Too hot, hot damn
I tried to write this article while watching an entire high school dance to “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars. I can’t write, though, because I started dancing in my seat far too much. What is it about catchy, viral videos that is just so wonderfully infectious?
First, let’s go back to that crazy time when hipsters were hailed as the scourge of the galaxy and, out of nowhere, one unrecognizable voice started singing in Korean and made the whole world dance. When “Gagnam Style” was released, the world welcomed it with open arms. With over two billion views on YouTube, it has become the world’s most watched video of all time. This song had me and many, many of my friends dance-trotting across the living room with an imaginary lasso. What PSY managed to create affected pop culture in a lasting and hilarious way. Although my friends had no idea what he was saying, we just didn’t care.
I started wondering about the next video like “Gagnam Style,” but that was the wrong question. What came next were thousands of YouTube videos linked to a sample of one track – “Harlem Shake” by Baauer. My friends were in a video, I was in a video, my workplace did a video, even my mom was in a “Harlem Shake” video. This was a contagious video meme that the world could not resist. It grew to over a billion views and got people shaking “Harlem” style all over the world.
Next came “Happy” by Pharrell Williams. This song was featured in the movie Despicable Me 2, which in its own right made people quite happy (those minions, right?). You can head to 24hoursofhappy.com to watch the first 24-hour music video, which is “Happy” on a full footage loop for 24 hours. Happy has over a half billion views on YouTube and has made it to the top tens of music charts around the world. Williams lost the Oscar race to the song “Let it go” from Frozen although he is poised to win his ninth Grammy with this uber-dancey piece in his repertoire.
Fast forward to 2015: it’s a cold, annoying Canadian winter, but there is one very funky reprieve for humans everywhere. Mark Ronson has whipped up the next catchy, awesome sounding, better-feeling, and super-dancey musical wonder – “Uptown Funk” ft. Bruno Mars. Over the past week, I have heard this song everywhere I go – theater practice, the library, my editor’s office, and on the radio. Also, this has been covered and danced to on the internet, by NBA mascots, entire choreographed high schools, and many others. That hot mix of 70’s funk and 80’s wave, in combination with the soulful sound of Bruno Mar’s will get you going; in other words, uptown will funk you up.
So what is it that gets our feet moving and the YouTube counts rising? I think it’s fun. All of these songs are super fun and don’t take themselves too seriously. They encourage dancing – not good dancing or bad dancing, but simply dancing. These good gyrations bring people joy and when we know we are not alone dancing, virtually or otherwise, it just feels that much better. Think back to your public school days when you first heard a viral dance song by Mr. C, “The Casper Slide Part 2” – now slide to the right, slide to left, everybody clap your hands.