AllThingsD » singing

Viral Video: 15-Year-Old Korean Girl Channels Adele

Kara Swisher — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:19:21 +0000

If you’re impressed by British singer Adele, you’ll be wowed by this 15-year-old girl covering her hit, “Rolling in the Deep,” on Korean singing show “K-Pop Star.”

I was definitely not expecting this from the slight, sweet-looking singer:

Shop Online to Avoid Screaming Bieber Fever on Black Friday (Video)

Kara Swisher — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 16:32:33 +0000

How did I miss this fantastic holiday commercial for Macy’s, featuring teen heartthrob and singing sensation Justin Bieber?

Called “Screamers,” it’s a very sly take on the proclivity of people to emit high-pitched utterances around the Biebs.

But this time, it works.

Adorkable all around:

Viral Video: Gaga Meets the Little Monsters of Google

Kara Swisher — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:21:23 +0000

Google hosted singing sensation Lady Gaga today at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.

What more can BoomTown say, except that it is certainly interesting to see the sublime meet the ridonkulous–like one of her kooky music videos come to life.

It would have only gotten better if Gaga had worn a dress made of organic tempeh from Google’s cafeteria.

Here is the video of the interview with the Silicon Valley search giant’s Marissa Mayer:

Video Meme: Hallelujah for Flash Mobs!

Liz Gannes — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 14:30:28 +0000

Flash mobs: They’re no longer elite events for cool kids with secret passwords. This holiday season has seen a remarkable run of flash mobs in North America (and subsequently on YouTube), with both participants and audience members eager to partake in an increasingly democratized art form and then post their experiences online.

One particular highly accessible kind of flash mob, in which local singing groups perform Handel’s “Hallelujah” chorus at shopping malls, has been replicated all over the U.S. and Canada in the last month or so.

Quickly: Flash mobs are traditionally secretly orchestrated performances that play out in public places while bringing a little bit of magic to unsuspecting people in the right place at the right time. If you’ve ever seen those videos of a person breaking into song or dance in a public place, then being joined by hordes of interlopers who somehow know the full routine, you’ve seen a flash mob. (There are also less choreographed variations, like public pillow fights.)

Since flash mobs seem so fun, organic and full of life, they’ve of course been co-opted by marketers who mimic the style right down to camera shots of the surprised and confused onlookers capturing videos of the moment with their own camera phones. But they’ve also recently been adopted by wholesome community groups wanting to spread a little holiday joy. And in many cases, both the performers and the audience know about the event in advance (element of surprise be damned).

One flash mob performance of “Hallelujah” in a Canadian shopping mall, posted on YouTube on Nov. 17, has been seen more than 25 million times. YouTube’s Trends blog recently called it “by far, the most popular video of the season.”

YouTube’s Kevin Allocca also highlighted some 20 other flash mob performances, also of “Hallelujah” and mostly in shopping malls, from Orlando, Cleveland, Chattanooga, Juneau and Winnipeg. Allocca says the meme may actually have been kicked off by the Opera Company of Philadelphia performing “Hallelujah” in a Macy’s as part of the Knight Foundation’s Random Acts of Culture. That video was posted Nov. 1 and has more than six million views.

It’s gotten so bad that on Monday night a mall near Sacramento had to be evacuated after crowds overwhelmed it and the fire department feared for its structural integrity. A planned flash mob by the Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra and other local congregations had been endorsed by the mall and promoted for weeks, drawing thousands to watch and sing along with their printed-out sheet music.

Would-be flash mobbers broke into impromptu singalongs as they were escorted out of the building and into the parking lot (with their video cameras recording all the while, of course). So apparently spontaneity isn’t dead yet.

Viral Video: Biebermania (And, Yes, It's in 3-D)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:13:52 +0000

Here’s the new trailer for the documentary “Never Say Never,” about the mop-topped, teenage singing sensation named Justin Bieber.

Given BoomTown’s advanced age, not getting this musical phenom is no surprise. But it is kind of remarkable to see what a good drummer Bieber was as a toddler.

The movie is out in February–on Valentine’s Day, natch.

