For decades, kids have picked up home movie cameras, bossed around their younger siblings and dreamed of being famous directors. And for most of those decades, their work went unwatched, confined to cassette tapes forgotten on dusty basement shelves. But with the advent of YouTube and other video-sharing platforms, an amateur filmmaker can hit it big from the comfort of her own home. That’s what the creators and stars of “Young Like Us,” a new web series featuring two Yale alums, are hoping to achieve. The creator-writer-director, Chloe Sarbib ’12, has fashioned an enjoyable mini-sitcom with plenty of comedic promise.
When three college friends move out of their shared apartment, the newly-ex-roommates decide to start a fake band to stay friends. Charlie (Julie Shain), the trio’s Quirky One, comes up with the fake-band-but-actually-it’s-a-real-band idea. Charlie provides the show with most of its energy, and Shain strikes a nice balance between silliness and likability. Her friends, career-obsessed Ava (Sarah Rosen) and boyfriend-obsessed Mia (Cleo Handler ’12), agree that humoring her is probably the best option. The series also includes a handful of secondary characters, of which Larry (Brad Dourif), the girls’ aggressively weird former super, is the most memorable.
As a new series, “Young Like Us” got off to a solid, if imperfect, start. The pilot is a bit clunky, weighed down by labored characterization and scene setting (perhaps due to the short-form time crunch). But once the episodes get going they find their comedic groove, a style incorporating zippy comebacks and humorous cutaways (a la “30 Rock”). “Young Like Us” also includes some really clever and funny songwriting that sets it apart from other web projects. The editing and pacing occasionally feel a bit slow, but the episodes remain punchy and entertaining. In the best scenes, all three leads play off of one another — their repartee is witty and infectious.
Over the past few years, the web series has become a popular launching pad for mainstream careers in the arts. “Broad City,” Comedy Central’s smash hit about two beautifully crass Manhattanites, began as a low-budget YouTube series. Issa Rae, creator and star of “The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,” a critically acclaimed online project, landed a production deal with HBO and is currently working on several pilots. Instead of sending out spec scripts, content creators can make spec shows — bite-sized YouTube morsels that show off acting, writing and/or directing skills.
Despite the contemporary glut of shows about girlfriends living in New York City, “Young Like Us” distinguishes itself with quirky characters and musical flair. The episodes, at ten minutes or less, are short enough to binge-watch and the accompanying songs are zany and memorable. If you’re looking for a quick and satisfying study break, “Young Like Us” might just be the ticket.
Two months ago, actor-turned-YouTube personality Troye Sivan — famous for clips such as “Waxing My Legs with Zoella” and “HOW TO BE COOL” — released a video on his channel called “I Have Something To Tell You…” Given the video’s staggering 1.9 million views, I was immediately interested in just what it was that he had to tell us.
At first glance, I assumed it was a coming out video. YouTube has become a popular forum for Internet celebrities and ordinary people alike to express their innermost secrets to the world. But of course, any true Sivan fan would know he already released his coming out video in August 2013.
After having a minor existential crisis about my devotion to Troye, I pressed play. Sivan, with his signature cheekiness and charm, revealed he had signed his first record deal for an EP that would come out in August.
Just when I thought the actor, YouTuber and recent Teen Choice Award recipient could accomplish no more, Sivan, only 19, showcases his musical prowess through his debut EP, TRXYE. Since he previewed “Happy Little Pill,” the EP’s first track, TRXYE has been highly anticipated. And it doesn’t disappoint.
Sivan’s boyish voice and the album’s heavy synth/electronic influence led me to expect a teenybopper, boy-band vibe. But TRXYE is brimming with deeply mature and dark lyrics, a divergence from the summer anthems normally associated with synth pop. TRXYE succeeded in upending my conceptions of electronic pop music.
