Season 4 Songs!

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

All this reminds me of this video:

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Yeah yeah I know. But we're still technically talking a little bit about We Are Number One, aren't we? ;)

I might as well comment my own thoughts on the song too … I think it's addicting. I'm still not tired of it despite having heard it maybe 200 times by now, so that's gotta speak for something! Nice instrumentation and the "ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, we are number one, HEY!" sounds great. Also, its arrangement is perfect. No complaints. Some songs are too long or too short, not this one. Another example of a well-arranged song that is not from season 4 is Cooking by the Book. I think it's brilliant that she sings "We gotta have it made, you know that I love cake, finally it's time to bake a cake" twice at the end instead of once! Some season 4 songs to me are subpar, others mediocre, others good, others great. The quality isn't exactly even. But We Are Number One is my personal favourite, easy.



Well then you'll always have him to thank for something at least!!! I've seen that video too, but that was when I already knew everything about the meme, I just wanted to hear how he would describe it. As you say, it's really curious that people get so worked up and I might even say possessive about memes. Still the channel wouldn't be up if people didn't keep requesting new videos, would it? Personally I almost never watch his videos, I prefer Know Your Meme because the information is more concise and you can look up links yourself if you want to. Behind the Meme probably gets all the hate since it's done in the form of YouTube videos and thus the information spreads more easily.

About grandayy, that's the point. Grandayy is just a memer who sort of made We Are Number One his thing, but the official LazyTown channel is the one that owns the property. People don't want THEM to meme too much (at least if they put little to no effort into it) because they're the equivalent of an authority in this context. The meme should belong to ordinary people who are not in positions of power, according to the popular view. I remember once the subway in my country used Doge for an advertising campaign and everyone was cringing so hard, saying: "Aww man, it's ruined now!"

The text I wrote about memes that's in the archives was quite short, but this thread makes me realize you could probably write an entire ESSAY on memes at university. That would be quite fun to do and was actually my original plan, but there were restraints to how deeply we were allowed to go with our analyses. Idk if you would be able to read it even if you found it since it's all in Swedish though. But I actually still have a screenshot of one of the pages that I took while I was writing it lol. Here.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7606[/ATTACH]

Translation:

"This one refers to a different meme as well, which originates from Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring. The original can be seen to the right, but there are many variations. However, all of them start with the phrase 'One does not simply'. The creator has used a picture of Putin in a somewhat similar pose and taken the opportunity to joke about his view on memes in a reference to the webpage memecenter.com."

Oh my... such cringe, much subway. wow.

[Rotten Robot Hound]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

To say we derailed this thread is an understatement...

Yeah yeah I know. But we're still technically talking a little bit about We Are Number One, aren't we? ;)

I might as well comment my own thoughts on the song too … I think it's addicting. I'm still not tired of it despite having heard it maybe 200 times by now, so that's gotta speak for something! Nice instrumentation and the "ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, we are number one, HEY!" sounds great. Also, its arrangement is perfect. No complaints. Some songs are too long or too short, not this one. Another example of a well-arranged song that is not from season 4 is Cooking by the Book. I think it's brilliant that she sings "We gotta have it made, you know that I love cake, finally it's time to bake a cake" twice at the end instead of once! Some season 4 songs to me are subpar, others mediocre, others good, others great. The quality isn't exactly even. But We Are Number One is my personal favourite, easy.

Behind the meme. Yes, people are so furious that they doxed him. It's bizarre isn't it. Funny thing is, I wouldn't be on this site or aware of anything about Lazytown that isn't at a superficial level if it wasn't for that channel. It was his we are number one video that got me here in the first place.

About the official Lazytown channel, it's a terrible channel anyway. What about Grandayy though? People have ASKED him to never stop upload WANO memes! Probably because Grandayy actually understands the impact it has had.

And well done on getting published. Hilarious that you analysed memes for a uni course!! Hope to track it down someday and read it.

Well then you'll always have him to thank for something at least!!! I've seen that video too, but that was when I already knew everything about the meme, I just wanted to hear how he would describe it. As you say, it's really curious that people get so worked up and I might even say possessive about memes. Still the channel wouldn't be up if people didn't keep requesting new videos, would it? Personally I almost never watch his videos, I prefer Know Your Meme because the information is more concise and you can look up links yourself if you want to. Behind the Meme probably gets all the hate since it's done in the form of YouTube videos and thus the information spreads more easily.

