‘Viral’ fever catches on!

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It’s Friday, it’s Friday, it’s Friday — does this line ring a bell? Why wouldn’t it, ‘cos it’s all over the Internet? Thirteen-year-old American teenager Rebecca Black’s Friday has 16 million hits on YouTube, she’s now trending on Twitter and has garnered 7,500 followers overnight! Called ‘the worst song ever’ and being made fun of, people are viewing the video to hear how the ‘bad song’ actually sounds. Rebecca isn’t the only teen whose video went viral and shot to fame. Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber too was discovered on YouTube. Other youngsters to have made it big, thanks YouTube videos include Greyson Chance and Filipina artiste Charice Pempengco.
Viral videos ie. videos that gain popularity through the Internet are a hit with teenagers. And evidently, viral videos have catapulted a lot of teenagers to fame!
Final year BA student Evita Louis thinks Rebecca Black’s Friday is the most annoying thing on the planet! “She’s the female Justin Bieber! The tune isn’t that bad, but the song is stupid and her voice is so annoying that she makes Miley Cyrus sound better! The reason it’s so popular is that somebody watches it and curses it and then somebody else gets curious and watches it too. It’s also being posted on people’s FB walls, so there’s no choice but to watch it,” she says.
Recollecting some of her favourite viral videos, she says, “There was this kid who sang Rihanna’s songs with epic expressions and it was so funny! Also, I’ve seen a lot of funny Malayalam videos on YouTube. One is a song called Silsila which has crazy dance moves and the other is Laka Laka, the Malayali version of Waka Waka!”
Student Arundathi R too has seen and enjoyed a couple of hilarious viral videos. “A lot of kids take videos of themselves singing. For instance, one kid sang a Lady Gaga song and even though he wasn’t good at it, it was hilarious,” she says.
If you want to see another side to Prabhudeva’s Kalluri Vaanil song, then you have to search for ‘Benny Lava’ on YouTube. The video gives a homophonic translation of the Tamil song. The first line which is Kalluri vaanil kaayndha nilaavo is translated as My loony bun is fine, Benny Lava!
For degree student Pranay S, 13-year-old Greyson Chance is a real star. Greyson, who shot to fame after singing Lady Gaga’s Paparazzi at a sixth-grade music festival, gained over 37 million views on YouTube. “His rendition of the song was awesome and so were his piano-playing skills. He’s really talented,” he says.
Adds Evita, “The Double rainbow video on YouTube shows how a guy is so fascinated by a double rainbow that he cries like he’s gone to heaven and come back!”