The five-track EP begins with “Happy Little Pill,” a melancholic pop anthem, setting the tone for the entire album. Likening love to an addiction, “Happy Little Pill” demonstrates Sivan’s mature take on the themes of love and loneliness. He sings with a sense of numbness, criticizing the fast-paced and indulgent city lifestyle (“Glazed eyes, empty hearts / Buying happy from shopping carts”), all while entrancing the listener with introspection on the high associated with love.
Next up, “Touch” is a ballad about taking risks. Though slow-moving in the beginning, the song gives way to a dubstep-heavy chorus reminiscent of Flume’s remix of Lorde’s “Tennis Court.” “Touch” is about losing inhibitions and doing everything with a sense of conviction. The music and lyrics of “Touch” combine to reflect the worldliness of a seasoned philosopher with the nervousness of an inexperienced teenager. My favorite song from the EP, “Touch” leaves us with the same takeaway as YOLO, but does so with more poetic flair: “And I need you to trust the lust / We must get past all these rules/We must choose to reach out and touch.”
A quintessential road trip jam, “Fun” is a more lighthearted song that breaks from Sivan’s introspective lyrics and reminds us that the album was, indeed, written by a 19-year-old. With an up-tempo trajectory, “Fun” evokes the wide-eyed youthfulness of a teenage rebel who is looking to let loose, break the rules and enjoy the ride.
In his most personal track, Sivan’s “Gasoline” is a breakup song that possesses all the pain, sadness and longing associated with heartbreak. Here, Sivan flexes his songwriting muscles while making himself vulnerable to the listener. His voice rings with honesty and maturity, bringing out the song’s redemptive quality and emotional value: “Please bathe me now, wash me clean / Just set my heart on fire like gasoline.”
I also commend Sivan for his use of male pronouns in “Gasoline.” Today, few openly gay artists reference the nature of their sexual preference, opting instead for gender-neutral pronouns and ambiguous lyrics. As such, Sivan reveals an openness that resonates deeply in his music.
The EP ends with a remastered version of “The Fault in Our Stars (MMXIV),” a song Sivan wrote in honor of John Green’s eponymous novel. The track’s first line (“The weight of a simple human emotion / Weighs me down / More than the tank ever did.”) beautifully summarizes the emotional and poignant aesthetic of the entire album.
TRXYE is a testament to its artist’s versatility and talent. Sivan masterfully combines his boyish youth and modern touch with a haunting — and, at times, painful — sense of maturity. Sivan’s EP is likely just the beginning of a long and successful venture into the music industry.
Kevin Olusola ’11 and his a cappella group, Pentatonix, are in the middle of a sold-out American tour, and when that wraps up, they are headed to Europe. His group’s videos can garner over 6 million views in less than a week, and their channel is the 16th-most subscribed music channel on YouTube. His “celloboxing” videos, in which he combines classical cello playing with popular music and beatboxing, consistently go viral. But before any of this happened, Olusola was one of us — a Yalie. After coming back to campus to give a TEDxYale talk before a packed Sudler Hall on Tuesday, Olusola sat down with WEEKEND to discuss his journey from pre-med student to star musician, his mission to make classical music relevant again, and what it’s like to be on Sesame Street.
Q. Were you involved in music at Yale? Did Yale a cappella shape your decision to get involved with a cappella at all?
A. I didn’t do any a cappella here, to be honest. I was in YSO and a chamber music group, and I started a jazz trio my senior year. And you know what, I think I’m actually glad I didn’t do a cappella in college, because if I had done that, I wonder if it would’ve given me a preconceived notion of how a cappella should be. With my band, none of us really had that much a cappella experience, so we came into it with very fresh ears. We thought, we don’t know what a cappella is like, but let’s try anything and everything. Not having any boxes set up really gave us the opportunity to push boundaries, cause we didn’t know we were pushing them. We were just doing whatever felt natural. So I didn’t do it here, but I think it turned out to be something that might have benefited me in the end.
Q. At your TEDxYale talk, you discussed making classical music more relevant by adding elements of pop. Does that mean classical music has to change to be relevant today?
