#analyzing ylvis

[canadaherligste]

After The Story: Reviewing Ylvis Stories From Norway Chapter 1: Stupetårnet

Hello everyone, and welcome to “After the Story: Reviewing Ylvis!” Every week, Eve and I, along with the occasional guest, will bring you not one, but two posts about the week’s episode of “Stories From Norway” - one about the show, and one just about the music. 

So buckle in guys, because it’s been a long time since Ylvis, and a long time since we’ve analyzed, so we go a little nuts with this one!

(No, seriously, we do. We couldn’t stop ourselves. We took TBT and multiplied and magnified and doubled by ten...and then tripled and quadrupled it again and again. We’re all to blame. We’re sorry.)

Today Eve (miss @addictedtoylvis) and I join our resident musical theatre expert, Anna-Maija (@yellowsydvest), and we’re going to talk about the first episode.

So grab your “small” cup of coffee, and sit back as we talk about our favourite moments and jokes, Bård’s acting, the storytelling, and wanting to go to Hamar.

As before, PLEASE let us know what you think of the episode and what your favourite moments are. We really want to hear from everyone! 1. What was your favourite moment? 2. What were the funniest moments for you? 3. What did you think of Bård’s portrayal of Geir Byberg? 4. Vegard: Tor Kraft or Riot Coordinator? 5. What do you think of the opening vignette? 6. What did you think of the storytelling? 7. Did you catch any callbacks to earlier work or Ylvis-specific in-jokes? 8. Any critiques? Was there anything that didn’t work for you? 9. Bård’s facial hair - real or fake? 10. Which character had the best costuming/makeup job? 11. Who was this episode’s MVP?

1 - What was your favourite moment?

Robin: Can my favourite moment just be Bård? I mean, I’ve watched this episode four times, and I just can’t pick a single moment because I just love everything that he did so much. I’m sticking with that. Bård is my favourite moment. He was marvellous as Geir.

Eve: One of my favorite things about Ylvis is when they veer off track or take things in a completely unexpected (and usually ridiculous) direction, so my favorite moment in this episode was when "Sink the Tower" suddenly switched from a protest song to a song dithering about scheduling. Watching Vegard deflate slightly while still trying to keep the protest spirits up was also fantastic. I also loved when the backup singers appeared out of nowhere in "Tor Kraft", and the way they kept following him around in such a tiny cramped space.

Robin: “Watching Vegard deflate slightly” - YES, that was brilliant! It was so subtle but so real. Vegard nailed this too!

Anna-Maija: The fact that they made a musical. The whole thing. My life is complete. For now, until they make their next thing.

2 - What were the funniest moments for you?

Eve: Oh gosh, I had several laugh-out-loud moments, which delighted me. Most of them were in the Riot Coordinator song, classic Ylvis WTF lyrics: “Can those morons even count?” and “We’ll tell the mayor that he’s fat/And then microwave his cat.” I also laughed when the song abruptly changed (“Excuse me, Mr. Riot Coordinator…”) and at Vegard awkwardly dragging away his podium at the end. Vegard as God repeating “Press conference” in that deep, booming voice also got me.

Robin: I almost died at “you have forgotten who you are!” That got a big belly laugh from me; I could not stop laughing at Vegard/God/Mufasa. I had another belly laugh when God casually brushed his hair away from his face while declaring how rich Norway is - how silly is that?! I also laughed a lot at Vegard dragging his soapbox away, that was pretty funny.

Anna-Maija: I loved the running gag with the huge things in Tor Kraft’s house. First we see the doorbell, which is so weird, you don’t really think it’s a huge doorbell but maybe just some contraption Kraft has designed. But then you gradually realise he just likes big things and treats them like they’re the most normal thing in the world… I love absurd jokes like that.

3 - What did you think of Bard’s portrayal of Geir Byberg?

Robin: (Okay. Deep breath, Robin. Calm centre. No meltdown.) Bård played this role sooooo flawlessly. There was no hint of irony or self-awareness; Bård pretty much disappears into Geir and becomes a wonderfully sympathetic character. And man, the emotional range on that guy. From Geir’s enthusiasm and sincerity when proposing the diving board, to his uncertainty and beginning discomfort at Tor Kraft’s. You can see him gradually lose control, and he looks so lost. Even the way he responds to “God”, the inflections he chooses in his voice. Bård is perfection in this. This is his best performance yet.

Eve: Heartbreaking!! Robin warned me that he was going to make me feel for Geir Byberg, but that scene by the lake where he is crying, before God shows up and shows him the way, was horribly sad. And also funny in its overdramatization, and I wonder what Geir Byberg thinks of that. I also thought Bard did a great job of portraying Geir as being earnest and excited about the project, and agitated and nervous as things go horribly awry. His performance had an such a boyish innocence to it.

Anna-Maija: I also love how he played the character sincerely. How can Bård Ylvisåker turn into someone so ordinary? He was really the straight man in this episode, and Vegard got to play the more eccentric characters. The only time he breaks his realistic performance is when he gives a puzzled look to the camera while visiting Tor Kraft.

4 - Vegard: Tor Kraft or Riot Coordinator?

Anna-Maija: While I’m a big fan of dark curls, enough is enough, Riot Vegard! “Seriously” though, both characters were clearly caricatures, even though Tor Kraft is a real person. I think I do prefer Kraft, because I just loved all the gags with oversized things as a representation of his megalomania. Even his name is so grandiose (Tor = Thor, Kraft = Power) and punchy - it would be suited to a Norwegian superhero! Also, Vegard is very cute as a geezer.

Eve: Riot Coordinator. As much as I like Tor's little hip thrust, and although I thought Vegard's choppy, perfectly-accented singing style there was fantastic, I think Vegard is perfectly suited to that march-to-battle intensity, and he did a good job showing the uncertain moments as well. And on a shallow note, that mullet-y hair and sideburns. I enjoyed those.

Robin: I gotta go with Tor Kraft. He is ADORABLE when he shows up to the press conference! Plus I love the difference between how Vegard plays Tor Kraft in all his pomposity at his house, and how he plays him all penitent and bashful at the press conference. Stellar work.

5 - What do you think of the opening vignette?

Eve: I REALLY love this. I was lucky enough to see it for the first time with another Ylvis fan who happened to be in town, which makes it extra special, but I find the music and visuals very compelling and I have a tendency to watch it 2-3 times before starting an episode. I love the stunning Norway scenery, the way the scenes change with the music, I love them doing their goofy IKMY-opener style dancing, and that one shot of them doing the arm moves through a break in snow-covered trees is a visual treat. But it’s the shot on the ferry that really takes my breath away -- the ferry moving, the snowy mountains in the background, the way the music ratchets up a notch and the brothers moving with the music and the ferry. It’s dizzying, in a wonderful way. Excuse me while I go watch it again....

Robin: I love this too!! First of all, I love the classical crossover music. I love how it starts off with this sort of ethereal sound, matching the vistas. Then the bass, the strings, and it becomes more and more melodic over the stunning scenery. I really, really love the ice caverns they were in. Then there’s the guys, and their simple yet intense dance (A+ Bård head tossing). I only wish there was more unobscured Bård solo dancing, and my obsession with symmetry can’t unsee Vegard’s malfunctioning right shoulder piping.

Anna-Maija: It’s beautiful and stunning! The music is so epic! I also love the scene on the ferry the most. I wish it was longer!

6 - What did you think of the storytelling?

Robin: I really like that they chose to tell a story in which there is no single villain. It’s easy, in politics, to make one person the fall guy. However, instead, Ylvis chose to make it clear that everyone had a hand in the mess. With Bård and everyone playing it straight with no winking to the camera, no one is the butt of the joke, and Geir’s sincerity takes center stage.

My other favourite thing was the motif of the diving board drawing. That little piece of paper grounded the whole story. I love that it was stuck next to Geir’s mirror, suggesting that the simplicity of that diving board partly reflects who Geir is, as well as what he wanted. When he brought it out all crumpled during “Byberg’s Lament,” it made Geir’s plight seem all the more tragic.

Eve: That is an excellent observation, about how they didn’t have a single villain. I liked how they handled the snowballing of the problem, starting with a bit of unease with Tor Kraft, to the siren call of the engineers, to the loud angry mob, building a crescendo to a peak after which Geir breaks down. And then his slow and tentative rebuild to sharing the blame and the community coming together for a happy ending. It was very well done. And honestly, I hope this episode brings Hamar a lot of tourist dollars to make up for the expense. :)

Robin: Hell, I wanna go to Hamar now and I can’t even swim, much less dive!

Anna-Maija: This is going a bit technical, but: the whole diving tower incident has the classic 3 act story structure. 1. Set up: Byberg suggests building a diving board to Hamar and the council agrees. 2. Confrontation - obstacles climaxing in a disaster: The costs keep rising, the townsfolk resist and finally a storm almost sinks the unfinished diving tower rising the costs to an ultimate high. Byberg is desperate. 3. Resolution: God appears to Byberg (ok this MAY not have happened in real life) and tells him what to do. He admits guilt, and so does everyone. A happy ending is wrapped up with footage from the opening of the new diving tower.

One of my favourite features of Ylvis’ comedy is that it’s so positive and gentle. They don’t need to trash people to be funny. Here again they make the people they portray very sympathetic, and I love how everyone takes the blame in the end.

In musicals, songs primarily have one of two jobs: they either further the action or they express the emotions or inner thoughts of characters. As for the songs in this episode, I would say that all songs bring the plot forward, with more focus on Byberg’s inner thoughts in Tango Problematique and Byberg’s Lament.

I just noticed that in the finale song, the room looks quite cold and gloomy, but once it’s evident that they’re all in this together, the sun starts shining. Subtle! I also love the 80s style freeze frame at the end of the song.

A Ylvis fan trip to Hamar - someone organise this please!

Robin: If we go to Hamar, you KNOW I’m getting on that diving board and singing at the top of my voice: “Hamaaaaaaar the thiiiiiiings I doooooooooo…”  This is now a new goal in life.

7 - Did you catch any callbacks to earlier work or Ylvis-specific in-jokes?

Eve: One thing I was particularly amused to see was the giant spoons in the Tor Kraft segment. Vegard posted a photo on Instagram a long time ago (April 17, 2014, if you’re counting) of himself trying to eat a sausage with giant utensils. Do they just collect weird stuff and then find a way to work it into their videos? Also, it’s not a coincidence that Tor Kraft’s doorbell looks like a boob (recalling the copper on the wall in “The Cabin”), is it? Also, Geir doing a funny little awkward Ylvis run as he rushes off to the press conference.

Robin: I didn’t notice any in-jokes (on 4 views), but I do think that they played this as straight as they could, and any overt references to their past work would have detracted from the story as they wanted to tell it.

Anna-Maija: I finally came up with one! The deadpan look Bård gives to the camera at Tor Kraft’s place is very similar to his reaction to Asian kissing techniques in “Language of Love”.

8 - Any critiques? Was there anything that didn’t work for you?

Robin: I’ve watched it three times looking for something to be negative about, but honestly, there wasn’t a single thing that didn’t work for me. These guys have outdone themselves. Christian, Lars, Bård, Vegard and Ole Martin; they’ve struck gold with this.

Eve: I threw in this question because the reviews I saw were dice 5 of 6 so I figured there must be something off somewhere. But I'm not thinking of any complaints off the top of my head. I wondered if the humor might be a bit diluted, because they're cramming six songs into a single episode and we're used to them pouring a lot of creativity into a single music video. Maybe the laugh-out-loud lines are a bit more spread out this way, but the production and attention to detail are as high as we've come to expect from Ylvis. Was it Roger Ebert who judged movies by "Does this work achieve what it set out to be?" In that sense, "Stories from Norway" is a resounding success.

Anna-Maija: Lipsync in “Bybergs Lament” was not perfect. The subtitles didn’t have proper punctuation. Yeah, it was pretty flawless...

9 - Bard’s facial hair - real or fake?

Eve: Oh, pfft, there’s no way that’s real.

Robin: Not unless the entire two years of planning this show included growing this beard.

Anna-Maija: :D :D Agreed!

10 - Which character had the best costuming/makeup job?

Eve: God. For sure. He looked majestic.

Robin: I gotta go with Tor Kraft. Those chubby cheeks on Vegard are just adoooooorable.

Anna-Maija: Vegard is going to be such a cute grandpa! I also loved how Kraft’s eyes went all white when he was channelling his idea on the Etch-A-Sketch.

Eve: That was CREEPY! Although I was amused at how he seemed kinda surprised that it had worked.

11 - Who was this episode’s MVP?

Eve: It’s really a tie. Bård’s multifaceted portrayal of Geir was a joy to watch, and he put the heart into the story, but Vegard stole every scene he was in. “Pressss confferrenccceeee.” I’m still laughing. It’s so good to have them back!! I do want to throw in an honorable mention for the other singers in “Sink the Tower”. That approving nod from the Bikram Yoga lately after “We will cover the tower in shit” makes me laugh every time.

Robin: The onscreen MVP is definitely Bård for his superlative acting, for bringing his best vocals, and for making me care about a Norwegian deputy mayor I’d never heard of before Monday. That said, the REAL MVP award should go to Ole Martin Hafsmo. Everything in this episode was executed flawlessly and you have to give props to the man for that. Also, his direction undoubtedly helped bring that stellar performance out of Bård.

Anna-Maija: I’m also finding it hard to choose one MVP. Both Bård and Vegard had their role(s) to play and they succeeded in their tasks. I’d like to add writer Christian Lochstoer and definitely composer Lars Devik to the MVP category. What a dream team those five guys make! OMG I almost forgot choreographer Thea Bay!

Robin: So basically we’re saying everyone is MVP. I can live with that.

#ylvis #stories from norway #after the story ylvis #reviewing ylvis #Stupetårnet #Bård Ylvisåker #vegard ylvisåker #analyzing ylvis #I AVOIDED A MELTDOWN

[hanna-water]

The lovely @lissellone did ask me for my opinion about the new tornquist interview (like the “analyzing ylvis” posts I used to write)  :). So I rewatched the interview a few times and thought about what to write but I couldn`t really decide what an impression Bard had made on me....I actually have different opinions/theories ...but I thought I could still share them... : I tried to compare B in the old tornquist interview (2013) with the new one. Of course there are some factors like the live-audience that created a different atmosphere during the old interview... . But even if you count that in, I am sure that a lot of you agree that B seemed a lot more relaxed, happy and energetic during the old interview. There was this sparkle in his eyes when he laughed or grinned. I can`t decide if I think that B is somehow unhappy/ something bothering him at the moment....or if he just became more grown-up, mature and calm and that is why he is acting differently. I mean a lot of things happend in those 4 years concerning his career and celebrity status. While watching the new interview there were moments when I thought that he looked sad and tired. But in other moments I thought that he might simply changed over the past years and became more self-confident, so that he is able to show his real, calm self instead of playing cheerful and making jokes to impress the audience. He was talking more serious and honest then I have seen him before...and I actually like that. It felt like he was comfortable enough with himself to casually speak about why the US project did not work or why he does not like the area he lives at right now, without desperatly trying to be funny. Well, those were my chaotic thoughts ;) ... What do you guys think ? Did you have similar thoughts when you watched the video or do you think there is no difference in B at all ? I would love to read some opinions <3.

