“Weird Al” Yankovic Hits #1!

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In the last two weeks, I have been fascinated by the turn of events towards “Weird Al” Yankovic, a person to whom I have admired since 1983, and someone for whom my personae is indebted to.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you may be aware that “Weird Al” had dominated the Internet discussion for 8 days, releasing a brand new video every single day in anticipation of his new release, “Mandatory Fun.”  Parody songs include take-offs on Pharrell Williams’ Happy, Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, Lorde’s Royals, and Iggy Azalea’s Fancy–the last of which had topped the charts mere weeks ago.

As a result of his diligence, “Weird Al” had finally–FINALLY–hit #1 on the Billboard Album sales chart.  A terrific swan song to his long-term RCA contract, which ends with this album.  In a world where album sales are becoming a thing of the past, this is truly one of the highlights of the music industry. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy, who has stated is a Christian on the July-1995 FAQ on his website, but shares his faith through his actions, not necessarily with words.

I had been scouring his reddit AMAs (Ask Me Anything), as well as interviews over the last two weeks, as to his process, to see if I can gleam any further insight.  The most profound things I had discovered is that he had written his original songs first, and had waited to write parody songs at the last minute, just so that they could be as current as possible.  The exception to this was for “Blurred Lines”, but his (G-rated) take on the song  (“Word Crimes”) was so different from the multitude of parody songs which followed [check YouTube], which had taken Robin Thicke to task for crafting such a popular song and video that had been a throwback to some of the more sexist pop songs of the past.  Word Crimes is a song that had grown on me, most because the video is so outstanding, and warrants multiple viewings to catch all the nuances of what he is stating.

That said, my children are currently obsessed with the video, partially because it gives them permission to write words with numbers.  (They are seven).

The best takeaway I got from the interviews was about his pursuit to track down newcomer Iggy Azalea, for permission on her song “Fancy.”  He wanted to release an album with a parody song that is as current as possible, and he had his eyes glued to the charts.  He had settled on that song, and had written the song fairly quickly, all before the song became buzzed about.  He had asked his own 11-year old daughter as to whether the kids were talking about the song; the moment they were, he knew he had to get it done.

Then five weeks ago, he went about to get the artist’s permission, and he flew to Denver to surprise her backstage (TMZ caught him doing so).  She looked over the lyrics, and found nothing objectionable to her image.  She agreed.  he flew back home and began recording that very next day. Within a week he had began shooting his video.  That it was album-ready and video-ready within three weeks is nothing short of a modern-day miracle, and I tip my hat.

I also admire how he was able to get well-funded sites like “Funny-Or-Die” and “Nerdist” to fund his videos.  It was a perfect exchange.  They needed content, he needed videos.  They did their services for free, in part because the publicity would be huge.  He offered his songs for free, because he needed to have videos to share.  In short, everybody wins in this exchange.

“Weird Al” has stated that, moving forward, he wishes to record singles and videos, and release them one at a time, not necessarily wait until a whole album is ready.  Of course, this is what he will do after his whirlwind concert tour next year.  This will give him the chance to beat the competition, the myriad number of parody artists ready to pounce on popular hits that have dominated YouTube over the last few years.

As to the album, it’s quite fun.  The top songs on the album, for me, are “Foil” (the parody of Lorde’s Royals), “Word Crimes,” and original song “First World Problems.”  That last song, I believe, in its own bizarre way, has helped me grow in patience and humility.  Last week, a number of frustrating things were happening and I was losing my temper… and then I found myself humming the chorus to that song, and immediately the temper subsided.  I was able to laugh it off, and find a workaround to my frustrations.

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Over these past two weeks, I had been working on crafting two presentations and a workshop for a Conference that will be held by CUNAE, which is a young adult Catholic charismatic international group, this weekend.  I look forward to speaking there about how to trust God, both from a personal level, and also from a movement-level.  I will also be giving a workshop about worship.  I hope to have all of these recorded and will have them available at a later date.

What do you think of Mandatory Fun?  Share your thoughts below.