A. Wow, that’s a tough question. I think that if we use the same formula that we’ve always been using, I’m not sure if people will see it as relevant. One really cool thing I’ve seen is these YouTube videos of orchestras out in squares in Europe playing for people, and the people are like, “This so cool.” I think there has to be way where we bring classical music to them. People are distracted by so many different things nowadays, there’s gotta be ways to grab their attention. One way is taking orchestra pieces and adding something to them that people can understand or relate to, like beats. That’s what I tried to do with “Julio,” [the piece I played for my first viral video]. I tried to take this piece that was more of a modern day classical piece, but add beats, to give it a swagger that I thought people could relate to. I don’t know if it’s things that have to change about classical music itself, but we have to shove it in people’s faces so they can see it, and say, “Wow, I didn’t know this was cool, that it was something that could be relevant to my life.”
Q. What do you think makes Pentatonix different from other musical groups on YouTube? Why are you guys so successful?
A. I think what we’ve done is realize that people want a more organic sound. In today’s industry, pop music is so electronic, so drum and base heavy, so auto-tuned. I think there is a good amount of people that want a more raw, organic sound. I think that’s what we provide, but we also do it in a way that people can understand and relate to. Also, there are a lot of vocal acrobatics. We try to create moments where people say, “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe they did that with their voices.”
Q. Tell me about the decision to get involved with music right out of Yale. You were pre-med when you came in — those are very different tracks. Can you talk about that decision-making process?
A. I actually finished all my pre-med requirements at Yale. But during my junior year, two big things happened to me. First, I did a competition online that Yo-Yo Ma hosted, called the “Celebrate & Collaborate with Yo-Yo Ma” contest. I got second place, and Yo-Yo Ma said my music was “inventive and unexpected,” and that was very surprising to me, because I think that’s the essence of who he is as cellist. The second thing was that I got to open for KRS-One, this old-school rapper, after he visited Southern Connecticut State. He came backstage after we were done, and he said to me, “You could continue this. You could really change the way people view hip hop.” That was when I realized that two people on completely opposite sides of the music spectrum were telling me something very similar, which was that the music I was doing was very different and very cool. That gave me a lot of validation and strength to pursue music.
Q. Was it scary deciding to do music instead of going to medical school?
A. It was very scary. I don’t know if that’s something that you’re taught at Yale — how do you pursue something like music? It’s such an open-ended question. The only thing I knew was that I had a very unique vision of how I wanted to do that – I could do this cello and beatboxing thing, and I knew that was kind of special. What I’ve learned is you need a team to be successful in this industry. You can’t do it alone. You always need someone to watch your back. That’s why we have a manager and all these people that help us make this work. They give us so much advice from other people’s experiences about how to pursue this.
Q. Do you think Yale’s environment, where so many people go into consulting or more traditional paths, was conducive to your decision to pursue music?
A. You know what, I do think so. There are definitely a lot of people who go into consulting, law, medicine or more traditional paths. But I know for myself, even though I was on a traditional path in medicine, I definitely explored. That’s why I love this place. Yale has the resources to make things happen, and if they don’t have it here, then you have to be willing to push for it — but that’s just a trait in life that you need. In the long run, pushing for it, and making those things happen, will help you out in whatever career you’re in. Whatever you want to do here, you can make it happen. It just might take some exploration at the end of the day.
Q. Do you have any advice for Yalies who want to go into music, or any other more unconventional track?
A. If you’re trying to do music, I would say start looking within yourself, and find who you are and what kind of stuff you like doing. Hone in on those unique gifts you have in music. And start putting your stuff on YouTube — it’s a free, amazing way to get your music across and start building your own fan base. If you want to be an artist or producer, you can show so many people who you are. That’s what I did, and that’s how I got to meet such cool people like [renowned record producer] Quincy Jones and the people in Pentatonix.
