LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥 The year is 2023, but it might as well be 1997.
One of the great viral hits of the moment is DJ Crazy Times and Ms. Biljana Electronica's pulled straight from the absurdity of late 鈥90s, early 鈥00s Think Eiffel 65鈥檚 鈥淏lue (Da Ba Dee),鈥 or Crazy Frog's 鈥淎xel F.鈥 At the time of writing, the various versions of his song have surpassed over 250 million combined views across social platforms.
Confused? You're not alone.
Who are DJ Crazy Times and Ms. Biljana Electronica?
A clip of the viral tune 鈥 which features hilarious lyrics like 鈥淟ife, it never die / Women are my favorite guy鈥 鈥 began to circulate in late July after comedian Kyle Gordon posted it on social media. The 50-second video, titled 鈥淓very European Dance Song in the 1990's鈥 and set inside the featured a flame-haired emcee, DJ Crazy Times, alongside a woman with crimped blonde hair: Ms. Biljana Electronica, herself.
In reality, 鈥淒J Crazy Times鈥 鈥 dressed in his signature black vest and baggy pants 鈥 was Gordon, who first developed the character in his college a cappella group as a David Guetta-esque DJ. He's since evolved into 鈥渢his weird, horny Latvian guy rapping,鈥 as Gordon describes it. And while 鈥淢s. Biljana Electronica鈥 was played onscreen by content creator Audrey Trullinger, she was voiced by singer-songwriter Chrissi Poland.
鈥淚t's the only session I鈥檝e ever done in my whole career where I had to keep stopping as I was laughing so hard at the lyrics,鈥 Poland says.
Poland doesn鈥檛 appear in any of the four videos for the song, an intentional decision satirizing Eurodance music videos where 鈥渢hey would just have these female vocalists sing tracks in the studio and then put models in,鈥 she says.
鈥淚t was always meant to be a parody of this trope,鈥 Gordon says. 鈥淏lack Box's 鈥楻ide on Time鈥 is another example 鈥 the song would be a hit, and then they would shamelessly put in models or actresses in the video.鈥
To some fans' dismay, Trullinger was replaced in a second clip 鈥 featuring the same audio 鈥 by influencer Mara Olney, and then in a third clip by comedian Sabrina Brier. But she assumed her role as the original 鈥淢s. Biljana Electronica鈥 in the official music video for the song, released earlier this month.
Gordon says it has been 鈥渁wesome to see this whole saga play out,鈥 as 鈥減eople argue over what the bit is鈥 and root for their favorite version of Ms. Biljana Electronica. 鈥淭o sort of see if slowly unfold and dawn on people, I think, was pretty funny.鈥
Why did 鈥楶lanet of the Bass鈥 blow up?
Gordon chalks up the success of 鈥淧lanet of the Bass鈥 to a few different causes: there's nostalgia for this music, of course, but the timing was fortuitous.
The first clip hit TikTok around the tail end of the promotion cycle for , which brought newfound attention to the by Danish-Norwegian Europop band Aqua.
鈥淓urodance generally might be in the zeitgeist,鈥 Gordon says.
He adds that because his DJ Crazy Times character had evolved over the last decade, he didn't feel like he was quick to jump on a trend, rather, that it was 鈥渏ust luck, that it timed out with where this song came out in the life of the 鈥楤arbie鈥 movie.鈥
So, why do we love 鈥楶lanet of the Bass鈥?
Nate Sloan, and at the USC Thornton School of Music, said that upon first listen, 鈥淧lanet of the Bass" straddled the line between parody and sincerity. Until DJ Crazy Times' verse.
鈥淥nce he said, 鈥榃omen are my favorite guy,鈥 I knew it was a joke,鈥 says Sloan, who also co-hosts the
The reason for any confusion is because, well, the song does demonstrate a deep understanding of the music it pulls from 鈥 source material that was already playful and less self-serious than other pop music forms.
鈥淎qua is perhaps the most obvious antecedent for the song,鈥 Sloan says. 鈥淢usically, it doesn't sound a lot like a song of theirs 鈥 say, 鈥楤arbie Girl.鈥 But it seems to be paying homage."
鈥淥ne thing I love is the interplay between the male and female singer,鈥 he adds. 鈥淚n a song like 鈥楤arbie Girl,' they are constantly going back and forth. In 鈥楶lanet of the Bass,鈥 DJ Crazy Times is giving little interjections at the end of each of Ms. Biljana Electronica's lyrics.鈥
He cites a theory first posited by music journalist John Seabrook, which suggests that European 鈥 and in particular, Swedish 鈥 songwriters were so effective in the late 1990s and early 2000s because they focused on the sounds of words as opposed to their explicit meaning.
鈥淢aybe counterintuitively, it made those songs more successful,鈥 Sloan says. 鈥淭he assonance of it, the rhyme of it feels really good. So maybe having an emphasis more on the sound of the words than the meaning is actually part of what makes this genre compelling.鈥 (For his part, Gordon acknowledges he pulled from that music, but also cites 鈥渢he butchering of the English language鈥 inherent in '80s Italo-disco as a formative lyrical influence.)
There's also the music itself of 鈥淧lanet of the Bass,鈥 which Sloan defines as fast and syncopated, with elongated melodies bordering on operatic 鈥 which, considering the humor of the song, makes for an amusing tension.
Are pop parody songs having a moment?
There's an argument to be made that mimicked music come and go in waves. In 2023, 鈥淧lanet of the Bass鈥 might not feel too dissimilar from, say, the parodic 鈥淲orld Class Sinner / I'm A Freak,鈥 from 鈥 which uses the same chord progression and is recorded in the same key as 's 鈥淐an't Feel My Face."
Parody songs, Sloan theorizes, inspire moments of virality not only for their musical qualities, but because they are tied to a strong visual.
鈥淭here's a continuum from 鈥楶lanet of the Bass,鈥 to 鈥榃orld Class Sinner鈥 to 鈥榃hat Does the Fox Say鈥 to 鈥楪angnam Style,'" he says 鈥 and with few linger as hooks in the cultural imagination.
鈥淚'm skeptical these songs have longevity as musical material than comedic, audio-visual sketches,鈥 Sloan says.
But perhaps longevity is antonymic to virality 鈥 these songs are a lot of fun even if for a short amount of time.
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Associated Press journalist Haleluya Hadero contributed reporting.