#is analyzing ylvis back ? #mixed feelings #blablabla

[canadaherligste]

After The Story: The Music of The Andøya Rocket Incident

Hello everyone, and welcome to the music discussion of The Andøya Rocket Incident. We apologize for the delay; both Eve and I have had a very busy week, but we were determined to get this to you!

This week Eve and I were stumped at times, so we’re really looking forward to hearing your views on the music. We always learn a lot from you all, and we need it this week!

So take your application to the corresponding station in a classified location no one can access, and then sit back as we talk about our favourite songs, and about the genres and themes of the songs. Join in, we want to hear you!

1. Which was your favourite song?

2: Genres. Homages. Parodies. Tropes. Music. Vocals.  Let’s break this down, song by song:

A - Aurora Borealis

B - Russian Government Process

C - My Cheget

D - Push the Button

E - Never Again

F - Non-Ylvis song choices: Fly Me to the Moon (Julie London)

1. Which was your favourite song?

Eve: Although I am gaining an appreciation for Vegard’s deep rich tones in “My Cheget” (despite it’s jarringly weird romance montage) as soon as “Push the Button” starts, I realize it’s definitely my favorite. It makes me want to leap across the lawn in tandem with Boris.

Robin: While I think "Push The Button" is the best song this week, my favourite is “Aurora Borealis.”I can't get enough of it; I have to hear it on repeat at least 5 times before I can move on to the next song. I’m sure many an elevator surveillance camera has caught me dancing to it. I love everything about that song, it just makes me so happy. (A far cry from my weepiness from last week!!) I’ve even changed my ringtone to the instrumental ending of the song.

2. Genres. Homages. Parodies. Tropes. Music. Vocals.  Let’s break this down, song by song.

A - Aurora Borealis

Robin: Man I love this song. I believe that the genre inspiration for this song is Brazilian bossa nova jazz fusion, in the style of Sergio Mendez and Ivan Lins. “Aurora Borealis” reminds me most of “Mas Que Nada,” Sergio Mendez’s signature song; the chord structure is very, very similar. Mendez is also known for working with current artists and giving his songs modern and contemporary touches, and this song seems right in that vein.

Guys, the background vocals! Oh my gosh the harmonies. The “aurora borealis, aurora polaris” lines are just so gorgeous (they’re a choir girl’s dream), and freaking Bård at “lift off!!” holy crow. I also really love the background vocals at the second verse; they’re punchy and give the second verse a little more energy to take it to the countdown.

That said, it’s actually Vegard’s hyper-nasal geeky voice that sells this song for me. I. Love. It!! Remember when I said in the Bieber music review for “Normal Boy” that Vegard can’t contain that beast of a voice? Well, I stand corrected, because Vegard doesn’t sound anything like Vegard in this song!

The voice he puts on in this song, along with his demeanor in the video, give this song the wonder and joy and excitement you would expect to have when you’re about to press a button to launch a science rocket into space! His happy geek voice singing about the rocket, his awe of the auroras, and his confidence in the countdown just all works so well.

Besides all that, you have that killer bass going on, and the wind instruments sound so breezy and light! Vegard and the music together give a very light-hearted feel to the song and to the situation, giving a little irony given that we know how that happy moment takes a really dark turn.

Vegard’s voice also blends really well with Bård’s more muted version of his own voice. Bård sounds like himself, but with a much more controlled prosody, which works well to make his character sound different and separate from all the incredibly melodic background vocals he’s giving to the song.

I love that last scene where you can hear the party going on from the outside. All I can think off is the He-Man/What’s Up parody on YouTube (it’s one of my favorite things on the internet, don’t judge me) where the chef in the kitchen is hearing the muted version of the song. I’m sure it’s unrelated (unless Ylvis has as weird a sense of humor as I do) but that was the first and only thing that came to mind LOL https://youtu.be/ZZ5LpwO-An4

Eve: Although I can hear the bossa nova now that you’ve pointed it out, that wasn’t what I originally got from the song at all. The quick steady beat and the sort of regular, stiffness to the song (except for the lovely Aurora Borealis interlude) song, accompanied with stiff old-man dancing reminded me of Devo’s “Whip It”, of all things. It was a like a musical reflection of the concept that “white men can’t dance.” Or “White and Nerdy.” But I loved it because of that, and and how it was combined with delightfully nerdy lyrics like “look at all the data / look at the results / numbers numbers numbers / exactly what we want.” I also found it amusing that all the scientists dancing around looked a lot like the club scenes in “Pressure” and “Work It”, complete with the bursting champagne bottle, but with a bunch of old nerds dancing arthritically (in other words, me in about 20 years). I like that it’s a very happy, cheerful song, too. Something I could sing when my program compiles and produces the desired output.

B - Russian Government Process

Eve: This is another one of those show-tune-ish songs that I feel like I’ve heard before and can’t remember where. The plucked bass line with the other instruments responding, the minor key, it all sounds very familiar. I don’t know how they can keep singing when the song speeds up -- I can barely keep up until lunch! tiiiiiiime! and once they start up with “grill it, spice it, supersize it / flame it, boil it, circumcise it” I’m lost. So lost, in fact, that I didn’t realize until I paused it to get those lyrics that they threw “circumcise” in there.

Robin: I’m the same; I cannot for the life of me figure out why this song is sooooo familiar. Everything about it is familiar; the melody of the verse, the chord structure, the increasing tempo. I’ve had this problem a lot this episode - the songs all sound vaguely like something else I’ve heard but I can’t place all of them!  Lars has really gotten me this episode. Freakin’ Lars. I’m hoping someone comments with some insight into what inspired it because I am so stumped.

Vegard’s vocal performance in this song is stellar; man, he is on fire this episode. His voice is strong and stately, and he totally sells the character throughout the song. That said, I would pay to see him get through this song and get all the lyrics right and in order. Y’all better get started on those prompter cards.

The lyrics are hilarious: “take your application to the corresponding station in a classified location no one can access!!” Bureaucracy defined. That said, the standout moment in this song is the combined visual and lyric of “equal rights for gays” going into the trash. It’s songs like this one and like “Normal Boy,” songs whose funny moments are inherently tied to their videos, that make me really wish they would do commentary on this show.

C - My Cheget

Robin: This song has a slower bossa nova jazz groove going on, it again reminds me of some of Sergio Mendez's and Ivan Lins' work. This song reminds me most of “Fallen” by Lauren Wood, from the Pretty Woman soundtrack. It has a similar style and laid-back mood, as well as the bossa nova jazz groove, the horns and similar background vocals. I think.  I'm sorry, everyone, I am failing spectacularly at the music analysis of this episode! I blame Lars for being too good at his job.

Again, Vegard's killing it here. Man, his baritone is insane in this song. At no point during this song does Expensive Jacket Vegard Ylvisåker make an appearance; he is absolutely "Boris Yeltsin" in this song (and in the next one). In the extended version online, there are glimpses of his regular voice during his instrumental ad-libs, but that quickly devolves into hilarity as Yeltsin drunkenly loses control of his ad-libs. That makes me snort every single time I listen to it.

The lyrics of the song itself are super weird. Yeltsin daydreaming a love song to his nuclear suitcase in the middle of a crisis is almost as random as a Flat Eric puppet being Petter Northug’s life coach. It’s weird and almost completely incongruous. That said, it is interesting that he repeatedly declares that the Cheget is “his” at this time, because that’s exactly what he needed to remember as his military advisors urged him to do something he wasn’t sure about. He was the president, he had the power, and the decision about the Cheget was his to make.

Lastly, that shot of Yeltsin looking on at Putin’s inauguration gave me a chill. Not the good kind.

Eve: One of the cool things about this format is that Ylvis can make songs about whatever ridiculous bit they want to, and let the song be as long as it needs to. I feel like this is the type of song that might have resulted if they took that “What car do you drive?” digression from “Stongehenge” and made it its own song. Unlike the other songs which reflect plot points, this song is just a weird imagining of a romantic relationship with his nuclear briefcase because it’s always by his side. For some reason, I find this whole thing vaguely icky, particularly the flour-throwing scene, although “handle in hand with another man” makes me smile. I do enjoy the song, particularly since Vegard sings lower than I can remember hearing him sing for an entire song. I love how he sings “You are my Chegeeeeet” at the end. The photo album full of pictures of Yeltsin with the briefcase at McDonald’s or famous landmarks (I see the Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, and a skyscraper on a beach -- Dubai?) is fun. Is it in a cabana on the first page?

D - Push the Button

Robin: "Push The Button" is an intense, driving, powerful song, and everything about it represents the tenseness of the situation. The 3+3+2 drum rhythms at the beginning and at the bridge give this song a feeling of urgency. You can hear a similar use of that rhythm in Rob Thomas' "This Is How A Heart Breaks," one of my favourite workout songs for precisely that reason. I've been told that this also has some High School Musical inspiration, but since I haven't seen those movies, I'm hoping you guys can tell me more about that!

I also love that the other vocals aren't harmonized, but in unison at different pitches. There's nothing pretty or harmonic about this situation, it's an unevenly balanced argument. The only harmony comes in the silliest line, the digression, the Russian extra furry hat, thrown in there just to give the listener (and Yeltsin) a breather from the intensity of the situation.

I seriously can't talk enough about how Vegard's killing every song in this episode. I mean, damn, guy. If you're just listening to the song while streaming, there is no Vegard Ylvisåker, only Yeltsin. He really sells the conflict that Yeltsin is feeling, with every counterargument, the pressure he feels to make a decision.

There was a lot of discussion about Mikhail Mouse on the episode post so I won't go too much into it, but it's interesting to listen to how Vegard's tone and enunciation (and thus Yeltsin's attitude) change slightly after he talks to Mikhail Mouse. In the beginning he's really feeling the pressure and uncertainty and his voice wavers a little more in that vein, but after talking to Mikhail he sings more strongly (to the point where the Russian accent fades a little), because he is defiant and certain of what he wants and what he can do.

Also, "YYYYES, I'm a Russian, just like you!" gives me life every time. And man, Vegard's energy is insane; how he does all that dancing in that ill-fitted suit is beyond me.

Eve: I love the heavy drums in this one, that feel like a wave pushing Yeltsin closer and closer to the moment he has to make the decision. And it’s super creepy when they set the visuals of mushroom clouds and houses exploding to the beat of those drums. The repetition of the firm “Push the button” interspersed with the emotion explanations why he can’t are awesome. I also love the sections where the bass line pauses (“Do it for Stalin / Do it for Molotov”). I don’t quite understand why Yeltsin gets his American pop culture so mixed up, but I am always going to refer to it as the “Super Canyon” from now on. (And if you haven’t been, it really is all that.) Is there any connection, musically, between the carnival-sounding music of the Mikhail Mouse visit, and the rest of the song?I listened for one but can’t make one out. And finally, I gotta mention how much I adore that last “butTTONNNNNNNNNNNN!!!” I hope I get to hear that live someday.

E - Never Again

Eve: This song reminds me of “We Are All To Blame” at the end of “The Diving Tower”, one of those wrap-up songs sung by the entire company with a cheerful tune and “all our problems are solved” theme. Except in this case, they keep driving home the point that it is NOT solved, we’ve only had a narrow escape and the chance of this happening again is still looming heavily over our heads. The music and the happy dancing almost feels like a sort of “fiddling while Rome burns” thing, or at least some pretty severe denial.

Robin: Finally, a song I can talk about with certainty! The style of this song is 1960s-70s traditional black gospel music, a genre of Christian music. Some of the hallmarks of this sound is the fusion of southern gospel with the black gospel choir and distinct influence of soul music. This, along with contemporary black gospel, is mostly what I've performed as a vocalist.

As far as gospel songs go, this is a pretty decent one. The chord sequences and melodies in traditional black gospel can be a bit predictable if you're familiar with the genre, so kudos to Lars for still making it sound mostly fresh and original.  Also, the Hammond organ sound is a staple of gospel music, so I loooove that Lars had that sound going on in the song!

The background vocals are great, though I wish they had used more layers or singers to give a real choir sound (more like Massachusetts). I also wish they had added a little more of the gospel ad libs to the end. Bård had a decent go of it, but they should have let those singers go a little nuts!

The use of this genre is all in the name of irony. The word "gospel" literally translates to "good news." The lyrics of the song, "this will never happen again" would seemingly be good news, except Ylvis is being completely sarcastic and actually sharing terrible news that nuclear war is incredibly likely to happen someday just because someone inadvertently messes up.

I think the use of this genre was inspired directly by Dr. Pry, as he states in his documentary interview that we've avoided a nuclear holocaust through the grace of God. One of the common themes of gospel music, especially black gospel, is hope. That said, Dr Pry isn't hopeful that we can continue to avoid that kind of disaster without some interventions on our end. Ylvis completely run with that, also painting a pretty bleak picture in the guise of upbeat, optimistic gospel music.

F - Non-Ylvis song choices: Fly Me to the Moon (Julie London)

Eve: I had to look this one up, only to find that it was the delightful cheerful music at the beginning of the episode I wanted to mention! I thought it was some of the ambient music that’s usually woven into the episode but not part of an Ylvis song. It sounds like they “tech-ed” it up a bit to fit with the science-y mood of “Aurora Borealis”. I thought it was a great opener and I love that it’s a real song with a space theme.

Robin: I don’t have much to add here; I thought they used a really cool version of “Fly Me To The Moon.” They really used a lot of Latin jazz in this episode, and this version was a good introduction to the episode.

#ylvis #stories from norway #after the story #analyzing Ylvis #WE NEED YOUR HELP #What were we missing

[canadaherligste]

AFTER THE STORY: The Andøya Rocket Incident - Stories From Norway Episode 5 Review

Hello everyone, and welcome to another edition of After The Story!  In Episode 5, Ylvis gives us a picture of the Andøya Rocket Incident, the 1995 event where a scientific rocket from Norway almost triggered nuclear war. This week, @addictedtoylvis and I are joined by my fellow Canadian Aicha, for whom this episode hit all the right comedy spots!