Enjoy:

My iKid–Who Previously iJacked My iPhone–Also iJacked My iPad (Now, With Extra Help From His Little iBrother)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 15:30:03 +0000

A year ago, I blogged about my son, Louie, in a post titled: “My iKid iJacked My iPhone: A Geek Parenting Tragedy.”

As I wrote then:

“He wants to grab my iPhone from my holster all the time, having become entranced by apps–lots and lots and lots of apps–that now litter the digital pages of my Apple device. DizzyBeeFree and Super Monkey Ball. Touch Hockey and Paper Football. Finger Sprint and MoodPhone. Bounce On and Crazy Penguin Catapult. Lie Detector and Crazy Snowboard. Tic Tac Toe and Hangman. And iChess, iCheckers, iBowl.”

So I was curious to see if he would be as eager to grab the new Apple (AAPL) iPad I just got last week.

The verdict: Yes, and–because of its size–he uses the iPad in a much more social way with his younger brother, Alex. In other words, lots of singing, drawing and playing together in a mobile manner.

Here is the short video I did after they first got their dirty mitts on it, as well as the one from last year, in which Louie ignores me completely:

[ See post to watch video ]

Philip "Pud" Kaplan Talks About Blippy–the Twitter of $$

Kara Swisher — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:59:37 +0000

To start, let’s just dispense with huffing and puffing angst over whether or not people should broadcast their credit card transactions online.

Because that’s what you can do on a new site, with the unlikely name of Blippy, headed by longtime Silicon Valley entrepreneur Philip “Pud” Kaplan.

Blippy has already gotten a lot of oh-dear attention for its premise, which is yet another step in the continuing socialization of everything a person does–the inevitable trend toward radical transparency online.

Now in invitation-only private beta, the new service sends out messages about the type and amount of the transaction, every time you use your credit card–at least the one you designate your “Blippy” card–for others to see and comment on.

In other words, a kind of Twitter for spending.

The twist of Blippy–whose motto is: “What are your friends buying?”–is that it is more passive than the more active tweeting or texting.

(Presumably someday, your body will tweet from the gym, or while you are sleeping.)

While most of the transactions don’t contain a lot of information–for example, “cat spent $3.55 at In-N-Out Burger”–Blippy is obviously going for deeper information and already has it for sites like Apple (AAPL) iTunes and Amazon (AMZN).

Retailers and restaurants and any vendor might also benefit from the flow of information, finally knowing who their best customers really are and perhaps rewarding them.

And, of course, the key part is that your friends see what you are buying and you can all jabber online about what you bought, how much you paid and what you thought.

How it is all going to make money is being pondered, of course, but you might imagine a dedicated Blippy credit card or some kind of analysis of the data or sale offers to users.

And integration with Facebook and Twitter seems inevitable, eventually widening the circle of nosy friends, as does the emergence of reviews, mobile apps, search and more.

Kaplan came to All Things Digital Worldwide HQ–also known as the cottage behind my house–to chat about all this and more.

He is, of course, best known for a site he created during the Web 1.0 bubble, called FuckedCompany, which chronicled the ongoing start-up implosion as it happened.

Kaplan later started online advertising service AdBrite and was an Entreprenuer-in-Residence at Charles River Ventures for a short time after he left AdBrite.

It was there that he met Blippy co-founders Ashvin Kumar and Chris Estreich. Funding for the trio is forthcoming, said Kaplan.

Here’s Kaplan holding forth in a longish video interview, where we curse and discuss my porn-and-Cheetos spending habits (don’t judge!):

[ See post to watch video ]

And, in the spirit of full transparency, here is Kaplan in two videos on YouTube–in one he is sweetly singing “Easy” with his wife and in the other, he is drumming like a heavy metal lunatic:

Almost Famous: Michael Gregory of Auto-Tune the News

Drake Martinet — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 07:25:19 +0000

A feature wherein All Things Digital looks at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.

This week: We went all the way to Brooklyn to visit with, ask some questions of and gather a few pertinent stats about Michael Gregory and Auto-Tune the News, the viral video series featuring mainstream news personalities and hip-hop style singing.

