If compared to artists like Katy Perry or Lady Gaga, would you think of the Ylvisaker brothers? Just now, did you wonder who they were? Or did you already know them as Ylvis, the pop sensations behind “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)“? According to New York Times, Ylvis have already reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, and sold 75,000 copies of their song.
Peter Gray, senior vice president for promotion of Warner Brothers Records, says, “There are a lot of hit songs that people have put major muscle and campaigns behind, for months and months, that aren’t selling half of that, or a quarter of that.” But, according to the New York Times article, Ylvis’ sales were reached without any major promotions. And thus leads us to the question, does art require effort or talents? Because even Ylvis did not plan for their “prank to backfire” into something so popular.
I think art requires both. There is Edison’s famous quote: “Genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% precipitation.” We all understand that talent is nothing without hard work, but then the quote can also be interpreted as, “hard work means nothing without that flash of inspiration.” (“Captive Butterfly”)
Take for example Psy and last year’s popular song, “Gangnam Style.” In that flash of inspiration that Psy saw, he produced an international hit song. It’s not like he’s not putting in effort though, because he released another song. But without that flash of inspiration, “Gentlmen” was not as well-received as his previous song. I think it takes effort to be continuously silly, that’s why comedy is a trade.
If anyone’s wondering how a fox sounds like, here‘s a video. You can hear it at the 4:00 mark.
Itzkoff, Dave. “The Fox Says, ‘I Can Make You Famous’.” New York Times. The New York Times Company, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.
Yokotani, Masahiro. “Captive Butterfly.” Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Dir. Hiroko Utsumi. BS11. Tokyo, 25 July 2013. Television.
I’m not that big of a fan of insta-hits such as The Fox and Gangnam Style though I can’t deny that they are exuberantly fun to listen to/dance along to etc. I guess it may just be jealousy that I’m not the one with the hit song/youtube sensation but I don’t think about that in the moment I’m enjoying them. I have a bunch of songs I’ve written that I know with the proper placement could be hits (albeit it, they are just as silly as The Fox, maybe even more so) I do appreciate the fact that in this age we live in with such an easy access to information and everything on the internet that all these “sensations” are doing are being opportunistic and taking advantage of the times. Call me old fashioned, but something in me just longs for groups like the Beatles that reveled playing in bars for years opening for who knows who before they got their big break. That takes TALENT and DEDICATION, not just a few minutes to think of something silly and gain instant popularity and notoriety. You can say I’m somewhat torn on this one. I guess I’ll just have to wait for my hit song on Youtube to decide my stance.
The Fox, at face value is a ridiculous song. But I listened to it and some of his other works, and I quickly found it hilarious. All of his work is satire in my POV, as can be seen in The Fox, making fun of pop musics repetitive and annoying sound effects, and in Someone Like Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaEnaoydUUo he is making fun of dubstep, basically saying there is no content that can be taken seriously in that genre of music. It is so funny and well done, the way he so successfully makes fun of so many artists today. If you think about it what Ylvis did is more work than people like Miley Cyrus who just works off making annoying pop songs for an easy target market. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/popcast-lorde-cyrus-and-the-different-paths-into-the-top-10/?ref=music&gwh=6FCAD0D3545E62CE04A6D4644094D7FB&_r=0
Look at this article. Miley Cyrus is in the top 3 on Billboards chart. She probably barely wrote that song “Wrecking Ball” and is autotuned during it. For people to say that someone like Ylvis- who worked his way to fame in the TV show career and then used his fanbase there to launch satirical songs very successfully- doesn’t deserve his fame are just stupid. He worked his ass off to get where he is and although he may be humble and saying he does not deserve all the attention, I believe he earned every one of the view on Youtube he got. 112 Million on Youtube btw. THats crazy.
I believe art is an enigma. It means different things to different people. Art can arise from an instantaneous spark or a hard-fought struggle. Art can be hidden in the shadows or shining in the spotlight. Whatever the case, viral songs like The Fox and Gangnam Style are popular for a reason. Like Ralph said, they are just full of energy. I enjoy tunes like these all the time. So all I can say is that I’m thankful for what the artists create.