So please put your coffee somewhere far, far away from the nuclear console, and join us as we talk about our favourite moments, the character portrayals, and our impressions of the episode in general. As usual, we want to know what you think!

1) What was your favourite moment?

2) What were the funniest moments for you?

3) Favourite Vegard side character: Launch Chief Hallstein Thomassen, or Juri's boss?

4) Favourite Bård character:Admin Director Kolbjørn Adolfsen, Juri Mikhailovich, or Mickey (Mikhail) Mouse?

5) What did you think of Vegard’s portrayal of Boris Yeltsin?

6) What are your thoughts on the storytelling in this episode?

7) Nuclear war, as with DUI, is fairly serious subject matter. What did you think of Ylvis’ handling of the subject?

8) Do you think the situation was as serious as portrayed, or was there some creative license with the story?

9) What did you think of the makeup and costumes?

10) Any other interesting tidbits you’d like to point out from this episode?

11) What is your general impression of this episode?

12) As usual, pick the episode’s MVP.

1) What was your favourite moment?

Eve: Listening to Vegard sing that last note in “I cannot push the butTONNNNNNNNNNNN!” And also the moment in the first song when the two scientists talk about how they never get tired of the Northern Lights. That makes me feel a little weepy.

Robin: I have a couple (surprise!). I love the scene in Andøya as they all survey the aurora borealis. Having seen the auroras when I was in Northern Canada, I was a little nostalgic. The lights truly are breathtaking and I really felt their awe. Second is literally everything about “Russian Government Process”, but the “equal rights for gays” is a cut above the rest just because that line was so quick and dirty! Loved it.

Aicha: Am I allowed to cop out and say the whole episode was my favourite moment? As you’ll soon find out, I can’t shut up about “Russian Government Process” so all the tiny moments in that segment were my favourite.

2) What were the funniest moments for you?

Eve: In an episode which was too scary to me to laugh much, my favorite funny moment was when Vegard stamped the document with a stamp that said “sånn og sånn.”

Robin: My biggest laugh out loud moment was when Mickey Mouse said, "Do you really want to kill me and all my friends?" - and they cut to a picture of Ross and Rachel. I loved that play on words and it surprised me...I was cracking up.

Aicha:

1. “Sann og sann og sann og sann”

2. The Russian official running through the Kremlin yelling “Raketa, raketa, raketa!” 3.. When the Russian officials point to the garbage as the place to put “rights for gays” and “asking for a raise” and also when they request that their omelet be “circumcised”.   4.  When Boris Yeltsin refers to Mickey Mouse as “Mikhail Mouse!?” I just lost it. 5. Poor Juri’s feet hanging from the ceiling during the final song (literally gallows humour) 6. LUNCH TIIIIIME! *flying papers*

3) Favourite Vegard side character: Launch Chief Hallstein Thomassen, or Juri's boss?

Eve: Juri’s boss! I don’t like the overdone prosthetics (more on that later), so I was happy to see Vegard acting with his actual face. The exasperated-but-resigned delivery of “Every time” always makes me smile. Even when a character LOOKS like Vegard, he still changes his mannerisms so much that he does disappear into the character, and this is a good example of that.

Robin: I don’t think I can actually choose between the two. I really love them both. Vegard was adorable as Hallstein and the voice he used for the character made him so cute! I really felt his enthusiasm and passion about his job, and I was totally getting excited with him as he got ready to launch the rocket. That said, Super Serious Russian Office Manager Person was so much fun. He had that condescending sniff down, and Eve already talked about my favourite part: his delivery of “Every time.” was SO perfect. Vegard was completely in character and I really, really enjoyed that. I want more of that, guys! More Vegard nailing it!

Aicha: Don’t forget he’s also playing the Russian technician who first detects the Norwegian rocket on the radar!  I loved the shot of him dropping his mug in slow-mo. He completely disappeared into that character because it’s only upon my 2nd or 3rd rewatch that I recognized it was Vegard! 

I love all his roles for their own reasons. Like you Robin, there’s something about his voice as Thomassen that I found particularly endearing, but Juri’s boss has to be my favourite.  I feel like he sold it as a  strict bureaucrat and his heavy Russian accent was fun to hear especially when he says “Just rellyaxx”.  That scene was very tightly paced and everything he did was on point.

4) Favourite Bård character:Admin Director Kolbjørn Adolfsen, Juri Mikhailovich, or Mickey(Mikhail) Mouse?

Eve: Oh my heavens, Juri Mikhailovich. Wow. Bård’s performance never wavered. He never lost that faintly scared, wide-eyed look, and I can just FEEL the nervousness, uncertainty, and eagerness to please radiating off him. Maybe it helped that he didn’t have to sing, so he could focus all his energy on embodying that character. There were so many perfect physical moments as well -- dropping the envelopes in the beginning, squaring his shoulders and sitting straight at the desk, and a moment I’ll leave to Robin to describe. I almost think this may be my favorite Bård character in the entire series. As great as those performances were, I thought Geir and Northug were occasionally overwrought, with all the neck and head rubbing, but this role was just subtle perfection.

Robin: POOR JURI! I feel like at this point we’re a broken record about how freakin’ good Bård  is and it shouldn’t still be surprising five episodes in, but how he managed to become an 18-year-old nervous Russian clerk is beyond me. I actually forgot at one point that it was Bård, and I was really feeling for this kid who was new on the job and completely overwhelmed. One of my favourite moments comes at the end of the "Russian Government process", right before the scene ends. Juri is holding the letter from Andøya and looking at the shelves, and he just sighs and drops his shoulders. There's something about that moment that's just so very human in the face of being overwhelmed and helpless. It's such a simple movement but it conveys so much.

Aicha:   Poor, poor Juri </3 A good actor makes the audience feel empathy during a relatable situation, and Bård was able to do just that. We’ve all been the “new guy” at some point.  Bård totally nailed the nervousness and confusion I know I felt at my first job where everything looked  too complicated and it seemed impossible to keep up with my new instructions. Juri was so genuine that I felt like he was a real character with a tragic backstory (and tragic end). I agree with you Robin, at one point I forgot it was Bard too!  I especially liked the part with him acting all flustered while taking lunch orders. Juri is my favourite Bård character in the show so far.

5) What did you think of Vegard’s portrayal of Boris Yeltsin?

Eve: Initially I thought this was a little exaggerated, but after Robin pointed me to some Yeltsin videos on YouTube, I was instead impressed with how accurate it was. He could sometimes be very high-energy and I can *almost* see him leaping across the lawn for real. But my favorite moments in that performance are two very small subtle ones (I am seeing a trend here): When they first present him with the suitcase and open it, and he looks up at them with a bit of indignant shock and slams it shut, and then when he comes out of his Cheget reverie and looks up at the officers shouting at him to push the button, and he looks overwhelmed and a little frightened. Vegard often acts with a bit of a wink to the audience (as opposed to Bård often playing roles completely straight), but I didn’t see him winking there.

Robin: I think Eve and I have similar observations. If you ever watch “The Best of Drunk Boris Yeltsin” on Youtube, you understand why Vegard (and Ole Martin, I presume) ramps up the caricature. Vegard is REALLY good at playing characters with high energy, and he does shine that way. The genius of Yeltsin, though, isn’t so much in the exaggerated moments, but in the quieter ones and the forceful ones. My favourite moment is during “Push the Button” where he goes, “Yes, I’m a Russian, just like you.” At that moment, you really see Yeltsin’s resolve and defiance, and the fact that Vegard could get that across with the amount of prosthetics and makeup he had on was absolutely brilliant.

Aicha:  I live for Boris Yeltsin’s Mikhail Mouse breakdown. Ylvis took full liberties with the CIA agent saying that he probably suffered mentally from the stress. It was the perfect way to showcase Yeltsin’s love for America while also portraying the man’s “frayed nerves” at the same time.

I think Vegard did very well considering all the prosthetics, and mad props for running down those flights of stairs so fast! I love how he went into an small interpretative dance routine worthy of a Sia music video despite the ill fitting tux and fat suit, that made me laugh. The Russ-English butchering of classic American things like “frenchy fries” and “Timey Square” were a nice touch. The way Vegard changed his voice for the role was what sold the character for me.  

6) What are your thoughts on the storytelling in this episode?

Robin: After the random absurd madness that was Northug Pt 2, I enjoyed the structure and flow of this episode. The documentary portions were relevant and seemingly well-informed, and I thought they did a great job of getting points of view from all the stakeholders; Norway, Russia and the US. That said, man was this ever a dark story.

Eve: The story was riveting. I was on the edge of my seat for all of it. I enjoyed how happy and excited the scientists were, and then the sense of doom when the radar guy saw the rocket and dropped his coffee, and the gradual buildup to the tense moment of Yeltsin’s decision. But it wasn’t much of a relief after that, so it ended on a fairly tense note. The only part that felt a little off, too much of a tangent from the buildup, was “My Cheget”, which I mostly cringed through, although it did have some great lines.

Aicha:    Yes, after last week’s surreal episode, this one set me back on track. It had the same fast pacing of some previous episodes that I loved. It felt like a real mini-documentary ; something a social studies teacher could actually show to their class. It also feels like something that people who aren’t Norwegian or aren’t into Ylvis can appreciate because they can learn something new and the subject matter is  sadly still relevant to our current political climate. In terms of pacing, it was near perfect but I have to agree with Eve that the “Cheget” segment threw things off a little. That being said, it was one of the few times in the episode where the comedy lightened up and wasn’t so dark. It was like a reverse PayBack episode where Ylvis are actually nice to an inanimate object, lol! “Russian Government Process” really made this episode for me. It gave me Wes Anderson vibes (Tight shots, quick editing, vintage colour scheme, dry acting, quirky humour, immaculate uniforms etc) …I hope they release it on Youtube because I’ll be watching it an unhealthy amount of times.

7) Nuclear war, as with drunk driving, is fairly serious subject matter. What did you think of Ylvis’ handling of the subject?

Eve: They never let up on the seriousness of the situation. It was a little overwhelming. All those shots of bombs going off, mushroom clouds billowing, and things being blown to smithereens … this episode was one long nightmare punctuated with pops of comedy. So much so that I think it’s a good episode, but it was too heavy for me to feel light enough to laugh. The end of it was particularly scary, with the serious faces in the pub, the counts of nuclear bombs in each country, and the knowledge that there WILL be another near-miss, if not an outright error.

Robin: Hahahahaha WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!! I agree with Eve, they definitely did not sugarcoat the actual incident. Not to mention they chose to end the episode by making us understand by far how completely super fucked we are, with all these nuclear capable countries with questionable leadership and/or precarious or volatile international relations, as Mickey Mouse walks away into the distance of a nuclear disaster zone while whistling to the sound of a Geiger counter rattling. Man. Ylvis was not playing around here.

Aicha:

Ever since watching the (ancient) “Bongo Party” sketch where Ylvis comment on racism, I’ve been waiting for them to handle heavier subject matter again.

I’m a sucker for social commentary, and I  think they approach heavy topics with a finesse, class and maturity that many comedians lack. For example,  they were able to roast Bieber and Northug without going too far.

This episode was rife with gallows humour and I found myself laughing from beginning to end. Yes it’s a serious topic, but some would argue that a big role of comedy is making hard subjects easier to discuss and digest without going into total despair.

I think this episode does that wonderfully; we’re fundamentally f—ed,  but it’s also pretty absurd at the same time, innit? The ending was sarcastic in a way that makes us reflect about how we deal with these things as a species. We sweep it under the rug and cross our fingers, which is such a ridiculous thing to do when faced with such potential devastation.

8) Do you think the situation was as serious as portrayed, or was there some creative license with the story?

Eve: Well, I think it was serious in the sense that this is the closest we’ve ever been to actually launching a nuclear attack, because it was the only time a nuclear suitcase has ever been opened. But the reports by the interviewees really ramped up the fear factor, and when Ylvis translated that into Yeltsin being yelled at by officers and agonizing over whether to push the button, it was really kind of terrifying. I assumed that was actually how it happened, but with tense talking instead of yelling, and with Mickey Mouse and Ronald McBurgleson not being part of the decision. But I Googled, and the nuclear suitcase, according to Wikipedia, was automatically activated as a result of the alert, not because Yeltsin specifically asked for it. This article from PBS/NOVA (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/military/nuclear-false-alarms.html) sheds a little more light on the situation: The suitcase contains the launch codes AND it “allows the Russian president to communicate with his top military advisers and review the situation online… However, we can be fairly confident that Yeltsin's football showed that Russia was not under attack and that the Russian early-warning system was functioning perfectly.” So in other words, the alert jumped up to the top extremely quickly -- which is necessary if there’s a bomb-lookin’ thing approaching your airspace -- but once they looked at the data, it became clear it was not an attack. So you could say that the system worked as intended, despite the drop in communication from Norway, and the creative license may have been taken by Peter and Pavel and everyone else who speculated about what happened in that room.

Aicha:  I  doubt that generals were standing in front of Yeltsin literally shouting in his face, but I think that was necessary for the story telling.

It’s pretty serious and scary that the Cheget was brought out and opened, regardless of the details!

Robin:SFN is a show in a weird awesome genre which seems to solely exist to take creative license with the accounts of real life situations. There probably was as much yelling as there was caviar chugging at the Northug cabin. I’ve been doing some reading and there seem to be a lot of contradictory accounts of the incident. That said, I’m with Aicha on this one. Regardless of whether there was yelling or just conversation, whether it was a button or an elaborate sequence of codes and communications, whether it was automatic or instigated, whether it involved a dance number or just serious concern, the fact that the world came so close to nuclear war due to a simple miscommunication is actually insane and scary. But hey, this will never ever happen again, right?

9) What did you think of the makeup and costumes?

Eve: Sigh. I’m really not a fan of the overly exaggerated prosthetic faces. They look like Jocelyn Wildenstein and it covers up the subtleties of their acting that I so enjoy. I mean, it would have been cool for them to convey the excitement of the scientists with their faces, the way they do when they talk about CERN or airplanes. Bård as Kolbjørn also looked weirdly like Ted Danson to me, but I will admit they nailed that strange brow ridge that Yeltsin has. And I do like the costumes -- the scientist outfits were dead on with the button-down shirts and Dockers, and the military uniforms looked great. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re really accurate too, unless they just grabbed them out of the closet where they got the “fox” costumes.

