Yeah, that was me blasting Call Me Maybe last night… on repeat… #SorryI’mNotSorry
On Duke’s sprawling campus there seems to be almost nothing you can’t hide from– whether it be that Math professor who’s class you just can’t seem to stay awake in or even worse, that guy in your Econ class who was slightly too friendly last Saturday. However, recently I’ve found that there is one thing I simply cannot escape. Whether I am in the Duke gardens and someone is blasting it on their computer, or studying in Perkins and that girl who has been in the library too long is singing to herself, or even on the bus where there is that one guy who has their iPod up to full volume so everyone can “enjoy” the music coming out of their headphones (you know who you are), it’s unavoidable. Call Me Maybe is EVERYWHERE.
In the past few weeks I have heard the same conversation being had between just about everyone I know:
“I heard this great song, you like have to hear it. It’s called Call Me Maybe.”
“Oh My God, I know! I’m sooo obsessed! Have you seen the music video?”
“Obvi! Have you watched the Justin Bieber video? You like actually need to.”
I may have even partaken in one of these aforementioned conversations, because (confession time) I am equally just as in love with the song (and the music video and the Justin Bieber video) as the rest of the campus is.
IPods have done for girly pop what Kindles have done for romance novels—allowed people everywhere to indulge in secret. Girly pop music was once something you’d limit to being played discreetly on headphones or during a girls night in involving vodka and soundproof walls. But Dukies seem to be finding no guilt in guilty pleasures; they are playing Call Me Maybe loudly and proudly. They’re even making their own videos. The women’s lacrosse team had a video showdown against UNC (Duke won… obvi), and if you search hard enough you might be able to dig up a few more (I’ve definitely seen one involving some KA pledges… it’s more ridiculous than anything else).
Call Me Maybe is that song in Shooters that elicits a chorus of “Oh My God!”s and “This is my song!!!”s followed by deafening screeches before the first three notes have even finished playing. And no, it is not just that group of sorority girls who seem to think every song is their song screaming. Among those girls you will also find that fraternity boy who always thinks he’s “too cool for school” and that massive, frankly terrifying football player from your dorm.
If you are yet to have experience the Duke Call Me Maybe fanaticism, you either don’t go out, or are studying way too hard for your midterms and desperately need to vacate that cubby you’re living in in Lilly! And if you have experienced it and you are one of those people who roles your eyes at the insanity, I say get over yourself.
Like it or not Call Me Maybe has arrived, so just embrace it. Roll down your car windows and turn up the volume because no one is judging. We truly get it— the song is Ah-mazing. So sing at the top of your lungs unabashedly and dance as ridiculously as possible… don’t be sorry. And let’s be honest, Call Me Maybe’s time may be short because next week, I guarantee Duke will have moved on to its next obsession (of which I’m sure I’ll be blogging about!).