For people pursuing other unconventional paths, I would say really learn and figure out how people do things in that industry. That’s one of the things that has really helped our band: not just being passionate, but having a tailored passion. We understand that we want to get this music across, but we want to do it in a way that everybody can enjoy it. That’s why we choose pop covers, because we know that’ll get a wide audience. But we’re also passionate about doing music in our own way; that’s why we do a cappella, which is very unconventional.
Q. You guys have done a commercial which aired during the Grammys, you have a sold-out tour, you’ve been on Sesame Street — what has been the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do?
A. Definitely Sesame Street. Oh my god, literally, I almost cried. Because the thing is, those Muppets, they don’t break character. The whole time, while they were talking regularly, they were talking in the same voice. I was screaming. I was so happy. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Touring Europe was also a huge moment, because it’s cool to know that just because of YouTube, we had a fan base that could sell out venues in Europe. This time we’re going back and doing venues upwards of 2,000 people, and selling them out, only because of YouTube. That’s crazy to me. I just love this band. I literally love every single person in it. They mean so much to me.
Q. What is your musical guilty pleasure?
A. Justin Bieber has this new album called “Complete My Journals.” This thing was actually dope. After hearing it, I was like, “OK, you better grow up,” because it was great. You’ve messed up, but that was great.
Correction: Mar. 7
A previous version of this article mistakenly stated the piece Olusola performed as “Julio.” In fact, the piece is called “Julie-O.”
Last week, with the help of an especially viral meme, Baauer’s woozy trap song “Harlem Shake” rocketed to the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100. Some critics cried foul that what they perceived was a “bad song” was now No. 1 in the U.S., as if that spot represented an endorsement — though it is actually a reporting of fact. “Harlem Shake”’s victory was propelled by a big change in Billboard and Nielsen’s tracking methodology. In a press release, Billboard announced that it would now factor “all official videos on YouTube captured by Nielsen’s streaming measurement, including Vevo on YouTube, and user-generated clips that utilize authorized audio into the Hot 100.” This meant that each view of each reproduction of the “Harlem Shake” meme pushed the song further up the charts.
The change is long overdue. One need not look back further than last year to find examples of viral music videos that would have benefited from this shift — PSY, Gotye and Carly Rae Jepsen come to mind. PSY, in particular, could have used the push; thanks to its radio dominance, Maroon 5’s “One More Night” kept “Gangnam Style” from ever reaching the top spot, despite the song’s ubiquity last fall. But viral music videos were not a 2012 phenomenon. Past musical memes that undoubtedly would have charted high include most of The Lonely Island’s repertoire, The Gregory Brothers’ “Bed Intruder Song” and, of course, Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”
If it bothers you that “Friday” probably should have been a top 20 hit, just like it’s bothering certain parties that “Harlem Shake” is now No. 1, then it’s time you reassess the charts. Billboard and Nielsen’s purpose is to track music consumption; while what’s successful and what’s not have ramifications for pop music’s future, quality is irrelevant. It should also be noted that “Harlem Shake” was not the only benefactor of the change; Rihanna and Drake both posted gains this week from the strength of YouTube streams of their new singles and videos. To complain that “Friday” or “Harlem Shake” is charting high because they are bad songs misses the point that the chart describes our consumption patterns rather than prescribing them.
But “Harlem Shake” is different from its viral predecessors. Whereas viewers watched until the very end of the “Call Me Maybe” video to soak in its final twist, a “Harlem Shake” video is gone in 30 seconds. That’s only a sixth of the entire song’s length. One could argue that the song is only ancillary to the real action: the midway switch, the manic flailing, the random props. It’s as if there could have been any bass-y club track underpinning the madness, and it would have been just as much of a hit. The lumping together of all user-generated content that uses authorized audio regardless of length represents a large oversight in Billboard’s analysis. One wonders how many songs will become No. 1 based on tiny excerpts. True to fashion, the meme machine has already set the stage for this scenario: that screaming goat remix of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The video, which is 25 seconds long, has racked up over 2 million views in just four days. Does that mean that “Trouble” will be the Hot 100’s champion next week? It may be hard to tell, as the song is already far up the top 10, but the premise that repeat viewings of half of its chorus could put it there is just absurd.
