History repeats itself. This time in the form of female pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen and her cheesy, yet catchy single “Call Me Maybe.” More infectious than Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” a simple YouTube search for the song yields 244,000 results, compared to 31,200 for Black’s previous hit.
Not even the celebs are immune to the viral sensation. Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez and Ashley Tisdale prompted a domino effect by making a home video with Jepsen’s tune. Featuring big shades and mock-up mustaches, the editing is so seamless that makeshift banana telephones remain sole evidence of amateur video production. Its only flaw appears at 2:32, when Tisdale breaks up an otherwise romantic moment between Bieber and Gomez.
With over 33.7 million views, Bieber’s video attracted attention from fans and other celebrities alike. This past weekend, Katy Perry and friends filmed their own rendition. The short clip emulates Bieber and company’s playfully innocent atmosphere, flaunting an inflatable monkey and frolicking around a poolside. Perry, clad with purple hair, resembles the personality of Jess (Zooey Deschanel) in Fox’s hit show, “New Girl.” She ends the video with a tribute to Coachella and a sweet declaration, “We love you Justin Bieber!”
Hip-hop/rap artist Nick Luebke (who hails from my alma mater, Middleton High School) created my favorite version of the emerging epidemic. His video has blown up on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus and beyond, boasting over 151,000 views since its debut on March 20. I will admit to ten views – solely for research purposes, naturally. It features views of the State Capitol, State Street (notorious for its annual Halloween festivities) and city landmark, the Monona Terrace. The video captures the party atmosphere of UW-Madison with shots of shot glasses, gaudy beads and plastic Ray-Ban imitations – fitting considering UW-Madison was ranked 14 on Princeton Review’s list of top party schools earlier this year.
Unique from other videos, Luebke adds intermittent rapping to Jepsen’s repetitive chorus. His better lyrics include: “…And swipe you off your feet so quick and catch you quick before you land/But before that happens, I guess you’ll need to know my name/I’m shakin’, here’s my number/ I’ll just pray you feel the same…”
The trend is not restrained to celebrities and musicians, however. This last video features my friends; in other words, “ordinary people.” Focused on a tropical theme, the film showcases coconut harvesting, snorkeling, a hair-shaving ceremony and animated sunglasses. The girls even go so far as to recruit hotel workers and Belizean men as enthusiastic backup dancers for their beach set.
Feel free to comment with links to YOUR favorite “Call Me Maybe” videos!
Photo credit: lyrics-video-music.blogspot.com