Aicha: If this had been a dramatic production, I think the prosthetics are way over the top and would never pass  basic Hollywood standards. Because it’s a comedy, it works.  If anything I just felt bad for the bros because that amount of latex looks really itchy and uncomfortable. The military and bureaucratic uniforms were immaculate and beautiful and I love them. As for Mikhail Mouse, I found the costume unsettling and not at all cute like a real cuddly Mickey Mouse from DisneyLand,  but it fits in context of the episode. Mikhail Mouse looks like he should be an eerie mascot haunting the decrepit abandoned amusement park from Chernobyl - the site of a catastrophic nuclear failure……. Robin: I agree with both of you. I think the over-the-top prosthetics and makeup are part of the comedy and I enjoy watching them. They’re not supposed to look exactly like the people; they’re supposed to look like they “tried” to look like their subject. I also think it’s awesome and hilarious how they always match the interview clothing of the person they’re portraying. That said, I do agree with Eve in that the prosthetics, especially when they’re as heavy as Yeltsin or the Andoya staff, can distract or obscure the facial nuances in their performances.

10) Any other interesting tidbits you’d like to point out from this episode?

Eve: Priscilla!! She turns up briefly, in at least two shots, in the pub at the end.

Robin: I want to sing with Priscilla!! Anyway...as much as I enjoyed the “Friends” reference, I’m just going to point out that Ross and Rachel were not actually together yet on “Friends” when this incident happened in January of 1995. So there’s that. Also, I LOVE the opening frame of the credits, with “Concorde” in the Disney font, and “presented in Nukavision and glorious atomichrome.” These guys, I swear.

Aicha: HA! I was curious as to whether Ylvis would have bothered making sure the “Friends” timeline made sense - thanks for checking Robin! One thing that bothers me slightly is how positively ancient they made Thomassen and Kolbjorn look with the prosthetics. Yes they are old now, but this incident happened 23 years ago! Surely they didn’t look as old then… One thing I liked is how Mikhail Mouse isn’t in the picture frame when he’s standing on the desk. It’s small acts of continuity like this that really sells a production! I also appreciated the diversity of the people present in the Andoya pub. Norway is regarded as being one of the “whitest countries ever”, so it was nice to see Norwegians of many races represented there especially in a scene that drives home the point that big issues like this affect us all.

11) What is your general impression of this episode?

Robin: This episode had teeth and claws, it was amazing and unsettling, and this was probably the blackest humour that I recall seeing from Ylvis. The insanely sharp jab at Russian LGBT discrimination, the “our leaders are intelligent” frame, the hanging legs at the Russian Foreign Affairs office - these guys were not pulling political punches at all. It was both startling and glorious all at once. Then there’s how they chose to end it, with a song whose chorus and upbeat mood completely incongruous to the actual pessimism they were portraying. I loved all of the choices they made in this episode. I’m happy with this.

Eve: This is going to give me (more) nuclear holocaust nightmares. In all honesty, I’m not sure that I thought this was a funny episode. It  was entertaining, and amusing, but I didn’t laugh out loud once, and when people talk about what made them laugh, sometimes I don’t see it. I’m not sure if it’s because of the heavy subject matter or if the humor just didn’t work for me this time, for whatever reason.

Aicha:

It’s such a typical haughty hipster thing to keep saying “I have a dark sense of humour” but I guess there’s no way around it for me! I’m head over heels with this episode, I have watched it on repeat since it came out and find myself loving it more every time. I can’t help but feel like Ylvis has been itching to do heavier subject matter and I think they pull it off extremely well. I don’t necessarily want them to make every single episode like this because it would get too dark over time,  but I’m very happy this one exists.  I love all the creative choices they have made with this one and can’t think of anything else to say!

12) As usual, pick the episode’s MVP.

Eve: Can I say Mikhail Mouse? He’s the one who talked Boris out of pressing the button and saved the world from a nuclear holocaust. In terms of what made the episode work, though, I’ll have to go with Vegard. He’s the one who put all the drama and tension into the episode, from dropping his coffee at the radar screen, to his sped-up useless instructions confusing poor Juri and causing the miscommunication, to his emotional, heroic turn as Yeltsin, defying his military officers and preventing global thermonuclear war.

Aicha:  I’m going to say Vegard because he had a toughie and smashed his face on set. I also really liked the ex-CIA agent, he seemed really passionate about the subject which gave the whole thing some added gravitas.

Robin: It’s a tie between Vegard and Former CIA officer Peter Pry.  I’m telling you, Peter Pry had me riveted. The way he told the story really had me enthralled, and I love that he was so compelling that they worked him into a scene instead of just the documentary. I loved his honesty at the end about how he saw the world’s condition. That said, I agree with my comrades; Vegard propelled every part of this story, from Andøya to Russia, and he really transformed himself for each character, down to his voice and incredible physical comedy.

#Ylvis #stories from norway #after the story ylvis #analyzing ylvis

[canadaherligste]

After The Story: The Music of Stupetårnet

So when we started talking about this awesome show, we found a tiny problem.

No, no, we knew we could still do this analysis, it was just a...tiny problem.

The acting, the songs, the opening vignette - turns out one post was more than we could chew.

We had to do more study of the music of the show, we just needed not one post, but TWO.

(YLVIIIIIIIIIIS!! The things we dooooooooo….)

Welcome to part two of After the Story! We continue the discussion of Stupetårnet, breaking  it down song by song, talking about our favourites, the musical references, the genre choices, the vocals and music.

As with yesterday, our resident musical theatre expert Anna-Maija will be joining us, sharing her vast knowledge of the world of musicals and applying them to Ylvis’ genius.

As always, we want to hear what you think, what references you saw that we missed, etc.

1 - Which was your favourite song?

2 - How much do the documentary pieces contribute to the theme of the upcoming song?

3 - Genres. Homages. Parodies. Tropes. Music. Vocals.  Let’s break this down, song by song. First:

A - Hamar Town B - Tor Kraft C - Tango Problematique D - Sink The Tower E - Byberg’s Lament F - We’re All To Blame

1. Which was your favourite song?

Eve: It's a toss-up between "Tor Kraft" or "Sink the Tower". "Tor Kraft" is just so catchy (and replaying it now in my head, the beat reminds me a little of The Pointer Sisters songs I heard on the radio in the 80s), and I love the backup singers, but "Sink the Tower" is such a perfect parody of that type of song, with the marching beat, minor key, and swelling chorus.

Anna-Maija: Okay, so I love musical theatre. And so quite clearly do Ylvis. They know what they’re doing. I wonder how much of the choices came from what they already knew and how much did they do research. “Tor Kraft” was hands down my favourite song. I love the sounds and I wish I was one of the backing singers.

Robin: While “Tor Kraft” is my jam and I also wish I was one of those singers, I can’t get “Tango Problematique” out of my head. For the past two days, I’ve been walking around work singing, “Hamaaaaaaaar the thiiiiiiiiiiiings I doooooooooo…”

2. How much do the documentary pieces contribute to the theme of the upcoming song?

Eve: My curiosity got the better of me and I started typing the Norsk subtitles into Google Translate. As far as I can tell, this is just straight-up interviewing, and for at least some of the songs, the musical parody is actual exposition; it’s not a dramatization repeating what people said, but stands on its own and the interviews complement it. Tor Kraft, for example, tells us that he’s an architect, and says something about the size of the Eiffel Tower, but the song is our introduction to him and his work. After the song, he appears to be trying to explain why he wanted to put the diving complex in the middle of the lake. And something is lost in Google Translate (they call it a “curtain staircase”), but it kinda makes sense … :) So it’s nice to see that although the songs are poking fun, the interviews are actually giving these people a chance to tell their story.

Robin: You’re amazing, Eve! One of my favourite things in this episode is the interspersion of the documentary clips within “Tango Problematique.” There’s one moment, right before the song reaches its height with Bård’s vocals; there’s a shot of the real Geir. He’s not saying anything, but he’s looking down, and there’s sort of a pained look on his face, like he’s remembering how frustrating it all was and it feels so very real and present to him. I thought that was one of the most brilliant shots in the whole show; for me, it amped up the authenticity and emotion of Bård’s portrayal right after that. I loved it.

Anna-Maija: To answer the question, it’s clear they got the inspiration to the songs from the interviews. For example, the real Kraft talks about how incredibly big and formidable the Eiffel tower is. Cue Bård ringing a huge doorbell… I like how the real people are also portrayed gently but still with humour.

As a professional translator, I couldn’t stand the idea of Eve basing her analysis on Google translate, so here, have a translation of the interviews: http://tinyurl.com/StoriesFromNorway1 :D

Robin: Anna-Maija, you’re the best!!

Genres. Homages. Parodies. Tropes. Music. Vocals.  Let’s break this down, song by song. First:

HAMAR TOWN:

Anna-Maija: This is a classic musical opener song, where a character enthusiastically expresses his/her hopes and dreams, stars in their eyes, full of hope, energy and optimism. The riff in the beginning is almost identical to “Belle” from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast”. The entire song to me has a 1990s musical feel, and the chorus also brings to mind the best Eurovision ballads of the 90s. One thing that makes the 90s sound is the way the guitar plays a melody in the background of the chorus.

In the end of the song we hear something that’s only possible (and typical) in musicals and opera: two or more people are “talking” simultaneously, but you can still make out what they say. The council people are singing the verse melody and Bård is singing the chorus melody.

Eve: Doesn’t Bård twirl himself around a lamp post, a la “Singin’ in the Rain”? I also thought the staccato "Beautiful, fantastical, affordable and magical" lyric was a musical theater standby, although sadly I can’t think of a particular song that does it.

Robin: “BELLE!!” That’s what it reminded me of - I’ve been trying to place that for days!! Musical theatre isn’t my strong suit, so it’s sometimes hard for me to make those connections. All I could think of was that it sounds like every other opening song I’ve ever heard.

TOR KRAFT:

Anna-Maija: The first song that came to my mind when I heard this was “Maniac” from “Flashdance”. The genre is quite clearly 80s disco, with both the keyboard sounds and microphone reverb true to the style.

I’m not sure why this genre was selected for “Tor Kraft” - could be that the 80s indulgence and megalomania best express the man whose small cup of coffee is the size of a bucket.

Robin: Agreed, “Tor Kraft” is clearly 80s disco, with the 70s funk style paired with the 80s electronic/synthesized sound. “Maniac” came to my mind also, as well as the 80s work of The Pointer Sisters, Dazz Band and EW&F.

The background vocals on this are so amazing I wanna cry (Ylvis, when are you going to hire me, dammit). I also really love that one random background vocalist doing ad libs. It reminds me of 80s bands like Simply Red & Culture Club, blue-eyed soul bands that used searing black gospel/R&B backing vocals and ad libs for “texture.”

I think the genre reflects Tor’s character. Disco started dying in the late 70s; the 80s version of disco was sort of a last-ditch hold on a rejected, disappearing genre that was being replaced by synthpop, hair metal, and new jack swing. I think they used 80s disco to reflect Tor as being out-of-touch.

Tor, like 80s disco, was holding on to times long gone, further shown by his use of an Etch-a-Sketch, using “gay” as an disparaging adjective, and barking out orders to his black servant/background singer. Those are social faux-pas that you have to be either shameless or clueless to commit in 2008 (I think Tor was a little of both). Just as he was out-of-touch with the times, Tor was completely out-of-touch with what Geir actually wanted and with what Hamar needed.

TANGO PROBLEMATIQUE:

Anna-Maija: Tango is a seductive genre. Here Geir Byberg is seduced by the contractors and maybe even just the idea of a fancy diving board. Just listen to the sexy “sign here, please” whispers - how could Geir resist that? The diving board seduces him with the voice of an exotic woman (with a very peculiar accent that to me doesn’t sound Argentinian, even though that’s what you would expect since tango comes from Argentina but anyway).

Many musicals have used tango (for example Rent and Chicago), but this tango most brings to mind “Roxanne” from the film “Moulin Rouge”. Bård even sounds a bit like Ewan McGregor when he sings his countermelody in the end. I actually think it’s one of his best vocals (although I wasn’t a fan of McGregor’s singing in Moulin Rouge).

Robin: Yours is an interesting perspective, Anna-Maija. I see this so differently! I don’t see Geir being seduced at all; to me, he had a simple dream and at no point did he seem enamored or caught up with what everyone was pushing at him. He always seemed uncomfortable.

Tango is seductive, for sure, but the tango is also a partner dance, with a leader and a follower. The way I see it, this tango got problematique (heh) because the leader, the deputy mayor, couldn’t actually lead. Instead, he followed when he should have been leading. He wasn’t seduced; he was overpowered.

Geir lost control over the project quite early on, and was being dragged in all kinds of directions by everyone involved; architects, project managers, engineers. I think that’s why Geir is dragged off screen behind the dancers, unwillingly following them; by the time he actually tried fighting for Hamar, singing out in desperation, fighting to lead, it was too late.

Musically...holy crow, Bård Ylvisåker. I think that’s the most powerful and strong I’ve ever heard Bård sing. The pleading and desperation that came across in his voice was unreal.

Anna-Maija:  I don’t think we’ve heard Bård sing this high in full voice before, only falsetto. It’s very impressive! Your tango theory makes sense too, Robin.

SINK THE TOWER:

Anna-Maija: Another classic theatre song genre - the fight song, the most famous of which is probably “Can You Hear The People Sing” from “Les Miserables”. However, this fight song reminds me more of “The Mob Song” from, again, “Beauty and the Beast”, with people having dialogue within the song. The main ingredients of your basic fight song are military drums and staccato strings.

Side note: another fan mentioned a Norwegian musical called Which Witch, which ( :D ) apparently had a similar scene. I got interested and did some research. The show did a brief run in the West End in London, and I managed to find a full recording of a performance from 1992 on YouTube. And… let’s just say that I can see why this musical was voted the second worst show in the history of the West End! :D

Robin: What I like most about this song is the dissonance between the music and what’s actually happening by the end of the song. The military drums are supposed to denote purpose, drive, determination, all of which is present in the Riot Coordinator and the mob at the beginning of the song. They are determined to call Geir fat, microwave his cat and cover the diving tower in poop.

By the end of the song, though, the drums are still marching on, but everyone’s determination and commitment has waned. I love how they turned that song on its head that way. Freakin Lars, man.

ALSO - I have to give a shout out to @ihavesomanynotes, who brought this to my attention: the first singer that addresses the Riot Coordinator is lip-syncing to Bård Ylvisåker faking a baritone.

BYBERG’S LAMENT

Anna-Maija: It’s time for the lamenting ballad! It starts with the classic theatre song chord progression trick, where the dominant chord is minor instead of major. It gives the song a very wistful and bittersweet feeling. If you listen to “Someday I’ll Fly Away” from “Moulin Rouge”, you’ll notice the same trick in the beginning of the song.