About grandayy, that's the point. Grandayy is just a memer who sort of made We Are Number One his thing, but the official LazyTown channel is the one that owns the property. People don't want THEM to meme too much (at least if they put little to no effort into it) because they're the equivalent of an authority in this context. The meme should belong to ordinary people who are not in positions of power, according to the popular view. I remember once the subway in my country used Doge for an advertising campaign and everyone was cringing so hard, saying: "Aww man, it's ruined now!"

The text I wrote about memes that's in the archives was quite short, but this thread makes me realize you could probably write an entire ESSAY on memes at university. That would be quite fun to do and was actually my original plan, but there were restraints to how deeply we were allowed to go with our analyses. Idk if you would be able to read it even if you found it since it's all in Swedish though. But I actually still have a screenshot of one of the pages that I took while I was writing it lol. Here.



Translation:

"This one refers to a different meme as well, which originates from Peter Jackson's 2001 film The Fellowship of the Ring. The original can be seen to the right, but there are many variations. However, all of them start with the phrase 'One does not simply'. The creator has used a picture of Putin in a somewhat similar pose and taken the opportunity to joke about his view on memes in a reference to the webpage memecenter.com."

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

Totally. One interesting thing I noticed is that many people who are hardcore into memes have a strong disregard for "authority". They want to be rebellious and use the memes as their mode of expression. Probably there is a connection to the fact that memes are often used to make fun of political leaders. This is why people are FURIOUS that Behind The Meme exists – making more people aware of how the memes work and started kills the memes in their opinion, and ruins everyone's fun. When memes are brought into a wider consciousness or used by people who are in a position of authority, it's very often frowned upon, even if they follow the rules of the meme perfectly. People loved the fact that the LazyTown channel embraced the meme until they kept uploading WANO videos several months after its peak. Those videos received almost universally negative comments. The same thing applies to people trying to create a meme on purpose in an attempt to be "hip". Though, I have actually seen one exception. Some people randomly decided to start a meme on Tumblr and it actually worked, although its success was rather minor.

Btw, this reminds me of the time I analyzed memes for a university course I was taking a few years back (super interesting) and what I wrote was included in the archives of the Nordic Museum in Sweden. So to this day, there is a small essay about memes written by me that is preserved in the archives of a real museum for the interest of generations to come. I find that hilarious. I got an A on it too!

The text touches on, among other things, Vladimir Putin and Pepe the Frog.



Well said. I don't think Stefán or anyone else expected the donation page to be THAT successful. The thing about how this meme was used for the benefit of an actual ill human being was certainly one of the things that drew me to it, because I would never have thought anything like that was possible before. It wasn't even a world-famous actor, just a very funny and sympathetic children's entertainer who people had a fond relationship to after seeing him play the role for years. That gave me a good impression of LazyTown fans/memers and eventually it lead to me growing interested in the show and donating myself despite never really having watched LazyTown prior to 2016. Only You Are a Pirate in 2013. And here I am now … That was the power of that meme. It didn't only spread the word about Stefán's cancer to people who were nostalgic about having watched his performance as children, it even gave him some new fans who were also willing to support him financially.

I think this has contributed to the longevity of this particular meme for sure. People like feeling like they're doing a good deed and LazyTown memeing is a good deed if you link to the gofundme page in the video description, because it actually works!! Then it's also about how people genuinely love Stefán and because of that they don't only have an ironic appreciation towards We Are Number One like with other memes. For example, I like Bee Movie memes, but I'm not interested in the actual movie at all lol.

Behind the meme. Yes, people are so furious that they doxed him. It's bizarre isn't it. Funny thing is, I wouldn't be on this site or aware of anything about Lazytown that isn't at a superficial level if it wasn't for that channel. It was his we are number one video that got me here in the first place.

About the official Lazytown channel, it's a terrible channel anyway. What about Grandayy though? People have ASKED him to never stop upload WANO memes! Probably because Grandayy actually understands the impact it has had.

And well done on getting published. Hilarious that you analysed memes for a uni course!! Hope to track it down someday and read it.

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To say we derailed this thread is an understatement...

[Rotten Robot Hound]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

That's cool!