This blog had me thinking of a blog written by another student http://eportfolios.macaulay.cuny.edu/seminar1baruch13/2013/10/04/lordes-misattributed-acclaim/. Nowadays music is really focused on sound, tune, and how catchy it is. Meaning is not an important factor that effects the likeability of the music. If it sticks in your head it usually turns out to be a success. This song certainly sticks in the heads of its listener, it’s too ridiculous not to be remembered. The video of this song is just as odd and laughable as the song itself. I feel they did a good job at selling their music. And if like me, you consider doing business an art, then Ylvis has proved themselves successful in the arts.
Music is music. I don’t see how anyone can be the judge of what is good and what isn’t unless they start comparing. What I do think we like to look at is complexity and messages. A lot of music, such as this one and Psy’s song, have cliche messages and are elementary. It becomes very famous and popular because of the simplicity. No one needs to break it down to understand it. We just sit and listen and the music just sounds right to our ears this is especially so because of Psy’s song which got over one trillion hits and most of the world can’t even understand the words. It’s truly a phenomenon. In turn, when we look at songs that are complex there is a much smaller audience because less people can understand the music or appreciate it. An example is classical music. There is a much smaller audience because the music is complex, old, and the message is in the whole of the music which requires concentration. In this sense the people who create classical music and who create messages through it such as the musicians and the conductors are geniuses. In an article I read of James Levine the writer critiques that Levine is a genius even after two years of being off because of injuries and illnesses. It is amazing how he lead an entire orchestra and did it perfectly. That requires a lot of work and concentration incorporating all different parts of knowledge that is learned over a lift time. On the other hand “What Does the Fox Say” is simple, and even though it required a lot of time and effort, any person could have created something very similar without having the know how; however, not everyone can lead an orchestra.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/arts/music/james-levine-leads-the-met-orchestra-at-carnegie-hall.html?ref=arts
I agree that art, especially in this case, requires both effort and talent. I just recently discovered the song over the weekend and although it is silly, it is quite catchy and fun to sing a long. It does sometimes take a flash of inspiration to create a big hit, but it’s always interesting to see what kind of hits spread across the world. When you mentioned Gangnam Style, I thought about how most people did not understand what he was saying, but still like the video and the catchy beat. It shows how it doesn’t take the meaning of the song to gauge a listener’s attention. In this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/business/media/fall-tv-season-delivers-a-mixed-bag-in-prime-time.html?ref=television
reviewers are discussing the many new shows of the Fall season and which ones are predicted to prevail and the ones that will fail. Just like the Fox song, the producers and artists can not predict how popular it will be, making it a large risk. I think there also needs to be some sort of strategy when making different styles of art so that it doesn’t go too unnoticed.
The first time I heard “The Fox,” all I could think about was “Gagnam Style,” and even “Call Me Maybe.” What these songs have in common is their popularity on social media. I first heard about all these songs on Twitter, whether it was a trending topic or someone I followed mentioned it. Twitter, YouTube, and the other forms of social media have been able to create musical careers over night. For example, according to this New York Times article, “Call Me Maybe” became enormous because of people’s tribute videos, such as Justin Bieber. “Gagnam Style” is one of the most popular videos of all time, with 1,795,227,847 views. That’s BILLION. “Call Me Maybe” has half a billion, and “The Fox” is already up to 131,878,815 views.