In this kind of a song especially, the emotion and the acting is more important than singing “correctly” or sounding great, and Bård really goes almost overbård (HA!) with his sniffing and weeping. Which is great.

This song also sounds very 90s. In tone it brings to mind “Lament” from “Evita”, especially the bit where the music stops and Bård sings the last word a cappella and starts weeping. BUT! There is light in the darkest night and God appears like Mufasa in “The Lion King”! The characters speak on top of music - a much used trope in musical theatre, also for example in that scene in “Lion King”. The God in the cloud also reminded me of this scene from the Monty Python film “Holy Grail”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ42IMu7HIQ

Robin: The boys have played with this trope before, with “Ka Kan Eg Gi Deg” in Ylvis III.  At the end of that song, Vegard can’t sing the last word because of his “tears” (about not getting to talk about building legislation). Geir Byberg could have used some building legislation.

Eve: Robin, I almost spat out my tea at that last sentence. LOL!!! I think nobody has mentioned Phantom of the Opera yet, so I’ll mention here that Byberg’s Lament reminded me of Gerard Butler’s Phantom singing “He was bound to love you/When he heard you sing/Christine…” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cstkOZXuVuo) Byberg’s story took a much lighter turn, though.

Robin: Sidenote: I googled Byberg today, and it turns out he’s part of the Christian Democratic Party in Norway. So I guess that’s why he’s getting divine advice from the Most High Himself. Also, “there will be biscuits there” makes me giggle every time.

Anna-Maija: Haha, I fully believe that’s where Ylvis got their inspiration for divine intervention! Vegard ex machina! Anyway, I just came to add that Bård’s loud vibrato note at the end of this song demonstrates what I don’t like in Hugh Jackman’s singing style (in “Les Miserables” for example)!

WE’RE ALL TO BLAME

Anna-Maija: This is a combination of different musical genres, made up a bit like the Finale song of Monty Python’s “Spamalot”, another parody musical. First we get something that sounds like Stephen Sondheim wrote it, like“Sweeney Todd”, with the lower class British accents and the lady with the hag voice, and speech-like singing. The song starts building up slowly. First Byberg is confessing, and the melody goes in minor. Then more people start to take the blame, hope rises and the melody turns to major. The song turns into a more playful tune that brings to mind classic musicals from the 50s and 60s. In the end we get a classic musical ending number of a 40s/50s musical with a full orchestra, repeating some themes from previous songs, in this case “Hamar Town”.

Robin: I am learning so much from you!!  I laughed at that part in the beginning where the girl with the hypernasal voice and exaggerated Cockney-meets-The-Bronx accent sings, “Someone needs to go!”, and everyone just looks at her like “WTF is that voice?” I’ve heard that a lot in musical ensemble numbers (don’t ask me which ones) and I love how they lampshaded it.

I really like how the military marching beat kicks in for the two bars that Mr Riot Coordinator sings. I love that in musicals, when the character’s musical motif shows up in every song he’s in. “Hamilton” does that A LOT (e.g. A-lex-AN-der HA-milton, Aaron Burr - sir, Eliiiiiiiza) and it’s awesome.

Also, I LOVE the ending reprise of Hamar Town.The harmonies on that reprise just make me wanna cry.

P.S. I watched this again while reading Anna-Maija’s translations. In the interviews, Tor Kraft never actually admitted to having a role in the “catastrophic stew” that was this tower’s development. So I can’t help but feel that Ylvis were making a point in this song, by putting Tor Kraft front and centre, making him first to admit his culpability after Geir.

#ylvis #stories from norway #after the story ylvis #analyzing ylvis #Stupetårnet #tor kraft #hamar #geir byberg #THE MUSIC IS INSANE

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Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition: The Sixties

Well, you asked for it, and who are we not to give the people what they want...Welcome to the 2016 season of Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition!

That’s right folks, Throwback Thursday is back in full swing. This year, there’s a team of us working in pairs every other week to bring you completely obsessive analyses, over-the-top attention-to-detail, fangirling of epic proportions, and hopeless Bård meltdowns. (Okay, fine, that last one is just me.)

Miss @addictedtoylvis​ and I kicking things off this week with Ylvis’ own parody of a throwback period piece, The Sixties.

So do a Texas Two-step, splash a little whisky on your face, grab some guacamole and come join us as we talk about the parody, the social commentary, and our list of Sixties tops!.

Over the next several weeks you’ll hear from the rest of the team: Lana, Meredith and Aicha. As always, we welcome your suggestions, contributions and feedback. So reply, reblog, retweet, tag, comment - we want to hear your thoughts!

Where does "The Sixties" rank for you compared to the other Ylvis trailer sketches?

Have you watched Mad Men? Is this an accurate spoof?

What was your favourite moment, and what did you find funniest?

 Do you think there were any intentions outside of parodying or paying homage to Mad Men?

Did you notice anything new for the first time upon rewatch?

Do you see evidence of the outtakes in the actual trailer?

What do you think of the soundtrack and the score?

 Any thoughts on the review quotes in the trailer?

What other awards would you give “The Sixties” besides "second best use of an ashtray in a non-verbal scene?"

As always, let's be superficial and talk about their appearance.

Finally - the list of tops! The list of Sixties tops!  Name your favourite:

“Sixties expression”

“Classic boys names of the ‘60s”

Sixties set piece

Sixties hat

1. Where does "The Sixties" rank for you compared to the other Ylvis trailer sketches?

Robin: As far as trailer sketches are concerned, “The Sixties” is at the top for me, no question. It’s so well done, every second of it! The jokes are constant and absurd, the intent of the parody is bang on, and balance between the humour and the social commentary is perfect. The others are great, but this tops it all. It even tops Bård’s badassery and hurt-me-now sexiness in Payback. (Yeah, you heard me.)

Eve: *raises eyebrows* Wow! I don’t think I anything could top Payback for me except Intolerant. I agree, this is extremely well done, but I think, for me, it still falls below the others we analyzed. “Maximum Gardening” was delightfully unexpected and absurd, and I really loved how perfectly “Jaques et Florine” captured the essence of French art house movies. At times “The Sixties” just felt like a list of Sixties stuff, and I would have enjoyed more of the more pointed social commentary. I was disappointed to see they left out the bit about “harsh treatment of women” from the outtakes.(x)

2. Have you watched Mad Men? Is this an accurate spoof?

Eve: I’ve seen most of Mad Men, and my first reaction was to wonder why Bård was yelling so much. I remember the main character of Mad Men as primarily one of those annoyingly stoic men who doesn’t say much, and when he does, he mumbles. So I think this is more a spoof of the slavish attention the show paid to period accuracy and of the viewers’ enamored reaction to it. And it does that extremely well. I also enjoyed how well it captured the look of the show, from the sets and lighting to the camera angles (particularly the one in the beginning over the round staircase).

Robin: I haven’t watched Mad Men, though I have paid a lot of attention to Jon Hamm (he’s sooo handsome). I recognized that the fonts and colours of the words were the same. Though I did have a colleague once who lived through the 60s who actually told me, “I just watch the show because it reminds me of that time!”. I sent her “The Sixties” and she loved it and thought it was bang on. (She then recommended that I see that one called “Intolerant”...)

3. What was your favourite moment, and what did you find funniest?

Robin: My favourite moment is when Bård’s character says “Throw a big party September 11th? Why not, it’s the sixties.” I remember hearing that for the first time and thinking that was one of the most genius lines ever; it’s funny and wrong all at once, and so perfectly placed.  Funniest is when Bård yells, “Of course I slept with my secretary! It’s the sixties! ARRRGGHH!!” The exasperation there is just so funny (also Bård yelling). Close second is the look on the kid’s face after Bård puts the cigarette in his mouth. It makes me giggle every time.

Eve: The humor of the September 11th line is compounded by his completely serious expression while wearing a San Francisco Cocktease. But I think the part that made me laugh out loud was when I realized he was making a pyramid out of his drinking glasses. That and “nibble on my cock.”

4. Do you think there were any intentions outside of parodying or paying homage to Mad Men?

Eve: There’s a bit of criticism (aimed at viewers, again, I think) for romanticizing a period that was pretty backwards from an equal rights perspective. The actual show attempted to address this in a critical way, as well as eventually touching on the feminist and civil rights movements, but a lot of viewers were enjoying the show as a “good old days” kinda thing when for many people, they really weren’t. The most obvious digs at this were “Of course I slept with my secretary! It’s the Sixties!” and the I-can’t-believe-they-did-that review quote about beating up a Negro. Wow. When they go there, they really go there.

Robin: I agree, though I think it’s more than a bit. I made this point in a discussion on Facebook quite recently. I’m not sure if it’s aimed at the viewers or partly at the creators, but there’s definitely pointed critique of a show that romanticizes a period also known for rampant racism and misogyny, and that glorifies the excessive smoking and drinking that occurred then.

The “beating up a Negro” line was bang on, and touches on what race relations actually were like during the civil rights movement in the ‘60s. The “of course I slept with my secretary” line was particularly notable because it showed just how different the gender standards were. The woman sleeps with a guy at work and she’s vilified; but of course the man sleeps with his secretary. Apart from his wife, all the other women in this trailer are just props. In the deleted scenes/bloopers, there’s a shot of Bård’s character beating up his wife -- I don’t mind that they deleted it from the actual trailer because it might have been a little too on the nose, but I think their intentions are very clear.

5. Did you notice anything new for the first time upon rewatch?

Robin: I noticed that all the hats really have the same specifications. Also, Bård does a quick half-smile after he tells the kids “let’s play some ball” that is SUPER cute. I also notice how much the brothers actually look alike. It always takes me half a second to realize that’s Vegard in his first appearance in the car; half his face is shaded and he looks so much like his brother!

Eve: He really does!! I *still* do a double take when I see that shot. What surprised me on re-watch was realizing how much Vegard was in it -- he has several appearances with no dialogue that I failed to notice before -- and most of all, realizing that Christian Løchstøer was in it! I saw him in at least three scenes, which I think is the most we’ve seen of him in a single video, isn’t it? I think he may be at the top of the table in “La Det På Is” but I can barely see him.

Robin: I totally didn’t notice Christian until you pointed him out!

6. Do you see evidence of the outtakes in the actual trailer?

Eve: I didn’t realize how carefully cut the “I’ve got whisky on my face again!” scene was! It looks like he never got a single perfect take. It must have been so frustrating given that they had to dry everything off and change clothes every time he screwed up.

Robin: I noticed that too! It was kind of obvious that the scene was pieced together from different takes.

7. What do you think of the soundtrack and the score?

Robin: As always, the Ylvis team makes impeccable music choices, and I don’t know what composition is during the first part of the trailer, but it’s fantastic. It has that 60s jazz/swing feel to it. I also love that right when Bård yells at Vegard about everything screaming 1962, the soundtrack becomes an actual hit song from 1962 - “Most People Get Married” by Patti Page. A little on the nose regarding gender roles too. Score one for authenticity, boys.

Eve: It was interesting that the bass line running through the video was somehow so evocative of the one in the “Mad Men” theme without actually sounding like it.

8. Any thoughts on the review quotes in the trailer?

Eve: I was amused that they chose not to do a voiceover for the most shocking quote, when they did for all the others. I wondered if it was for emphasis or if they couldn’t bring themselves to say it out loud. And I particularly enjoyed that the newspaper for that quote was the “Bostington Post.” LOL!

Robin: I think it was for emphasis. Not only did they choose to not do a voiceover, they put “Negro” in red to make the visual even more stark, and more uncomfortable. I thought it was interesting that even the person’s correction of themselves used a politically incorrect (by American standards) term, as the correct term to use in the US is “African American”. I know Ylvis knows this because of a joke they made on Brille about Vegard’s hair. This could have been deliberate, to indicate that the viewers who watch for the historical “accuracy” don’t really get what’s wrong about romanticizing that era, because they themselves are out of touch with social progress.

9. What other awards would you give “The Sixties” besides "second best use of an ashtray in a non-verbal scene?"

Robin: “Best Balancing Act - Multiple Glasses of Whiskey and a Cigarette”, “Best Angry Exhalation of Smoke by a Norwegian”, and the “Best Screencap for Vegard Ylvisåker’s Twitter Profile Picture” awards.

Eve: “Best Cinematic Use for All That Crap You Found in Your Grandparents’ Basement,” maybe. Including the hats.

10. As always, let's be superficial and talk about their appearance.

Eve: Mainly I watch this video trying to figure out where they put all that hair and looking for glimpses of Bård’s little ponytail. This is not my aesthetic at all. I will say I enjoy how the lighting played up the angles in their faces, and how alike they look when you take the hair out of the equation. And I do enjoy seeing Bård’s little elf ears.

Robin: It’s interesting, because to me “John Nixonson” doesn’t look like Bård, and also kinda doesn’t sound like Bård. To me Bård seems like a completely different version of himself, and I only see glimpses now of the person we’re used to every now and then. It’s one of the things I enjoy most about him; his ability to be physically lost in a character.  Also, I love his ears, and though I’m not attracted to smokers, HEAVEN HELP ME when he’s exhaling that smoke.

11. Finally - the list of tops! The list of Sixties tops!  Name your favourite:

“Sixties expression”

Robin: As much as I love guacamole, “Nibble on my cock, I don’t believe it!” NEEDS to be a saying.

Eve:  I don’t even care about the guacamole part. I just like saying “Holy fist-fucking father of fucker!” I greatly appreciate the alliteration.

”Classic boys names of the ‘60s”

Robin: I’m going with “Frisky Frask” because of the continuity in the trailer - genius.

Eve: If I were the type of person to change my Tumblr name, it would have been “Soodle Doodle Dick” for a good long while.

Sixties set piece

Robin: I’m going with “the coconut thing” because what actually is that thing’s name?! Everyone’s parents have one!

Eve: Definitely the Alabama abortion machine, because WTF and what actually is that thing?! (Okay, I did some Googling, and I think Ylvis probably knew exactly what it was, which makes this even funnier.)

Sixties hat

Robin: Absolutely the San Francisco Cocktease. By a mile. Because what about that hat is actually a tease!?

 Eve:  The Baltimore Pussymagnet. “Pussymagnet” was funny enough, but then tacking on Baltimore (why Baltimore? How do Norwegians even know about Baltimore?) just made it that much better.

#throwback thursday brovis edition #analyzing ylvis #ylvis the sixties #WE'RE BACK

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Analyzing Ylvis: A Capella and Michael Jackson

Guess who suddenly has time to analyze Ylvis?! This girl!! I’ve been benched at home for a few days, recovering from an illness. (sigh) What about bacteria? How do I keep them from growing…inside me…

Anyway, enough about me. Let’s talk about Ylvis, and their first song of the season, A Capella. While there’s a lot to be said about the quality of the voices and harmonies (yes I died a little bit), what I really want to talk about is the tag at the end, the Michael Jackson “Bad” samba. That tag is brilliant, and is connected so perfectly with Ylvis’ concept.