Thanks! ^^

[Glanni's Girl]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

Btw, this reminds me of the time I analyzed memes for a university course I was taking a few years back (super interesting) and what I wrote was included in the archives of the Nordic Museum in Sweden. So to this day, there is a small essay about memes written by me that is preserved in the archives of a real museum for the interest of generations to come. I find that hilarious. I got an A on it too!

That's cool!

[Rotten Robot Hound]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

There obviously is a formula to making a meme, but the problem is if you purposely follow the formula, it won't work. Isn't that ironic?

Totally. One interesting thing I noticed is that many people who are hardcore into memes have a strong disregard for "authority". They want to be rebellious and use the memes as their mode of expression. Probably there is a connection to the fact that memes are often used to make fun of political leaders. This is why people are FURIOUS that Behind The Meme exists – making more people aware of how the memes work and started kills the memes in their opinion, and ruins everyone's fun. When memes are brought into a wider consciousness or used by people who are in a position of authority, it's very often frowned upon, even if they follow the rules of the meme perfectly. People loved the fact that the LazyTown channel embraced the meme until they kept uploading WANO videos several months after its peak. Those videos received almost universally negative comments. The same thing applies to people trying to create a meme on purpose in an attempt to be "hip". Though, I have actually seen one exception. Some people randomly decided to start a meme on Tumblr and it actually worked, although its success was rather minor.

Btw, this reminds me of the time I analyzed memes for a university course I was taking a few years back (super interesting) and what I wrote was included in the archives of the Nordic Museum in Sweden. So to this day, there is a small essay about memes written by me that is preserved in the archives of a real museum for the interest of generations to come. I find that hilarious. I got an A on it too!

The text touches on, among other things, Vladimir Putin and Pepe the Frog.

Stepping away and not being biased towards LazyTown, WANO was one of the dankest (if not the dankest) memes in the last decade or two. Not only looking at the first appearance of the meme, which was more one-dimensional, but quickly after looking past the thin film of remixed youtube videos and into the actor's life, our beloved Stefan Karl, showed one of the rarest and most uncalled for events to happen in meme-science - A meme becoming simultaneously dank and wholesome. Not only at that point were people being entertained by the video, but we raised over $150,000 to help Stefan in his battle against Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. And that is where I will leave off.

Well said. I don't think Stefán or anyone else expected the donation page to be THAT successful. The thing about how this meme was used for the benefit of an actual ill human being was certainly one of the things that drew me to it, because I would never have thought anything like that was possible before. It wasn't even a world-famous actor, just a very funny and sympathetic children's entertainer who people had a fond relationship to after seeing him play the role for years. That gave me a good impression of LazyTown fans/memers and eventually it lead to me growing interested in the show and donating myself despite never really having watched LazyTown prior to 2016. Only You Are a Pirate in 2013. And here I am now … That was the power of that meme. It didn't only spread the word about Stefán's cancer to people who were nostalgic about having watched his performance as children, it even gave him some new fans who were also willing to support him financially.

I think this has contributed to the longevity of this particular meme for sure. People like feeling like they're doing a good deed and LazyTown memeing is a good deed if you link to the gofundme page in the video description, because it actually works!! Then it's also about how people genuinely love Stefán and because of that they don't only have an ironic appreciation towards We Are Number One like with other memes. For example, I like Bee Movie memes, but I'm not interested in the actual movie at all lol.

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

I feel like "Great time" might be a song seen or heard from the perspective of Robbie because quite frankly the song and lyrics just say nothing to me but "clichéd" and I kinda like that, it's just like how he barely gazes at them having their games before interrupting it with his time travel antics.

Like what kind of start to a song is "TODAY WE'RE GONNA STAY OUTSIDE"

Never thought of it that way. That would explain the interruptions.

[Benju-Katchowee]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

I feel like "Great time" might be a song seen or heard from the perspective of Robbie because quite frankly the song and lyrics just say nothing to me but "clichéd" and I kinda like that, it's just like how he barely gazes at them having their games before interrupting it with his time travel antics.

Like what kind of start to a song is "TODAY WE'RE GONNA STAY OUTSIDE"

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

As said in more words than how i will explain it - yes. There is an easy formula to memes, but the most prominent feature of a good meme is how it needs to have the ability to exchange/swap a key word or phrase to allow it to shift into different meaning, giving it a longer lifespan/more uses. The better the meme, usually the more capability for this replacement. Without this feature, even if it has high levels of the two other features of a good meme, being dankness and edginess, it will "die" very quickly because the main joke was worn out and was not able to be morphed into different meaning.

