How the Internet popularises songs.
There are some songs that have made it up the charts on their own merits. This is because they are that good. An example is Adele's comeback single, Hello. However, there are other songs which you have never heard of before until the internet grabs hold of them. Some of the songs are international and are sung in another language. Others are American. I marvel at the effect that social media has on songs and at the way it turns them into smash hits. Once upon a time Myspace went further and launched the careers of some musicians, including Lily Allen. Now with the decline of the social networking site's popularity, other websites like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram are helping to make certain songs famous.
One song that was made popular by the internet is Dragostea Din Tei by a Romanian-Moldovian pop music band O-Zone. It was a catchy song which I really liked. It was not popular outside Romania until a video of a man dancing and lip synching to the song was posted on Newgrounds and then YouTube in 2004. That video went viral and brought the song international recognition. It also brought fame to the American vlogger Gary Brolsma aka the Numa Numa guy. The song has since been covered by Romanian singer Haiducci and sampled by American rapper T.I. and Rihanna in the song Live Your Life.
Another example of a foreign language song gaining international popularity due to the World Wide Web is Gangnam Style by the South Korean artist Psy. His catchy tune and wacky cowboy-inspired dance moves helped propelled his music video to fame in 2012 and even broke the record as the most watched video on YouTube. It was viewed over 2.70 billion times. Since then people the world over have been copying Psy's dance moves. Even former UK Labour MP, Ed Balls performed it on the hit show Strictly Come Dancing. The song has served as a wonderful advert to the music genre of K-pop.
Now for the internet memes. I will start off with the Harlem Shake. The Harlem Shake videos normally feature a group of people in a room going about their business. One person then starts dancing to the song, Harlem Shake by the American DJ Baauer while the others remain unaware of the distraction. At the bass drop of the song the video cuts to everybody in the room joining in the dancing, some of them dressed in fancy dress costumes. It all started when a video from the YouTube channel DizastaMusic was posted in 2013. It was then copied by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia. That video went viral and spawned many copies. As a result the song became commercially successful.
Last but not least is the recent internet trend known as the Mannequin Challenge. If you have watched the TV show Charmed and are aware of the witch Piper Halliwell's powers then this is what the Mannequin Challenge is all about. People seemingly frozen in time while the camera zooms around them to the tune of the Mike Will-produced track, Black Beatles by the American hip-hop duo, Rae Sremmurd. It is believed that the original video was made by students in Jacksonville, Florida, USA this year. Even celebrities, sports figures, politicians and musicians got in on the act and performed their own mannequin challenge and posting their videos on Instagram. This resulted in the single performing very well in the charts. I was also impressed with a mannequin challenge featuring one of my friends in an awkward pose.
So there you have it. If you have made a song and it is used in a video which then goes viral on social media then you can rest assured that your song will become very popular indeed. That is the power of the internet!
One song that was made popular by the internet is Dragostea Din Tei by a Romanian-Moldovian pop music band O-Zone. It was a catchy song which I really liked. It was not popular outside Romania until a video of a man dancing and lip synching to the song was posted on Newgrounds and then YouTube in 2004. That video went viral and brought the song international recognition. It also brought fame to the American vlogger Gary Brolsma aka the Numa Numa guy. The song has since been covered by Romanian singer Haiducci and sampled by American rapper T.I. and Rihanna in the song Live Your Life.
Another example of a foreign language song gaining international popularity due to the World Wide Web is Gangnam Style by the South Korean artist Psy. His catchy tune and wacky cowboy-inspired dance moves helped propelled his music video to fame in 2012 and even broke the record as the most watched video on YouTube. It was viewed over 2.70 billion times. Since then people the world over have been copying Psy's dance moves. Even former UK Labour MP, Ed Balls performed it on the hit show Strictly Come Dancing. The song has served as a wonderful advert to the music genre of K-pop.
Now for the internet memes. I will start off with the Harlem Shake. The Harlem Shake videos normally feature a group of people in a room going about their business. One person then starts dancing to the song, Harlem Shake by the American DJ Baauer while the others remain unaware of the distraction. At the bass drop of the song the video cuts to everybody in the room joining in the dancing, some of them dressed in fancy dress costumes. It all started when a video from the YouTube channel DizastaMusic was posted in 2013. It was then copied by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia. That video went viral and spawned many copies. As a result the song became commercially successful.
Last but not least is the recent internet trend known as the Mannequin Challenge. If you have watched the TV show Charmed and are aware of the witch Piper Halliwell's powers then this is what the Mannequin Challenge is all about. People seemingly frozen in time while the camera zooms around them to the tune of the Mike Will-produced track, Black Beatles by the American hip-hop duo, Rae Sremmurd. It is believed that the original video was made by students in Jacksonville, Florida, USA this year. Even celebrities, sports figures, politicians and musicians got in on the act and performed their own mannequin challenge and posting their videos on Instagram. This resulted in the single performing very well in the charts. I was also impressed with a mannequin challenge featuring one of my friends in an awkward pose.
So there you have it. If you have made a song and it is used in a video which then goes viral on social media then you can rest assured that your song will become very popular indeed. That is the power of the internet!
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