The story of the A Capella music video is one of a young boy who is getting bullied, but who learns to fight back using the power of a capella music. He is guided by 5 singers in woolen hats and leather straps, whose weapons are the ability to switch music genres, and whose vocal cords are their guns. The video includes a “fight” where they fend off their attackers using the power of music.

Ending that story with a Michael Jackson samba is so on-the-nose (sorry) it’s ridiculous, since the whole fight-by-music schtick is used in quite a few of MJ’s videos.

In “Beat It”, we have two gangs having a showdown, and they’re actually pretty badass with their knife fight, until MJ shows up and convinces them not to fight and do some dance choreography instead. “Smooth Criminal” has a similar story; just trade the gangs for old school gangsters. “You Rock My World” had MJ and his dancers take on the mafia for a woman’s affections.

There is something inspiring about the power of music being able to vanquish a foe. On the other hand, let’s be real. A punch would be more effective. The thing with this fight-by-music concept is that it’s somehow simultaneously awesome and lame.

To really appreciate this though, we have to look at the MJ song that Ylvis actually used in A Capella, “Bad”. The attitude and vitriol with which MJ sings this song is pretty brazen and rebellious. However, nothing could possibly convey how objectively lame this concept is than the opening line of a song that’s supposedly about being badass: “Your butt is mine!”

Not “I’ll kick your ass!” or “I’mma beat the crap out of you!”, but “your butt is mine.” Honestly. The whole song is supposed to be MJ (in his own leather straps) giving a verbal smackdown to his nemesis, but he starts off with one of the most laughably non-threatening threats to ever threaten. The song later goes into the chorus with the prettiest backup vocals singing “I’m bad! Really really bad!” Oh the dissonance.

That’s not unlike the a capella music that Ylvis is parodying in this song. A capella music is beautiful (and I sing it too so I’m biased), but when it’s done with the sort of self-important, grandiose and ethereal earnesty that certain groups do it with, it can be a bit ridiculous. Ylvis choosing to make it a weapon of warfare really shows off that contrast. Using MJ’s “Bad” – and its incredibly sad excuse for a threat – at the end really highlights that idea.

I’d like, as usual, to think that this was Ylvis’ intention. Or, you know, it just as easily could have been Bård’s favourite MJ song. Or Vegard’s. Or Christian’s or Lars’. What do I know. So my usual disclaimer applies - this is strictly conjecture, and they’d probably laugh this off and roll their eyes. “All genius depicted in this video is strictly coincidental.” Cheers, Robin

#analyzing ylvis #ylvis #a capella

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Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition: Janym

Hey Everyone!  It’s Throwback Thursday time again!  We’re getting closer and closer to Ylvis giving us some new stuff to fangirl about (about freakin’ time), but until then, we’re gonna keep having fun with their old stuff. Besides, Eve and I couldn’t completely leave Kyrgyzstan without talking about that song: Janym.

Sooo get your clapping hands ready and help the boys out with those girl vocals, and come join us as we talk about Bård and Vegard vocals, the music, the video, and how much of this song we can actually sing along to. As usual, the questions are below, as is our discussion, and you know we want to hear your thoughts too!

1. Where does Janym place in your personal ranking of the Ylvis discography? 2. How do you think the video came together, given the behind-the-scenes look we saw? 3. Do you think Janym needs the BiK context to be funny? Or can it stand alone? 4. What was the funniest part of the video for you? 5. The video seems to have been plotted and directed by other people, but do you notice any unique Ylvis touches in the video? 6. Any comments on the video’s production? 7. ‘Fess up: Have you imagined yourself as the princess? 8. What do you think of the song’s musical composition? 9. Let’s talk about Vegard’s vocals, shall we? 10. How do you feel about Bård’s “sexy passion” vocals? 11. Which is your favourite live performance of Janym? 12. Which Janym performance was the best one during the BiK series? 13. Okay, how much of this song can you actually sing along to?

1. Where does Janym place in your personal ranking of the Ylvis discography?

Eve: If I remember right, it took me a while to warm up to Janym. The song wasn’t particularly funny, so it was overshadowed by their other songs, and I’ve never been able to find phonetic lyrics so I could learn to sing along. Eventually, though, the catchiness of the song grew on me and it’s one of the songs that energizes me while I’m running and I like to dance around to it when it’s on.

Robin: I think it also took me a while, but Janym is in my top 10 - that song is a jam. When it comes on my iPod I have to repeat it at least twice before I can move along. It’s totally catchy, very danceable, and come on, who can resist that hand-clap in the chorus? Not to mention how much I love butchering Bård’s falsetto at the end...

2. How do you think the video came together, given the behind-the-scenes look we saw?

Robin: Given the madness of the behind the scenes, I expected much more of a train wreck of a video than what we got. That said, you can tell it was shot chronologically just by looking at Bård’s hair. There were a couple things in the video that we didn’t see behind the scenes, like Ylvis plotting to storm the tent, so that was cool.

Eve: Honestly, the documentary and the video are completely jumbled in my head at this point, so it’s hard to say. Mainly I found myself hoping to find some sexual tension between the two adorable male actors who were cuddling between takes.

3. Do you think Janym needs the BiK context to be funny? Or can it stand alone?

Eve: The video is amusing, and more comedic than I remembered, but the humor doesn’t generally seem Ylvis-specific, not as unexpected or oddball as Ylvis might have done. I feel like I’ve seen all the humor before already. So in order for this to by Ylvisfunny, I think you do need the BiK context, knowing those background details like the boys’ amusement with the plot and the snafu that resulted in a bunch of random in street clothes appearing at the end.

Robin: I think it’s funny on it’s own, but funnier with context. On its own, there’s a lot of humour, what with the sped-up Chaplinesque action scenes and the random W-T-F terrible dancers in modern garb.  But with the BiK context, the bad dancers become Ilya and Big Boss’ wife, and that’s even funnier.

4. What was the funniest part of the video for you?

Robin: The funniest thing for me is that they still don’t know the words when they’re filming this video. Both brothers are fumbling the verses at the beginning, and I can’t stop laughing every time I see that. The fight scene also kills me - it’s so hammy!

Eve: I think I actually laughed out loud when Bård took that bowl-shaped thing with legs and put it over the head of the bad guy, because I didn’t notice it before and it was so ridiculous. Vegard's over there expertly swordfighting and Bård's employing slapstick. But hey, it worked, they rescued the princess.

5. The video seems to have been plotted and directed by other people, but do you notice any unique Ylvis touches in the video?

Eve: Mainly it seems to be Ylvis being themselves that I noticed. In the car, with I-have-a-pilot’s-license Vegard driving and looking alert and Bård sleeping. When they are lying on the ground conferring about how to rescue the princess and we see bossy Vegard with cooperative Bård smoothing working together as usual..

Robin: I didn’t notice anything really that was uniquely Ylvis in terms of the actual production. That said, Vegard is lipsyncing over his brother at the end, again. It floors me how many times this has happened. I understand why it happened in Janym (more so than Intolerant and The Fox) - Bård is singing both the last chorus and the falsetto, and can’t exactly sing both lines at the same time. It just bugs me because what I hear is not what I see.  

6. Any comments on the video’s production?

Robin: I liked the camera work at the beginning, as they drove up. It was shaky and faded and blurry, and it gave their drive up a bit of a surreal feeling. Which is kinda cool, when you consider that the drive up was the most normal part of the story, and their transformation into Kyrgyz warriors was what was surreal.

Eve: I'm not knocking it here, just observing, but: I was surprised by how amateur the production values seemed. It was especially striking because Ylvis's production values for their music videos are exceptionally good, I think. I wondered if Sasha isn't that Big of a Boss, or if the music video production industry in Kirgisistan has not caught up to the rest of the world. Or was it deliberate, for any reason? Aside from choppy editing and awkward interactions, there was weird stuff like that distracting bug/spot on lens, and the appearance of random people in street clothes at the end was an odd choice. Funny in an awkward sort of way, but was that Big Boss's intention?

7. ‘Fess up: Have you imagined yourself as the princess?

Eve: *sheepish smile* Well, of course! I am very jealous when she comes out of the yurt holding a hand of each one and they are frolicking and looking so happy. It’s fun to imagine being romantically involved with both of them and not having to think too hard about the logistics of that.

Robin: You know, I had to think about this one. I don’t think that I have ever in my life imagined myself as a damsel in distress, not even for Ylvis. I’d like to think that, if that was me, Bård and Vegard would have found me already having found a way to incapacitate my captor. The hand-holding skipping-along kinda makes me cringe, it’s so cheesy. Talk to me when there’s peanuts involved.

8. What do you think of the song’s musical composition?

Robin: First of all - this song is catchy as hell. I also love the instrumentation and the chord sequences - that last key change is life. The bass during the chorus and in the breaks is so fun, I love the flute (or whatever wind instrument that is), and the komuz over the melody just makes it so much richer. Every time I listen to this song I start laughing when the guys do their own female vocals; that will never stop being funny.

My favourite thing, though, is that random-yet-perfect appearance of the electric guitar during the bridge. It comes out of nowhere, makes an impression, and is never heard again. The fact that someone heard that bridge and thought, “an electric guitar riff would sound awesome here!” just makes me love these guys even more. I wonder if it was Lars. Freakin’ Lars.

Eve: His name is in the music credits, so I wouldn't be surprised. My favorite thing about it is how the brothers alternate more often than they usually do while singing. In most of their songs they trade verses, but in this one they start out trading lines and then in the second verse they're actually alternating within lines, almost like an echo. They also sing simultaneously at random points rather than just in the chorus. I also enjoyed the long bridge with two parts, slow and fast.

9. Let’s talk about Vegard’s vocals, shall we?

Eve: I’m gonna have to defer to Robin on this question -- I have a hard time hearing the vocals on this one. Although I can say that the contrast to how he sounds in the adhan-style prelude at the live shows and the forceful choppy style he uses in “Janym” is fascinating and great fun, plus I was just listening to the even-more-different Shabby Chic today. I love how versatile his voice is.

Robin: I love that versatility too, Eve. What is there to say about Vegard’s vocals? He absolutely kills it. Everyone knew from the get-go that Vegard was going to nail this song; between the kebab up his ass and the fact that he can sing any style thrown at him, there was no question Vegard would own this. His voice is strong and forceful with a raw edge to it at different points. Vegard sounds like a warrior, and his voice gives some authenticity to the video.

10. How do you feel about Bård’s “sexy passion” vocals?

Robin: I LOVE Bård’s vocals on this song (and no, not just because he’s my favourite). What Bård did, to compensate for his inherent Norwegianness, was make himself sound like a completely different person, and it’s AWESOME. That takes a kind of fearlessness that I just can’t even handle, and it showed a commitment to the song that I admire. Bård is better at manipulating his voice to suit a song style than he gets credit for. It also sounds great against Vegard’s singing; the contrast of their voices in the echo and when they alternate gives the song even more personality. I love how he sings the last chorus and the falsetto at the end, though it sounds much stronger when he does it live than it is on the recording.

Eve: Again, can’t hear much, but there’s a moment in Bård’s first verse where he has a … it’s like a four-note slow trill, and I just love the sound of it, plus he has a really fun move to go with it at Gullruten.

11. Which is your favourite live performance of Janym?

Eve: It’s hard to say. I really like the Gullruten performance because it’s so energetic and they added a lot to the production, with male and female dancers, the car, running around into the audience, and the extended drumming sequence. Not to mention the controversial in-joke on the license plate. They made it a little more their own. But I have a soft spot for the Spektrum performance too, although that’s mainly because of the adhan-style singing he does in the beginning. Adhan is haunting and beautiful to me and it was an amazing moment for me the first time I heard Vegard doing it. It was a highlight of the Sandefjord show for me, something I was not expecting to see. It’s interesting that I’ve never heard him talk about it (do we need to make a list for Anna-Maija’s next interview?) but apparently Kirgisistan is a predominantly Muslim country so I assume it was inspired by their visit there. Wow, I got sidetracked.

Robin: Seeing Janym live was an absolute treat, but Gullruten wins this for me, hands down. Gullruten was epic. While it didn’t have Vegard’s Arabic/Islamic melismatic vocals going on, everything about that performance was insane. The fact that they came out on the yellow Moskvitch (with a rude license plate), Vegard stroking audience members, getting the audience to chant rude Russian words, the awesome choreography and their DANCE MOVES, the drumming on the car, pyro, a drumline, backup dancers - that is still one of my all time favourite live performances of theirs.

12. Which Janym performance was the best one during the BiK series?

Robin: I’m gonna go with the amusement park on this one, just because I love the acoustic version so very much. The guitar sounds so lovely.

Eve: Same here. I like it anytime they strip the music down and we can really hear just their voices. I would have liked to be able to hear the whole thing.

13. Okay, how much of this song can you actually sing along to?

Eve: Like I said, I need to see some phonetic lyrics or it’s hopeless. I’ve got “Janym, djevotchka/Aika, chopa, alia” because I’ve seen them written down, and of course, “Par-ty-to-night!” but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I still only know the rhyming ends of lines in “Jeg Heter Finn” and “Da Vet Du At Det Er Jul,” too.

Robin: “Janym, djevochka maya, aika chopa alia…..mumble mumble mumble <<hand clap>>, Janym, Janym ai...mumble mumble mumble mumble...pasada Osh kava!!”

#throwback thursday brovis edition #Big in Kirgisistan #JANYM #analyzing ylvis #This ends the Big in Kirgisistan series #Hope you guys enjoyed it as much as we did!

[canadaherligste]

Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition: Big in Kirgisistan, Part 2

It’s Thursday again!!  Eve and I are so glad that you’re all enjoying the Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition series on Big in Kirgisistan. This week we’re moving right along to episode 2. KYRGYZSTAAAAAAAAAN!!!

So give us your best “sexy passion” voice, and join us at the top of the “earrsz” as we talk about our favourite Brovis moments, the recording session, and tired Vegard in a hotel room in Bishkek.

As always, we want to know what you think (it’s been 40 weeks of TBT, you guys know what to do!)

1. Which moments did you find funniest? 2. What did you think of Ilya’s songwriting process? 3. What was your favourite part of the recording session? 4. How do Bård and Vegard seem to approach the songwriting and recording work? 5. What were your favourite Bård moments? 6. What were your favourite Vegard moments? 7. What were your favourite Brovis moments? 8. Discuss Ylvis’ struggle with the Russian language. 9. How do you feel about Bård’s “sexy passion”? 10. There was some great conversation about the subtitles on the BiK videos last week. Have you noticed anything interesting about them in this episode? 11. Any comments on the hair and fashion game this episode?