Who: Michael Gregory

What: VP of Counter Melodies, Gregory Residence Productions

Why: In April 2009, the Gregory brothers began producing Auto-Tune the News, a musical satire of news programming using the ubiquitous Auto-Tune production software that enables spoken words to sound like singing (among other things). Every Auto-tune the News episode (nine so far) has gone viral, logging nearly 12 million views overall.

Where: thegregorybrothers.com (Web site); Brooklyn, NY (analog place).

Who else: Anyone with a Flip cam, a family of musical production wonks and 100 man-hours per episode.

Five Stats You Won’t Find in His Facebook Profile

Worst Job: I moved furniture for a while. I got a little too excited and strained my back.

Has a Geek Crush on: Charlie Chaplin. He was an actor, he was technically proficient–he could do everything. And Groucho Marx. He was the Picasso of 20th-century comedy.

Gadget of the Moment: I think we may need to get ourselves a new camera this year. [But] we don’t want to improve production value too much, you know, and get people’s hopes up.

Wishes There Was an App For: One that turns your phone into a Taser. Not that I’ve ever been physically harmed or anything. I just think it would be cool.

Spoiler Alert: The next Auto-Tune the News will be more rock-oriented and has something to do with turtles. We can’t say more.

A Taste of Auto-Tune the News

Bio in 140 Characters

Born & raised in Appalachia. Moved w/brothers to Brooklyn. Worked days in a recording studio, nights playing w/Auto-Tune. Went viral.

The Five Questions

Give me the step-by-step. How do you Auto-Tune the News?

Sometimes, it just kinda comes together. Normally, we start with the audio track that comes first. We kinda start with the hook and then lay down some kinda creepy arpeggio-sounding things, then lay down a sweet baseline.

It’s usually three or four stories news. Sometimes we’ll just see stories that we know are it. This last one, number 10, I probably watched the most news. Sometimes it’s because the story is boring, but sometimes it’s interesting, but the speaker is boring. It gets easier once you find your heavy hitters [news people who sound good auto-tuned].

What is your secret to making videos that are reliably viral?

I think it’s half crapshoot, half, uh…not crapshoot. No one is an island on the Internet; I’ve heard that said somewhere, maybe by Confucius. The perfect keywords for a viral hit these days are probably something like New Moon-Lady Gaga-Parody-Kanye. Something like that. Put those in all caps in your title and you’ll have a viral hit. Oh, and I forgot, cute cats.

Seriously, if you have things that are already popular in your video, it helps for sure. That’s why our “Charlie Bit Me” video [referring to the viral video of cute British kids] is probably our most viral to date. It took two already popular memes, the “Kanye interruption” [from this year's MTV Video Music Awards] and the “Charlie Bit Me” and remixed them in a style that is currently a meme. It created this, like, infinite feedback loop.

Early on, the strategy was releasing stuff parodying the [presidential] debates on the debate YouTube channel. I hate to admit it, but we used that really stupid but necessary formula of releasing something right after an event ended and titling it, “Kanye-Tiger Woods-Lady Gaga-Kittens.” I didn’t title it in all caps if that makes you feel better about me.

How has YouTube changed the world?

Well, in comedy at least, back in the vaudeville days, it was easy to steal from everyone and just use the material and not get in trouble. Back in those days, people weren’t taping your every move and saying, like, “Oh, you stole that from Sammy the ventriloquist.” Now, YouTube is sort of the new vaudeville. People can watch and say, “Oh, you’re stealing that from Steve Carell, and that’s from Andy Samberg, and that’s from Tina Fey.”

How has this turned into a viable business?

So right now, the brothers and me have left other jobs to do this full time. We’re trying to be smart businesswise, which has always been hard for me. I’ve been doing other [production] stuff…freelancing. But I was also doing stuff like tutoring SATs. We get lots of inquiries that we can’t realistically do, like: “Auto-Tune our business conference.” People don’t really understand how much effort it is. We did a video for the Webbies, and we did something for Sony (SNE). Those bring in the bread.

Internet fame is a fickle temptress. What will you do if and when Auto-Tune the News loses popularity?

