Tarkan's Geççek from a celebrity capital perspective: the reflection of the political polarisation in post-pandemic Turkey in the reception of a pop song

Abstract

When Turkish pop music megastar Tarkan released his single Ge & ccedil;& ccedil;ek (It'll Pass) on 17 February 2022, its ambiguous lyrics supposedly filled with political innuendos generated speculations among vast segments of the public, journalists and politicians. Yet, Tarkan has not become a politicised figure overnight. The song owes its impactful reception to the gradual change in the singer's communication strategy on social media combined with the increasing political polarisation in the country that ultimately found its expression in the realm of popular music. Using Olivier Driessens's concept of celebrity capital, this paper analyses the change in the content and style of Tarkan's Twitter posts (2010-2023) that became particularly evident after he moved to Germany in 2017. It claims that the singer had been gradually converting his celebrity capital in music into political capital through statements on environmental and socio-political issues, the tones of which also became more anti-government and explicitly pro-opposition over time. This, in turn, resulted in the song's lyrics being perceived as politically charged in an environment already marked by increased political polarisation, particularly around the conservative vs. secularist divide.