1. Which moments did you find funniest?

Eve: It’s not so much the moment itself as Bård’s reaction. When he laughs and says “What is ‘the earsh’?” I can’t help but laugh with him. Although Ilya himself, especially his frustration with Ylvis not understanding him, is pretty amusing. I love how bossy and emphatic he is, grabbing the pen and paper out of Bård’s hands and pointing with the pen.

Robin: Bård;s demonstration of “sexy passion” makes me laugh every time I watch this episode. The voice and the shoulder shimmy with the “innocent” smile at the end - it just kills me, I can’t help but laugh. And the girl’s reaction just makes it even funnier.  Suuuure, Bård, if that’s what you call that...

2. What did you think of Ilya’s songwriting process?

Robin: I understood the same thing that Bård did when Ilya started talking, that he was trying to get them to think of what about Kyrgyzstan made the biggest impression on them, what could inspire them. Then he mentioned the airport, though, and he was so adamant about it that he lost me. Maybe he was trying to get them to think about the majestic aerial view of Kyrgyzstan, maybe his thoughts were lost in translation. There’s also my theory that he was stoned.

Eve: Well, he apparently has a clear vision of how he wants the song to start: at the airport, then in the streets of Bishkek. I can see a music video developing out of that timeline, the gradual exposure to the country, but not so much song lyrics. I have no idea how they got from that to the love song of "Janym." I loved how determined he seemed to be and how frustrated he got when Bård and Vegard were misunderstanding him. And his colorful variant of English is wonderful as always. The start "pott", the "top of the earsh."

3. What was your favourite part of the recording session?

Eve: When Bård says, “There are so many things that can be wrong. I feel all of them are.” It’s such a relatable, human moment, struggling with the words of a language they don’t know under such short time constraints. Someone wrote a post a long time ago about how Ylvis is really good, in their IKMY interviews, at encouraging guests to tell embarrassing stories, not with the intent to embarrass them further, but to bond over how this stuff happens to all of us. And Ylvis are not afraid to put themselves in situations like that for us to bond over, and I like it when they overtly acknowledge when it’s happening.

Robin: “Sexy passion” is definitely up there. But one of my favourite part is when Vegard starts laughing in the middle of a really good take. I love that - it’s like the absurdity of what he was doing just hit him and he couldn’t control it. Also, I’ve done recording sessions, and there’s a split-second of self-loathing that comes when you screw up a great take and have to do it over. So it was a little self-affirming to know that the incomparable Vegard Ylvisåker is not immune to making musical mistakes.

4. How do Bård and Vegard seem to approach the songwriting and recording work?

Robin: Bård seems to be floating on both extremes. On one hand, he’s getting way more of a kick out of the absurdity of it all than Vegard is; Bård mostly can’t stop laughing. But he also seems more stressed out than Vegard is at times. Vegard is in work mode, he’s all about getting things done.

Eve: They seem to take it very seriously! From the perspective of the Norwegians back home and the comedic documentary they're creating, it really doesn't matter if they pronounce "djevochka" correctly. But they seem really caught up in trying to get the language right. I wonder if they get caught up in the details and their perfectionist natures take over and they forget that the big picture is just a silly fun. Also, they may be open (or resigned!) to making asses of themselves on Kyrgyz national TV, but I get the impression they'd really rather not if they can help it.

5. What were your favourite Bård moments?

Eve: I actually have one, this time, that is so far above the rest I can say it’s a favourite. It’s when they’re in the hotel room and a very tired, frustrated Vegard is ranting about having four pages of notes, and Bård is saying, in a calm soothing voice, that they can take the time to make just one page. It’s obvious, from his comment afterward about regretting the project, that he is frustrated too, but he is able to tamp that down and address Vegard’s frustration in a practical, helpful way. I love that and people who can do that and try to be like that, myself. It’s not easy!!

Robin: I have two Bård moments. One is his laughter at Ilya’s “earsz” - when Bård is truly laughing (as opposed to his showbiz laugh), he is pretty much actually sunshine, rainbows and unicorns all in one. Second moment also involves him laughing, at the end. It’s a strange moment, because his words don’t really match his affect. He’s saying he really regrets the project and I’m sure he’s frustrated, but the look on his face and his laughter indicates such amusement with the situation. I love that kind of dissonance.

6. What were your favourite Vegard moments?

Robin: I love everything about Vegard at the end, in the hotel room. He was the first to say “it’s okay” when they found out about the TV show, and he was focused and on point all through the writing and recording. In that hotel room though, he was tired and frustrated and over it. That’s about as real and as human as we ever get to see Vegard. Also, he’s gorgeous there.

Eve: When he's got his knee up and his hair touseled and he's practically spooning Ilya as they're working on the Russian lyrics. It's probably for the best that Ilya turned out to be straight, because otherwise he might have died from that kind of exposure. I also liked how he is watching Ilya intently with his brow knit and trying really hard to understand what song Ilya wants them to write.

7. What were your favourite Brovis moments?

Eve: Other than them standing around looking really hot in plaid shirts? Um… probably the moment in the beginning when they find out they have to sing the song in Russian in the morning. Specifically, the part where they are looking at each other and then with the camera as they try to see the positives in trying to learn an entire song in Russian overnight.

Robin:  I loved the role reversal between the bros at the end of the day. Vegard was the task-oriented one all day while Bård alternated between overwhelmed and giddy. By the end of the night, Bård had to keep things going when Vegard was too tired. I love the symbiosis of their working relationship. Also, it’s enough of a standout moment when sleepaholic Bård is the one to tell Vegard they need to stay awake.

8. Discuss Ylvis’ struggle with the Russian language.

Robin: To be honest, it was kinda fun watching the two language sponges struggle. We see them flaunting their impeccable grasp of accents and languages all the time. So watching them have a hard time with Russian words was hilarious. “Djevochka? No, no, DJEvochka.”

Eve: The struggle is SO relateable. Although I'm actually a little bit surprised, because like Robin said, they’re language sponges; they are natural mimics and run around speaking (or singing) any little bit of a foreign language that they know. Maybe Russian was really different for them compared to the western/northern European languages they'd mostly been exposed to. This can't be the first time they've been presented with subtle differences in pronunciation, so I wonder if Russian is especially hard.

9. How do you feel about Bård’s “sexy passion”?

Eve: It’s … uh… sorry, I’m too distracted by that smooth little move he does with his shoulders

Robin: I promise will get more into this when we talk about Janym, but I’ll at least let my position be known now. I love it. For reasons. Also, as much as I laugh at his “sexy passion” demonstration, I love it so bad.

10. There was some great conversation about the subtitles on the BiK videos last week. Have you noticed anything interesting about them in this episode?

Eve: Since I’m hard of hearing and can’t follow TV without captions, I’m deeply grateful for the verbatim subtitles of Ilya’s English. I’m very fond of the creative ways people use a language when they don’t have a full vocabulary -- when I was trying to describe “raindrops” in French all I could say was “little pieces of water that fall from the sky” -- so I love hearing Ilya talk. “Of course you have text more good.” I know what he means! And “more good” is actually grammatically consistent with how we do comparisons in English, even if “better” is the standard usage.

Robin: I noticed some of the misspellings and errors that the girls were talking about last week - missing apostrophes, etc. But I noticed something about the English subtitles that TV Norge put on it, actually. When Vegard’s singing at the end, they subtitle it as “singing some nonsense”.  Now, I don’t know any Russian (besides djevochka), but it sounds like exactly what he sings on the track...so I don’t know anything anymore.

11. Any comments on the hair and fashion game this episode?

Robin: I LOVE the scarf Vegard was wearing at the hotel and I want one so badly. His hair was also kind of sort of perfect. He was kind of completely perfect. I also love how the grey sweater Bård’s wearing - it’s such a regular “dad” sweater, but he makes it look hot.  On that note, honestly, how much clothes did Bård pack for this trip?

Eve: Vegarrrrrrslkjgasdlkjgsadlkjd. Ugh. He was so perfectly tousled, so perfectly plaidly attired, all through this episode. It killed me. And I know Robin doesn't care to pay attention to this, but I notice editing so I have been obsessed with trying to figure out why their shirts change completely when they are writing the lyrics with Ilya. I've decided that they actually did write the English lyrics and translated them to Russian before the backing track was finished. But at that point, they had not even tried to learn the lyrics in Russian and discovered they had less than 24 hours to learn them, record them, and memorize them for the show. I think that's exciting enough and Ilya's hilarious songwriting was interesting enough to stand on its own without trying to pretend the lyric writing was part of the deadline, but okay.

Robin: It’s not that I don’t care to pay attention to it - I do notice the clothing changes and the incontinuities. I just prefer to maintain the illusion that they’ve created, and I appreciate the story they’ve decided to tell. The story is told so well, I’d rather not ruin it. And that’s just me - I’m not saying it’s wrong to do otherwise, that’s fun for others and I’m totally cool with that. For me, I just think it’s more work than necessary to change the story in my head to fit the camera work. Otherwise I’d have to stop to think about every walking shot and how they’re not spontaneous etc etc. I don’t expect complete truth in television, and I’m fine with suspending reality if I’m being entertained.

#throwback thursday brovis edition #big in kirgisistan #analyzing ylvis

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Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition: IKMY - The Gene Test

It’s time for Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition! Eve is on vacation doing wonderful non-Ylvis things, so Meredith has kindly agreed to join me again in the TBT hotseat. It’s an all Canadian panel today, eh!  If you didn’t/couldn’t get tickets for IKMY season 5, you can chill here with us as we revisit old school IKMY with the Genetics Test.

So get some aloe vera and do an exotic dance, and join us as we talk about our favourite moments, the experiment, and Vegard’s exotic genes. The questions are below, and you all know the drill by now!

1. What was the funniest part of the segment? 2. Favourite Vegard moment or reaction? 3. Favourite Bård moment or reaction? 4. Favourite Calle moment or reaction? 5. How many of the results do you think they knew about beforehand? 6. What do you think Vegard’s .7% non-European “exotic” genes are? 7. Who struck the best reaction poses? 8. Who do you think designed the apparatus for the pain experiment? 9. How accurate do you think the test results were i.e, did it really take Calle that much longer to feel the pain? or were they acting? 10. Would you do a 23&Me test?

1. What was the funniest part of the segment?

Robin: I laughed the most at the banter during the reading section. First there was Bård’s happy reaction, his utter glee at his songbird genes and singing everything he said. Then Vegard and Calle pretending to barf at it all - which doesn’t faze Bård at all. Keep singing bro. “Vi er alle like!!”

Also, I loved the amused/chagrined look on Dr Blinkenberg’s face as she watched them do their experiment, and how quickly she said she had nothing to do with it. Bård’s matter-of-factual presentation of aloe vera probably didn’t put her mind at ease.

Meredith: Yes, the reading section was the best overall. After Bård made such a show of ego about his superior reading skills, he sat down and said “but actually I find reading difficult.” Which I completely believe….hmmm, maybe giving him a nerd book wasn’t such a great idea. :)

2. Favourite Vegard moment or reaction?

Meredith: The “Turkish” dance. Because Vegard and dancing.

Robin: I have to go with the completely lost and flabbergasted look on his face when he heard his brother was 100% European and he wasn’t. So adorable.

3. Favourite Bård moment or reaction?

Meredith: The look on his face when he said they hadn’t told their mother they were doing the test. That was his bratty boy face times ten.

Robin: Can I just go with his general giddiness over the whole thing? He was just so excited the whole time. Special mentions go to his singing his sentences, and his “oh, he’s a sissy…” reaction to the pain sensitivity.

4. Favourite Calle moment or reaction?

Meredith: His quiet “lucky that I smoke” after she talked about the blood clot risk. Helt typisk Larsen.

Robin: Calle’s hacking when Bård started making use of his FOX-P2 gene (yet another fox reference) was hilarious. Also his smile when he heard he had typical heroin addict genes.

5. How many of the results do you think they knew about beforehand?

Meredith: Bård was so overexcited at the prospect of the test results that I think he must have had some idea what was coming. Maybe the show writers only saw the results first when they did up the cards, but I think they had the topics picked ahead of time, because look what they went with - genetic origin, risk of drug addiction, intelligence, pain tolerance…and they would have had to design the experiment ahead of time.

Robin: I agree that they knew the topics beforehand; I imagine they would have had to specify what they wanted tested when they submitted the samples. However, I don’t think they knew the results. I thought Bård’s giddiness was anticipation and just a general love of that segment. He didn’t seem to know where the geneticist was going with the reading, and Vegard looked genuinely confounded by the ancestry genetics.

6. What do you think Vegard’s .7% non-European “exotic” genes are?

Meredith: I asked this question because I realized for the first time that it was Bård who said “Turkish”, not the geneticist, and I never thought Vegard looked Turkish. (He actually looks just like his father and Bård doesn’t look much like either of their parents so I’m not sure why Bård is the one always snickering about a Turk sneaking into Sogn. Anyway!) If I saw a picture of Vegard without knowing his nationality I would guess Spanish or Portuguese because of his colouring and the curly hair - which would mean he could have traces of Berber or Arab genetics in the mix. So I’m going with that.

Robin: Vegard doesn’t look like the blond-haired-blue-eyed type that most people associate with Scandinavian countries. I agree with Meredith; his skin colour points towards a sort of Portuguese-ish 0.7%, and the Arabian/North African element might explain for the the dark curly hair. In my completely non-expert-what-the-hell-do-I-know opinion.

7. Who struck the best reaction poses?

Meredith: Bård’s swagging when Dr. Blinkenberg told him his reading abilities were higher than average is the obvious choice, but I laughed more when he did the “keep it coming, baby” face and hand gestures after she told him about the songbird genes. But there’s something about Vegard’s face after she said Calle and Bård had 100% European genes. That look of amused befuddlement that only he does so well.

I also liked Calle’s face and finger-pointing when she said that Bård and Vegard had significantly higher risk for heroin addiction. Not that it would ever come to that, their alcohol tolerance is low (cf. 4 Stjerners Middag) and they don’t even drink coffee. Weirdos.

Robin: I loved Calle’s smile and amusement when he heard he had typical genes for heroin addiction. But for all time favourite, I’m going with the obvious choice.  Bård and his victorious reaction to the results about reading (I love that pose for reasons that might involve his gluteus maximus).

8. Who do you think designed the apparatus for the pain experiment?

Meredith: That looks like a Vegard creation to me. Candles on top of a car jack? Really, who else would think of that?

