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BANGKOK After the prime minister became preoccupied with a teen luk thung singers sexuality and apparently dispatched police to cover her up and count her hip thrusts, Lumyai Hai Thongkam has become an icon of the national cultural wars.

Details of her signature gold bikini and even her stage name were being dissected, debated, defended and criticized online and off this week.

On a recent episode of the Hoan Krasae talk show, Lumyai, 18, and record label owner Prachakchai Navarat were asked if she wore anything else under her sparkly hot pants.

Read: Police Sent to Cover Up Teen Country Singer Lumyai

Theres a petticoat, stockings and underwear, so you wont see anything, Lumyai said, a rejoinder to Gen. Prayuth Chan-ochas comments that she was about to show all her genitals with her twerking.

Lumyai, who has been singing for nine years and performing as Lumyai for two, said her routine has brought her success, and shes now doing up to five concerts daily.

I found her when I heard her singing at a banquet. Her singing was on pitch and her dancing was good, said Prachakchai, who contends that Lumyais fame is mostly due her singing talent.

Her breakout song, Phu Sao Kha Lor, (Party Girl) was watched more than 244 million times since its November release, despite its low-production values.

Its not even a music video, just a low-budget song, Prachakchai said.

Her costume, he added, isnt outrageous and is consistent with other country singers.

Read: Prayuth Criticizes Teen Singers Sexy Dancing, Blames Farangs

This kind of dancing and clothes are very common in mor lam sing and coyote dancing. Their clothes are even smaller. We dont know where the line of morality lies after the phu yai started criticizing.

Former Khon Kaen Sen. Rabeabrat Phongpanich, a cultural conservative who heads the Society to Create Happy and Warm Families, earlier called Lumyai cultural trash. She called in to Hoan Krasae to say Lumyais stage name, Hai Thongkam (Golden Jug), was disgusting.

Theres no way she thought of it herself. She was given the name for fame and business purposes using sexI dont want to see her get taken advantage of, Rabeabrat said. Why isnt she named Lumyai Jaidee or Lumyai Jaingarm? she said, suggesting names that mean good-hearted.

The name will stand, Prachakchai told Rabeabrat.

While cultural crusaders make their points laying into the 18 year old, the internet mostly responded with a collective eyeroll at what netizens see as a cultural double-standard.

The Loke Maeng Dudjrit page compared the cultural double-standard between high-class ballet and low-class luk thung.

Current-event savvy webcomic Kai Meaw underscored the double-standard at work.

The story went through the wringer of millennial internet sensibilities that is Pim Thai Mai Dai, which plastered LUM YAI over the junta leaders face, referencing the singer and slang suggestive of lumkarn or annoying.

Related stories:

Police Sent to Cover Up Teen Country Singer Lumyai

Prayuth Criticizes Teen Singers Sexy Dancing, Blames Farangs

Read more from the original source:
LumyaiGate: Teen's Golden Hot Pants Overheat Culture Wars - Khaosod English