Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Lend me your ears...

...because The Fox said so.

No, not really.

While we do have "super"star singers, we also have those Super "super"star singers who are able to break into the international market with one song which for some reason, everyone latches onto and follow.

Lets look at the hit sensation of 2012. I'm talking about Gangnam Style by Psy. It is the first video to hit more than 1 billion views on Youtube. Remarkable feat no less, but I suspect most of that came from lonely trolls sitting at home and hitting refresh on all their devices at once. Well, how did it become so popular?
Firstly because it was a foreign language song. I'm being serious. The fact that most westerners cannot understand a single word being said makes it all the more special. On top of that, the song being Korean makes it even more enjoyable because honestly, when haven't you heard a western person be slightly racist and make fun of the Asian languages? I'm not saying every western person does it, that's being too general, but ask the average western person what Asian languages sound like and you're more than likely to get the same response from them all.

I'll get to the dance later, but first, I want to stick to the language side for now. When it comes to foreign language songs, everyone has this obsession to mimic the noises and sounds they hear, as if they really speak the language. People then start singing in front of their friends, coupled with the dance, laugh at how stupid they sound (which is quite frankly extremely rude to laugh, because in a sense, you're mocking the language and laughing at the mockery) and then this gets passed on through social media and word of mouth.

Here's a video showing what I mean. The second half is the same person and having dramatically improved the language.


Next, a breakdown of the Gangnam Style dance. Well, it's quite easy to analyse why people love it. It's simple and easy to learn. There are a total of 4 different moves. Out of the 4, two of those almost anyone can do (and will know), the third one is a little bit trickier and the last one nobody remembers. Because of its pure simplicity, people are able to join in and have fun dancing to a mildly catchy beat. Not I. I don't like dancing. Especially when there are millions of other people making a fool of themselves already, I don't need to add to that pool.

With the history lesson out the way, let's look at slightly more recent phenomenon: What does the fox say by Ylvis. I have no idea how to pronounce that, but since it's a foreign word, I'll let Google Translate do it for me: http://translate.google.com/#auto/en/Ylvis

Why is this song so popular? Because it's simply absurd and stupid. It's Old MacDonald Had A Farm for adults, but on some form of hallucinatory drug. I mean sure, it's a legitimate question, but not in a song, and especially not when the answers they give are just pure excrement.

If you want answers, you turn to science. Cue the video:
That is the red fox, which is probably the one Ylvis was undoubtedly singing about since he dressed up like one. Okay, now you know the answer, let's get back to the topic at hand.

The song was popular for its absurdity. We know that the fox probably doesn't make those sounds, but since most of us probably have never heard or seen a fox make any sounds, all of the sounds that Ylvis claims they make, then become legitimate answers.

Next, the dance. It's terrible. Enough said.

So if you're not a "super"star singer like Katy Perry or Michael Buble, and you're thinking about wanting to make it famous worldwide, either sing in a foreign language with a really catchy beat or sing about a question, then come up with ridiculous answers. If you don't know a foreign language, well learn one or make up your own. LOTR and Star Trek had theirs, you can too.

Oh, don't forget the dance. You need a weird, but simple dance.

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