. Fuck, shit... Well, now silence, that Carolina Durante is rehearsing, let’s go”. (Amazing solo)
Cayetana: Play “Sirenas” [as I’ve said before, “Taburete”’s biggest hit].
“Well, here is when the visit ends. It was a pleasure, I hope you had a great time. See you soon”.
I hope you laughed and enjoyed it as much as I did, and hope you liked it!!!
So, 444 of you decided to follow me which is very very heartwarming! And I am especially seeing a lot of support on my original pigeon art! Which was even more heartwarming and surprising to me! Thank you all so so much!!
Also, don’t worry, it’s not a sad Plavi lizard, but a tired one. Once I finish my thesis, I’d love to make an art giveaway for this milestone. Should be in a month or so, stay tuned! ✌️
One of my inktober illustrations 🌸 I put them daily on my instagram account, if you like it, you can check it out 🙌🏼 But like do whatever you want dude ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Instagram 👉 pijo.sztuka :)
