cinema_babe | Don't Judge Me

When you're on a treadmill, you need something that has a good enough beat to keep you going at a good clip. This might be music that you wouldn't normally play at home or in the car. Among the song I routinely have playing on my Android are "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, " "Tik-Tok", by Ke$ha (thugh I am ashamed I know that's how she spells her name) and "Maniac" by Michale Sembello and, of course, "Gangam Style .

But how come no one ever told me about "Call Me Maybe"??!!

In addition to having a good beat and hook (which I need to get into that treadmill head space) there is some interesting meta stuff going on here.

Justin Beiber is arguable the most successful YouTube celebrity who was able to crossover into being a multi platform pop star*. He gave another performer, Carly Rae Jepson a break and "call Me Maybe" was her first hit. "Call Me Maybe" became one of those songs that blew up on YouTube with hundreds of parodies. Some of the tropes include, lots of teen girls jumping around the room, various members of the military from the US, the UK, New Zealand, Israel and a bunch of the countries, several celebrities' personal videos, meticulously cut up bits of Obama speeches and famous movies, college athletes in their vans and buses, etc.

You know the whole phenomenon of parody and tribute videos would make an interesting paper. Especially with a song like this which is a song that clearly has a female point of view but so many tribute videos made by male and mixed populations. It might be interesting, using female performances as the standard, to analyze how men, especially those in environments usually associated with hyper masculinity such as college sports and the military, manage the tweaking of traditional roles embodied in acting out a girlie song.

So, um, yeah, this is going to the gym with me. Don't judge.

Below is, I think, one of the most amusing parodies. The Miami Dolphin Cheerleaders did a video; it wasn't anything special, typical girls in bikinis dancing. Then a group of American soldiers (in Afghanistan I think) did their own version where they copied the cheerleader video scene by scene so closely you can't help but be a little impressed by these guys. Some of them are obviously goofing and others are taking this dead serious but the thing I think makes it fun is (a) the dead on shot by shot accuracy and (b)they are obviously having a well deserved good time.

It's a bit of a Cinderella story. His mother, used to put his videos up on YouTube when he was a kid (not that he's not one still, lol).