Stepping away and not being biased towards LazyTown, WANO was one of the dankest (if not the dankest) memes in the last decade or two. Not only looking at the first appearance of the meme, which was more one-dimensional, but quickly after looking past the thin film of remixed youtube videos and into the actor's life, our beloved Stefan Karl, showed one of the rarest and most uncalled for events to happen in meme-science - A meme becoming simultaneously dank and wholesome. Not only at that point were people being entertained by the video, but we raised over $150,000 to help Stefan in his battle against Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. And that is where I will leave off.


Memes can feel like they will cause cancer, but they can cure it too.

What a beautiful explanation.

[Pickelhaube808]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

There obviously is a formula to making a meme, but the problem is if you purposely follow the formula, it won't work. Isn't that ironic?

As said in more words than how i will explain it - yes. There is an easy formula to memes, but the most prominent feature of a good meme is how it needs to have the ability to exchange/swap a key word or phrase to allow it to shift into different meaning, giving it a longer lifespan/more uses. The better the meme, usually the more capability for this replacement. Without this feature, even if it has high levels of the two other features of a good meme, being dankness and edginess, it will "die" very quickly because the main joke was worn out and was not able to be morphed into different meaning.

Stepping away and not being biased towards LazyTown, WANO was one of the dankest (if not the dankest) memes in the last decade or two. Not only looking at the first appearance of the meme, which was more one-dimensional, but quickly after looking past the thin film of remixed youtube videos and into the actor's life, our beloved Stefan Karl, showed one of the rarest and most uncalled for events to happen in meme-science - A meme becoming simultaneously dank and wholesome. Not only at that point were people being entertained by the video, but we raised over $150,000 to help Stefan in his battle against Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. And that is where I will leave off.


Memes can feel like they will cause cancer, but they can cure it too.

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

Interesting question. No, I don't. The music video adds a lot of the oddness that makes it perfect for memes (4 guys jumping around dressed in the same clothes and with fake chins is just really strange to look at, not to mention that they play instruments). Of course the lyrics are funny on their own but I think you need the visuals to complement them, especially at the branch, net and banana peel parts. The way Stefán sings/talks is humorous too though, which certainly helps ("THROW IT AT HIM NOT ME!" and "Now look at this NET!"). I guess technically you could argue that the first We Are Number One meme (LazyTown: The Video Game by SilvaGunner) does not include the video and got popular anyway, but what I mean is that I don't think it would have become such a BIG or long-lasting meme if the music video didn't exist. I don't know about you, but I get restless when I listen to something for too long without having something to do or look at in the meantime, such as a video.

I once saw someone explain why they thought We Are Number One had become a meme, and they cited these reasons:

1. It's weird.
2. The chorus starts with the words "We are", making it well-suited for word replacement.
3. It's repetitive. Since there are so many "ones", there are plenty of places where you can insert your own content, but when it goes back to the verses you won't get bored because of the interesting visuals.

In retrospect it almost feels like We Are Number One was MADE to become a meme, and I wonder if anyone could have predicted this when they first heard the song on the show. I think basically, it becoming a meme was the result of several lucky decisions working together.

There obviously is a formula to making a meme, but the problem is if you purposely follow the formula, it won't work. Isn't that ironic?

[Rotten Robot Hound]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

By the way, do you think it would've become a meme without the music video?

Interesting question. No, I don't. The music video adds a lot of the oddness that makes it perfect for memes (4 guys jumping around dressed in the same clothes and with fake chins is just really strange to look at, not to mention that they play instruments). Of course the lyrics are funny on their own but I think you need the visuals to complement them, especially at the branch, net and banana peel parts. The way Stefán sings/talks is humorous too though, which certainly helps ("THROW IT AT HIM NOT ME!" and "Now look at this NET!"). I guess technically you could argue that the first We Are Number One meme (LazyTown: The Video Game by SilvaGunner) does not include the video and got popular anyway, but what I mean is that I don't think it would have become such a BIG or long-lasting meme if the music video didn't exist. I don't know about you, but I get restless when I listen to something for too long without having something to do or look at in the meantime, such as a video.

I once saw someone explain why they thought We Are Number One had become a meme, and they cited these reasons:

1. It's weird.
2. The chorus starts with the words "We are", making it well-suited for word replacement.
3. It's repetitive. Since there are so many "ones", there are plenty of places where you can insert your own content, but when it goes back to the verses you won't get bored because of the interesting visuals.