I think I would just to succumb to my heroin addiction. You know, curl up in a ball and cry–just get it over with. Memes certainly have a beginning and an end. I think the fad will certainly end, but I think what has been created is a new category of what some people call art and some people call a joke. I think it’s possible that, in 20 years, people will still be doing the Auto-Tune joke. It will just be, like, “Meghan McCain sings the debate with Malia Obama.”

The In Living Color Interview

[ See post to watch video ]

"Come to Think of It, eBay"–Is That a Killer Ad Motto or a Desperate Plea for Attention? (Plus Old Commericals!)

Kara Swisher — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 12:10:59 +0000

BoomTown–fresh from slapping around six graders caught in a Bing stupor and commenting on the use of restaurant-seeking vampires by Microsoft (MSFT)–is also not quite sure what to think of another new advertising campaign from an Internet giant.

This time, it is coming from eBay (EBAY).

With the tagline, “Come to Think of It, eBay,” the ads start today, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, to “boost its standing as a holiday shopping destination.”

Interestingly, the new marketing campaign in print, television and online–the first for the Web commerce giant in 18 months–has been crafted by San Francisco-based Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which has also just nabbed the lead role in the $100 million advertising campaign by Yahoo (YHOO).

Goodby, owned by the Omnicom Group (OMC), is known for its innovative ideas and has done such memorable campaigns as the Slowsky turtles for Comcast (CMCSA), the weird folk of Emerald Nuts, owned by Diamond Foods (DMND)–as well as campaigns for tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Adobe Systems (ADBE) and Netflix (NFLX).

Still, Goodby might be getting a little too cute here, because “Come to Think of It” could remind consumers exactly how much they have forgotten about eBay.

At best, “come to think of it” is a double-edged sword.

In a good scenario: “Come to think of it, I really haven’t listened to my ‘Frampton Comes Alive’ album in forever and I really want to hear it again.”

In a bad scenario: “An old girlfriend of mine is trying to friend me on Facebook–but, come to think of it, she was pretty freaky and I am very scared she found me again.”

You get the idea! Come to think of it: Play at home!

Actually, according to the Journal story, Lorrie Norrington, president of eBay’s marketplace operations, is pushing a different meaning of the phrase: “to shift the buyer perception of what eBay is today.”

The San Jose, Calif.-based company has to shift perceptions since it has seen its core marketplace business suffer, even as it has advertised less.

Here’s a video of one of the new ads, as well as some past ones–all of which include an unusual amount of Broadway-style singing, dancing and egregiously fabulous frolicking for a company led by then-CEO Meg Whitman.

But, come to think of it, Meg: Not that there’s anything wrong with that!

And, I could not resist adding at the end Weird Al Yankovic’s funny parody song about eBay, with video clips synched.

Enjoy:

“Come to Think of It, eBay”:

[ See post to watch video ]

“On eBay”:

“That’s on, eBay”:

“Do It, eBay”:

“Found It on eBay” by Weird Al Yankovic:

Susan's Last Stand: Internet Phenom Boyle Comes in Second

Kara Swisher — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:13:42 +0000

The Scottish woman who went from unknown to become the Internet’s most watched video failed to win first place in the final of the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent” this past weekend.

Instead, a noisy dance troupe called Diversity won, putting Boyle in second place.

Boyle’s chances had been diminishing over the past week, since the British tabloids have been piling on and tarnishing her fairytale reputation, reporting on odd public outbursts by her due to the pressure of her instant stardom online and off.

Their nickname for her: SuBo.

And, sadly, there are now reports that Boyle has been taken to a mental facility to get some rest and relaxation.

In any case, there’s no question Boyle’s been a treat to watch online and she deserves that time to recover from impact of the media frenzy around her.

It’s likely she’ll be singing again publicly soon–but, until then, here is her performance in the finale (and below it is Diversity, the winner):

Susan Boyle Sings Again: "Memory" and a Makeover

Kara Swisher — Mon, 25 May 2009 07:44:24 +0000

Here are the two answers to the key questions you might have about Susan Boyle’s return appearance on “Britain’s Got Talent” last night: Yes and yes.

