I was in Dubai in 2011. Horrible experience all round, including this being one of the main songs played on every loudspeaker everywhere
Taxis, clubs, malls. My tormentor Ryan Seacrest was the dj on the main radio station
The Rhianna one was just as big but I kinda liked that one
Was staying at a place called Sports City
Think I was in the Golf Tower or maybe the Tennis one.
Was about a 40 min taxi ride to get to anywhere worth going to. Ran about 20 quid one way and I didn't have much money. The apartment building was under construction and my gf had just moved in to start working as a server at the newly opened Mahiki Dubai. There was no TV hooked up and the pool on the roof never got filled until after I left. Literally fuck all to do for a several mile radius. Walked to the center one day and it took about 2 hours across barren scrub. Everyone's heard about Dubai, the dark underbelly, the slave labor, everyone's seen the pics of guys in gold plated Lambos with pet cheetahs in the passenger seat, but until you actually go there, it's this whole other level of mind bending excess and emptiness. The place was designed for spending obscene amounts of money and to be seen doing it. It's like any pretense of humility people laid claims to had been cast to the floor and forgotten about. Fuck the facade, let's go all in. In many ways my experience there encapsulates my view of the 2010s perfectly. There was a hollowing out of society and culture. Felt like Pavlov was directing some demented play. People had become so brainwashed by wealth worship. Dubai feels like a city designed by kids in Sim City with the unlimited cheat code activated. The end game of an infantilized culture.
On top of all that, me and the gf basically broke up right on the 2nd day, but for whatever reason I ended up staying about 6 more hellish weeks. Maybe longer, can't even remember anymore.
Live n learn, eh! 😒