According to the article, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter dominate marketing campaigns for record labels – a completely understandable fact. Ylvis definitely put a lot of effort into the video and song for their hit, and it shows. Their success is completely attributed to people finding the lyrics and the video humorous, I included. Social media is really altering the scope for music artists out there today. Although it may not be a good thing, I feel like there are many musicians out there today thinking, “how do I make this song a YouTube sensation” – rather than asking “how can I make this a good song?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/business/media/how-call-me-maybe-and-social-media-are-upending-music.html
I’ve heard “What Does the Fox Say” and viral videos like this are tough to replicate. Groups like The Lonely Island have managed to maintain a stream of videos (for them, “Jizz in My Pants” shot them into fame) that continue to be popular, but it takes hard work and an ability to keep in touch with the times to do so. The novelty of Psy’s “Gangnam Style” lasted a while, but “Gentlemen” was just more of the same, and wasn’t as popular because of it. If the Ylvisaker Brothers can keep the novelty of their work up, now that they’ve been noticed, they have the potential to be very popular and not simply a fad.
My friend and I were browsing ITunes last night and when we saw Fox (What does the Fox say?) was the number song we both were completely perplexed and intrigued. Who in their right ming would purchase this song? Why was it number one? Were we missing something? I think when it comes to music anything goes. What may become an instant sensation one day, may be a load of shit the next. Timing-that is what I think it is all about. Yes, inspiration and dedication are necessary variables for creating a “great song”, but the time in society the song is released into is the main determinate of how it is perceived and the fame is achieves.
The first time I heard of the song “What does the Fox Say?” was in a prank email I got from my high school a few days ago. Then, I didn’t even realize it was a real song. It just seemed like people throwing words together that really didn’t make sense. And lastly, I thought this – “Wait a second, a fox doesn’t make a sound!” Well, I don’t know how I feel about these insta-hits. Yes, it does seem like they take no effort and are suddenly very popular, but what we should remember is that we make them that popular. What does it say about us as a people that we make these silly songs insta-hits and yet, music is becoming influenced by other things than they used to, “Pop is headlined by rebellion and controversy, boy bands by foreign flavor and hip-hop by money. (http://fairfieldmirror.com/2013/10/09/is-music-changing-for-better-or-for-worse/).” I also think that with pop music, it is hard to always stay fresh and new, especially when you age because you are trying to hit a teen audience when you might be twice their age. This is evident by Katy Perry (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/arts/music/this-bubble-gum-too-shall-pop.html?ref=music&_r=0) She turns 29 this week and has to stay popular in a crowd of 13-20 year olds.
The first time I heard of the song “What does the Fox Say?” was in a prank email I got from my high school a few days ago. Then, I didn’t even realize it was a real song. It just seemed like people throwing words together that really didn’t make sense. And lastly, I thought this – “Wait a second, a fox doesn’t make a sound!” Well, I don’t know how I feel about these insta-hits. Yes, it does seem like they take no effort and are suddenly very popular, but what we should remember is that we make them that popular. What does it say about us as a people that we make these silly songs insta-hits and yet, music is becoming influenced by other things than they used to, “Pop is headlined by rebellion and controversy, boy bands by foreign flavor and hip-hop by money.” I also think that with pop music, it is hard to always stay fresh and new, especially when you age because you are trying to hit a teen audience when you might be twice their age. This is evident by Katy Perry (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/arts/music/this-bubble-gum-too-shall-pop.html?ref=music&_r=0) She turns 29 this week and has to stay popular in a crowd of 13-20 year olds.
To answer your question, “does art require effort or talents?”, I think it requires both. If you look closely at all the songs that have made it to the top 100 or have sold hundreds of copies, all the artists have unique talent. Even though I don’t like all the songs that are considered popular, I still think a lot of effort and talent had to be put in. Songs like “The Fox (What does the Fox Say?)” and “Gangnam Style” both appeal to the public because they are catchy and different from other songs.
Judging music can also be bias because everyone chooses the type of music they prefer to listen to. The first sentence of an article comparing different metal artists caught my attention: “Raining Blood” may not be “Harlem Shake,” but to Howie Abrams and Sacha Jenkins it might as well be.” “Raning Blood” might not be as popular as “Harlem Shake”, but many prefer it more because that’s just their style of music.
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/who-are-the-best-voices-in-the-history-of-metal/
Raining*