As in: Did the Scottish singing (and Web) sensation nail it again? And, does she look better?

Indeed, except for her proclivity to pick purplish songs from crowd-pleasing, but mediocre musicals (which matched her aubergine frock)–this time “Memory” from “Cats”–Boyle was a huge hit offline and online in the semi-finals of the television show.

She quickly made it into the finals, which is no surprise, of course, and which are set to take place next Saturday.

Here is the video of Boyle singing that overripe song quite elegantly, as well as her post-song interview:

Boyle Then Was as Good as Boyle Today: God Bless the Queen of Online Viral Video

Kara Swisher — Tue, 05 May 2009 00:08:54 +0000

Here’s more extraordinary video of Susan Boyle, the Scottish singing sensation.

The unknown 47-year-old is seen below in new online videos unearthed by Scotland’s Daily Record and shot at a 1984 competition at the Fir Park Social Club in Motherwell.

She is 22 years old in these videos, but sings “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “The Way We Were” just as well as she did recently on “Britain’s Got Talent,” with the emotion and depth of someone of great insight.

BoomTown has obviously been deeply moved by Boyle’s voice–and I don’t even much like any of these weepy-sappy songs she is performing–but is mostly in shock that this talented woman has remained so undiscovered until now.

Thank goodness for viral online video.

The “Way We Were” video already has almost three million views. And the first video of her recent performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” has gotten almost 52 million views.

Here are the new ones:

Boylemania, Part II: TV to Internet to TV to Internet…

Kara Swisher — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:00:13 +0000

Susan Boyle’s sensational television singing performance jumped from that medium to become a viral Internet hit, fueling more television that is, of course, headed to the Internet again.

Who says old and new media can’t work together?

For example, one of many online now, here’s the 47-year-old Scottish woman–who bowled over everyone watching the TV show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–in an interview on “The Early Show” on CBS (CBS) yesterday morning.

Try to ignore the cloying discomfort of the interviewers, who don’t know what to make of the antimedia stylings of Boyle, who can nonetheless sing like nothing else.

She does just that in the first clip, aiming to please dopey CBS talking heads in a song she is going to have to sing a zillion times from now on.

And then, in the second, she got to chat via phone with Broadway legend Patty LuPone, who first sang “I Dreamed a Dream.”

Of course, LuPone watched Boyle’s rendition via Google (GOOG) video service YouTube, and Boyle was genuinely thrilled to be talking to LuPone.

The YouTube official version of the original TV performance is now at 15.6 million views.

Here are the CBS videos:

Watch CBS Videos Online

Good Luck Trying to Share the Angelic Voice of Susan Boyle

Kara Swisher — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:00:13 +0000

Scottish singing sensation Susan Boyle is indeed all she is cracked up to be.

But her virality on the Internet is not, even though she has–in fact–become an Internet sensation.

Though the performance of the unemployed 47-year-old woman–dressed in a dowdy frock, wowing the judges on the television show, “Britain’s Got Talent,” with an astonishing rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables”–has been viewed many millions of times now and growing, it’s not easy to move it around on the Web.

It should be.

And that’s too bad for those left slack-jawed by her obvious talent, including the notorious crab-apple judge, Simon Cowell, who also judges for the similar U.S. show “American Idol.”

Her performance got a huge boost from those who heard about it and watched it on the Internet, especially on the huge Google (GOOG) video service, YouTube.

But anyone who wants to do anything more than send a link to the video of Boyle singing on YouTube, most specifically, embedding it in posts, is out of luck.

That feature has been fully disabled on every YouTube version of the clip I looked at, with the note, “Embedding disabled by request.”

It’s ironic that YouTube gets intense copyright religion right when the video of a singing human angel goes viral.

So most people are watching the show’s seven-minute clip of Boyle on its official YouTube channel, which has gotten 11.4 million views so far.

But, thankfully, YouTube is not the only choice out there.

I finally grabbed one from DailyMotion, which has a ton of embeddable ones, such as the one below:

Britains Got Talent 2009 Susan Boyle 47 Year Old Singer
Uploaded by kj1983