As ham-handed as Billboard’s decision was to make the change when it just so happens to coincide with a viral event, they deserve credit for trying to increase the accuracy of consumption now rather than never. Maintaining this accuracy, however, will require more careful attention paid to the nuances of YouTube’s remix culture. Hopefully Billboard decides what truly counts as a single consumption of a song, and history will look upon these fleeting viral hits as a blip in the data.
Last week, with the help of an especially viral meme, Baauer’s woozy trap song “Harlem Shake” rocketed to the top spot of Billboard’s Hot 100. Some critics cried foul that what they perceived was a “bad song” was now No. 1 in the U.S., as if that spot represented an endorsement — though it is actually a reporting of fact. “Harlem Shake”’s victory was propelled by a big change in Billboard and Nielsen’s tracking methodology. In a press release, Billboard announced that it would now factor “all official videos on YouTube captured by Nielsen’s streaming measurement, including Vevo on YouTube, and user-generated clips that utilize authorized audio into the Hot 100.” This meant that each view of each reproduction of the “Harlem Shake” meme pushed the song further up the charts.
The change is long overdue. One need not look back further than last year to find examples of viral music videos that would have benefited from this shift — PSY, Gotye and Carly Rae Jepsen come to mind. PSY, in particular, could have used the push; thanks to its radio dominance, Maroon 5’s “One More Night” kept “Gangnam Style” from ever reaching the top spot, despite the song’s ubiquity last fall. But viral music videos were not a 2012 phenomenon. Past musical memes that undoubtedly would have charted high include most of The Lonely Island’s repertoire, The Gregory Brothers’ “Bed Intruder Song” and, of course, Rebecca Black’s “Friday.”
If it bothers you that “Friday” probably should have been a top 20 hit, just like it’s bothering certain parties that “Harlem Shake” is now No. 1, then it’s time you reassess the charts. Billboard and Nielsen’s purpose is to track music consumption; while what’s successful and what’s not have ramifications for pop music’s future, quality is irrelevant. It should also be noted that “Harlem Shake” was not the only benefactor of the change; Rihanna and Drake both posted gains this week from the strength of YouTube streams of their new singles and videos. To complain that “Friday” or “Harlem Shake” is charting high because they are bad songs misses the point that the chart describes our consumption patterns rather than prescribing them.
But “Harlem Shake” is different from its viral predecessors. Whereas viewers watched until the very end of the “Call Me Maybe” video to soak in its final twist, a “Harlem Shake” video is gone in 30 seconds. That’s only a sixth of the entire song’s length. One could argue that the song is only ancillary to the real action: the midway switch, the manic flailing, the random props. It’s as if there could have been any bass-y club track underpinning the madness, and it would have been just as much of a hit. The lumping together of all user-generated content that uses authorized audio regardless of length represents a large oversight in Billboard’s analysis. One wonders how many songs will become No. 1 based on tiny excerpts. True to fashion, the meme machine has already set the stage for this scenario: that screaming goat remix of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew You Were Trouble.” The video, which is 25 seconds long, has racked up over 2 million views in just four days. Does that mean that “Trouble” will be the Hot 100’s champion next week? It may be hard to tell, as the song is already far up the top 10, but the premise that repeat viewings of half of its chorus could put it there is just absurd.
As ham-handed as Billboard’s decision was to make the change when it just so happens to coincide with a viral event, they deserve credit for trying to increase the accuracy of consumption now rather than never. Maintaining this accuracy, however, will require more careful attention paid to the nuances of YouTube’s remix culture. Hopefully Billboard decides what truly counts as a single consumption of a song, and history will look upon these fleeting viral hits as a blip in the data.