In retrospect it almost feels like We Are Number One was MADE to become a meme, and I wonder if anyone could have predicted this when they first heard the song on the show. I think basically, it becoming a meme was the result of several lucky decisions working together.

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

Exactly. I've thought about it at the moment I listened to "Life Can Be A Surprise".
Chloe's voice is really high and clear but Julianna's is mild, soft and bubbly

Chloe's highest note was E5 in Friend for life, and Julianna's was D#5 in Teamwork, so only a semitone difference. Although if Julianna also did backing vocals for Always a way, maybe she did hit E5.

May as well give my thoughts on all S4 songs:

Dancing on the Moon was a shock. House music belongs at a rave party, not on Lazytown! But in all seriousness it is also an awesome song. Plug in your earphones and turn the volume up to 11 and it's like you're at the club.

Having a great time: Too many interruptions, but not too bad.

Friends: Trixie does a really good job here especially with the piano at the start. Song has a nice feel to it too. Pixels rap though may be the best part.

Sportscandy: Quite bland... Surely the chorus could have had a more original melody than Scotland the Brave.

Time to Learn: Worst song in terms of lyrics. Points for Robbie's guitar solo.

Princess for Eternity: Fantastic bass work. Excellent rapping, a nice surprise, not your typical princess song.

One more time: This is more powerful than No one's lazy in lazy town. Best bit is the guitar solo then the key change and the big lift when they sing "One more time give it your best". One of the better key changes in Lazytown songs.

Hey we play: I can't understand what Robbie's saying. Bland chorus, just not good.

Friend for life: See above

Life will be so wonderful: I don't mind this one. Not really sure what else to say about it.

Ghost stoppers: Really like the first verse where it alternates between the instruments being loud then the singers being quiet. The build up to the chorus is really good too.

We are number one: See above

Go explore: I like how dark and mysterious the first verse is- she does the same thing as the first lines in Friend for life. Great end to the show, quite a few consider this to be Chloe's best song. I don't, but you can really tell she came on as a singer by the time they filmed this final episode. She must've been about 12-12.5 years old then, which is also the age Julianna filmed her first episode - I wonder what she sounded like at 10 years old...

[SollaMega]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

Not even Julianna had to sing that high I don't think.

Exactly. I've thought about it at the moment I listened to "Life Can Be A Surprise".
Chloe's voice is really high and clear but Julianna's is mild, soft and bubbly

[Shakeitpiggy]

Re: Season 4 Songs!

I am not going into depth as much as UnLearnEd, but I will talk about WANO.

It's a very clean-sounding song. The stems are clean and sharp, with the only possible muddy-sounding instrument being the drums (of course).

Overall, forgetting its meme status, it is a decent song. Very catchy.

I would have loved to be the drummer for that song doing all those epic 2 beat drum fills after the key change every 4 bars. Unless they used a drum machine of course. No other Lazytown song is as aggressive or chaotic as WANO, and that is why it is absolutely one of my favourites. By the way, do you think it would've become a meme without the music video?

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I'm going to talk about Friend For Life now. The music sounds especially good because it's a catchy, cheerful pop song. Chloe's vocals are delivered genuinely to a point where you believe her advice about pets. I feel like she's having fun with this one. Another special part is the B-track or whatever you would call that trailing melody. There's an ambient sound in the background that reminds me of water levels from certain video games, but the volume is quiet enough so as not to bleed into the vital notes. Mani makes very cool music except usually the style is euro/dance which tends to go heavy electronic. Friends For Life uses a different proportioning system with more weight put on vocals/melody; keys sound more normal here because the spectrum isn't stretched out quite so far. Now to my ears, music containing those measured qualities sounds much more pleasing than the weighted stuff. However, I understand LazyTown as a vibrant show that appears to harmonize perfectly with the heavy system used by Mani. So I am glad he was able to find room on the show for this kind of song.

Friend for Life is my favourite. I really love Chloe's first verse- so gentle and soft. The melody in the chorus is the best melody in Lazytown. I remember Chloe said in her get lazy interview that some songs had to be taken down to a more appropriate key to suit her range given the melody, and I suspect this was one of them. Nevertheless, the song turned out pretty much perfect. Not even Julianna had to sing that high I don't think.