Robin: Agreed. That had Vegard written all over it.

9. How accurate do you think the test results were i.e, did it really take Calle that much longer to feel the pain? or were they acting?

Meredith: The yells of pain from the Ylvises sounded authentic. And I think the pain sensitivity results were accurate, Bård is the biggest wimp about pain of the three of them. Calle is so good at deadpanning that I think it’s possible he felt the pain sooner but was hiding it to create more interest. I loved the look on Dr. Blinkenberg’s face while it was going on, she really did not approve.

Robin: I don’t think they were completely accurate. In the ice-water experiment, Bård outlasted them all through sheer will and sunflowers (with a little strategy), and that was a much longer duration of pain. I think Vegard and Calle gave up when they actually needed to, but Bård wimped out a little earlier on purpose because it made sense with the results of their test (and how else would he milk the sympathy).

10. Would you do a 23&Me test?

Meredith: I’m with Dr. Blinkenberg, I don’t see the point of buying yourself a bunch of worries with numbers that only tell you probabilities. BTW, can we talk about how cool her crimson Doc Marten boots were? I want!

Robin: Hell yes I would do it. I mean, between my ethnicity and my medical history, I’m already in a medical-genetic crap pool anyway. So might as well bring it on! Besides, I would absolutely love to know how close I am to the songbirds. I want it! I want it!

#throwback thursday brovis edition #ylvis #the gene test #analyzing ylvis

[canadaherligste]

Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition: Pressure

Hey everyone! The pressure sun has gone down, but it’s still Thursday here, which mean there’s still time for Throwback Thursday Brovis Edition!  It’s been a lovely week for fans, so addictedtoylvis and I are continuing the Ylvis love, by putting just the right amount of pressure on our brains and hormones as we discuss Ylvis’ “Pressure”!!

So put down the Mona Lisa and grab a taco (lightly), and join us as we talk about our favourite scenes, the music, the elements of the parody, and the cornrows. As always, our discussion is below, and we want to hear what you think, so join in!  

1. Where/how does Pressure rank for you among Ylvis’ hip-hop genre songs? 2. What’s the funniest part of this song and video for you? What are your favourite scenes? 3. What was your favourite pressure lyric? 4. Discuss the “pressure” wordplay. How do they play with the different definitions/applications of pressure? 5. Discuss Pressure as a parody of hip-hop. What elements of hip-hop songs and videos do they use or lampoon here? 6. One of the standard tropes of hip-hop videos is hypersexualized women. What do you think Ylvis is doing with that trope in this video? 7. Not all pressure is “good” pressure. Discuss how Ylvis touch on the less pleasant topics in the song. 8. What did you think about the film styles/techniques (i.e Lighting, sets, filming, editing) in the video? 9. What’s your favourite thing musically about the song? 10. Favourite Brovis moment? 11. Do you notice any differences between the brothers’ styles of movement and dance in the video? 12. Favourite Bård moment? 13. Favourite Vegard moment? 14. Let’s talk about their look in this video, hair and klaer. Also, Vegard in cornrows: yea or nay?

1. Where/how does Pressure rank for you among Ylvis’ hip-hop genre songs?

Robin: I really don’t know any other way to put this: Pressure is THE $H!T. Top Ylvis song in that genre as far as I’m concerned, and it’s in my top 3 Ylvis songs of all time. There’s a reason that song opens their concerts. The song is catchy and energetic, it has swagger, it’s fun, it’s hilarious, the video is frenetic, I love everything about it. This song is hype. I love La Det På Is and Work It (Yoghurt teeters on the edge of the genre), but Pressure is my favourite among them all. Eve: Work It will always be my first Ylvis/hip-hop love, I think, because it has the most surprising turns in the lyrics and I love their crooning in that one. But I love Pressure for the energy it has, and for the pressure stuff I perceived as being a bit nerdy/science-y (exploding water balloons, blowing up inner tubes, popping bottles of bubbly), and because it’s the perfect opener for the Expensive Jacket Tour.

2. What’s the funniest part of this song and video for you? What are your favourite scenes?

Eve: “Favourite” and “funniest” are often different things! This is hard… I would say a favourite is the accents in the very beginning and Vegard’s “it won’t open.” I think I find the soap machine -- both the lyric and the girls getting sexy with it -- to be the funniest. The expression on that guy’s face when his taco explodes is pretty funny too. Otherwise it’s more a general kind of funny, the whole thing with Ylvis pretending to be rappers. On my “okay, this is the last time” rewatch, I noticed that the skateboarder was not  very good at landing back on the board, which made me laugh.

Robin: So impossible to choose. I think Vegard with the three girls on the dance floor is one of my favourites, because it’s just so unbelievable to me that a man who ran away from a little Fa-Fa-Fa booty in Swahiliwood would be dancing with three shirtless women. My other favourite scenes are Bård leading the crowd dance on top the table, and the entire party dancing outside. Funniest moment for me is Vegard having a life moment, earnestly singing “Pressure is the meaning of life”, while Bård’s next to him shouting “Pressuuuuuuure” as they get rained on by feathers. That makes me laugh so hard every time.

3. What was your favourite pressure lyric?

Robin: “Whoa! That’s a special move!” That has nothing to do with pressure, but I just love the completely non-sequitur drop of that line. It comes out of nowhere and leaves just as quickly, and I love it. I also love how Bård manages to sound like an American rapper everywhere else in the song except that line - the Norwegian accent is so adorable there!

Eve: Is “It won’t open?” a lyric? I’m guessing not, so I’ll go with “I’m gonna press press press press press press press until I--”, although I love the rhythm of “It doesn’t mean he can’t compete in the Olympic games”

4. Discuss the “pressure” wordplay. How do they play with the different definitions/applications of pressure?

Eve: This was what delighted me the first time I saw the video! There were so many different nuances for "pressure", both in the lyrics and the visuals. The juxtaposition of negotiating peace and squeezing a soap machine still makes me laugh, as well as the line about "CPR on a baby's chest" -- such a delicate balance there! There’s so many variations on pressure concepts that it's almost like a list of pressure situations like the flavors of Yoghurt.

Robin: They play with every single definition of pressure, both the physical and the abstract, and it’s genius. I LOVE the peace negotiation/soap machine line - that’s one of my favourite things in the whole song.

5. Discuss Pressure as a parody of hip-hop videos. What elements of hip-hop songs and videos do they use or lampoon here? Eve: Well, I haven't watched a whole lot of hip-hop videos. I tried to do a little research (dammit, Ylvis) and fell down a black hole of Notorious B.I.G., Coolio, and Snoop Dogg videos that didn't look anything like "Pressure." But from other video snippets I've seen, I remember guys standing around making classic arm/hand gestures, lots of scantily clad women sticking their butts and boobs out, and lots of random people dancing in the background with their arms in the air. Check, check, check. Robin: The house party/club scene is a very common trope in hip-hop videos, particularly the kind of dance/club hip-hop they’re doing. There’s also the defiant swagger the two boys bring to the camera (I still don’t understand how they have so much swag - it’s kinda insane). The popping champagne bottles are a typical representation of excess in those videos as well. To get more specific, Pressure is basically Sean Paul’s “Get Busy” on steroids (and Pressure is a better song). Also, Vegard looks so freakin’ much like Sean Paul with those damn cornrows that I can’t even deal.

6. One of the standard tropes of hip-hop videos is hypersexualized women. What do you think Ylvis is doing with that trope in this video? Eve: I think the funniest aspect of this parody was the women being sexual with the soap machine. When you see them doing it to an inanimate object, you see how contrived some of those "sexy" moves are. But not all of it was ridiculous. There's a shot of two girls kissing in a bathtub that didn't seem like parody. And then there's the whole thing with "three girls at the time" which I thought was funny until I started watching the video in slow motion and realized how disturbing it actually was. The blonde girl being pressured looks genuinely upset  and uncomfortable, and gives in very reluctantly. The other two girls are pressuring her too, not just Vegard's character. There's all kinds of interesting thoughts this brings up -- how it's wrong that she's being pressured in the first place, that the pressure is perpetuated by women as well as men, that women cave under pressure but are unhappy about it…

Robin: The whole point of the oversexed female in the hip-hop video is to show the supposed male fantasy of excess - money and women at their disposal. I agree with your observation on the women at the soap machine, and I would also add that I think the women in the bathtub are part of the parody. Isn’t that a stereotypical male fantasy - attractive women making out? Vegard’s got a foursome ready to go. Where Ylvis turns this on its head is at the bridge of the song. Vegard’s at a party where he’s got three topless women hanging all over him, but his actual fantasy is a family life (well, as much as a family life as you can get married to a literal physical force). Forget the three girls - I want a pressure wife, and pressure kids, and family vacations on the pressure hills. Score another one for Ylvis defeating hypersexuality and gender stereotypes. Eve: Interesting!!! I, as usual, had not been able to tie those disparate threads together and you did it so deftly. I get caught up in the randomness sometimes and having so many pressure situations thrown at me in such quick succession. :P I love this take on it.

7. Not all pressure is “good” pressure. Discuss how Ylvis touch on the less pleasant topics in the song. Eve: I already talked about the ménage à quatre pressure above, but another moment I hadn't stopped to consider carefully was the "son ain't got no legs" line. Until TBT, I just thought the line was funny because it was so ludicrous, the idea of pressuring a person without legs to run in the Olympics. But the father was so insistent and the boy looked so upset in the video, that it became more about unrealistic pressure people can put on their kids to succeed and how painful it can be for the kids. These dark moments in Ylvis works reminds me of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, which seems like a happy kids-day-out movie until Cameron goes comatose and it takes a dark turn. Robin: Well, here Ylvis and Ole Martin go again, wrapping some somber stuff in a neat, exciting little comedy package. They touch and go on parental intimidation and peer pressure so deftly, you don’t even notice it until you think about it. The second verse in the video is downright disturbing. You have a dad “putting pressure” on his crying double-amputee kid to do the impossible, get up and run, and the poor kid is so dejected. Then you have Vegard’s girl who clearly does not want to take her top off at first and be one of three, but gives in to peer pressure, cause they both how it’s gonna end, he’s gonna press until he gets what he want. But the song is so fun, so energetic, they’re so cute, there’s pressure hands and a pressure dance and special moves, so we don’t even get the chance to think about it. I had a bit of an epiphany when I watched this video. I often say that Ylvis is messing with us when they say that all the other stuff in their silly songs is coincidental or non-existent. I call BS on their so-called simplicity. Someone directed that girl to look reluctant, someone directed Vegard to egg her on, someone directed that kid to look sad. However, if Ylvis was to say “yeah, we wanted to touch on peer pressure as well” - where would be the commentary? If (please note I said if) their goal is to see how much stuff they can get away with, or to test our desensitization and complacency about what we see on screen in favour of our own entertainment, they can’t exactly go around dropping hints about their agenda now, can they? They put it there; it’s our job to be attentive.

8. What did you think about the film styles/techniques (i.e lighting, sets, filming, editing) in the video? Eve: When I started looking closely at this video, I was shocked at how short the cuts were. There appears to be an actual Pressure Dance that looks like Thea could have choreographed it, that  I would love to try to learn, but we never see more than a second of it at a time.  It makes me a little crazy, but it works really well with the energy of the music. The authentic feel of the dance party scene was a great contrast to the ridiculous choice of a topic for the lyrics. Robin: Thea did choreograph it :-) I love the short cuts - it makes the video more frenetic and energetic, and matches the song perfectly. What I noticed most was the use of lighting and shadow with the two guys in their non-party scenes. There’s a scene where Bård throws his hoodie on and the light immediately goes off. I love those scenes.

9. What’s your favourite thing musically about the song? Robin: The horns and percussion. I loooooove the percussion. Most hip-hop uses sort of synthetic studio-produced tracks as opposed to actual instrument recording sessions, but it sounds like there was a real drum session to go along with the synthesized horns throughout the song. I love the drum cadence style they used (kinda like a marching band), and I love how they use the tambourine. Sometimes the ringing is sustained, and the other times when the tambourine is hit it’s sooo close to being off-beat. It gives the song more of that manic, impulsive, energetic feeling. Ugh, I love it so bad. Eve: The rhythms. I struggle with hip-hop because many people like to vary from the background rhythm in unexpected and random/chaotic (to me, at least) ways. Robin tells me this is the whole point, but I just find myself getting frustrated because I can’t settle into the rhythm of the words. So I find Pressure very pleasing because it has variations in the rhythm, it’s not overly simplistic, but it’s still something I feel I can move to without looking like a puppet controlled by a two-year-old. Or, um … Stine Beate. (If I look like that all the time, regardless, please just don’t tell me. Let me pretend.) I also like the interplay of heavier background music with minimal music, or dropping back to just percussion, in different pitches at different times.

10. Favourite Brovis moment? Eve: It’s a tie between the “pressure tongue” moment when they’re back-to-back, and when they're crowd surfing together. Oh… but there’s also that moment of complete dorkitude with the “pressure hands.” That’s the chicken dance. Robin: Back-to-back Brovis for the win by a landslide!  Second is two badass hip-hop performers flinching when they get wet by Bård’s fizzing pop.

Eve: Speaking of flinching, I was amused that Vegard flinched when he squeezed the exploding champagne bottle. He startles easily in general so I have a “startled Vegard” tag which I enjoy far too much.

11. Do you notice any differences between the brothers’ styles of movement and dance in the video? Robin: Vegard’s choreography is sharp and on point, but his “jamming” in the crowd is awkward. Not the case with Bård, who looks like the life of the club. I notice the difference between them mostly at the end of the video. They’re both doing these freestyle moves on the beat. I think they’re both trying to look hammy. Vegard is seriously hamming it up, and it’s hilarious. But Bård’s freestyle movement is just so natural and rhythmical that I want to cry. There’s one move where he puts his hand on his face and mechanically turns his head. That SHOULD look ridiculous, but he looks so smooth doing it. Eve: I’ve always thought Vegard’s dancing moves were very strong and sharp where Bård’s are relaxed and fluid, and that choregraphed Pressure Dance is really perfect for Vegard and I love watching him do those moves. I also like his more spontaneous hand movements (“negotiating peace in the Middle East”, “how it’s all related”) Sometimes I get a little tired of Bård’s hip-hop moves, since he defaults to them when I know he’s capable of a lot of different styles of movement, but in Pressure they worked absolutely perfectly with the song.

12. Favourite Bård moment? Eve: I like a lot of his dance moves, including any of his broad arm gestures throughout. But I do have a pretty clear favorite: At the very very end, when he pushes his hand out and then to the side in time to the music. I just love that move. Robin: Normally there are no right or wrong answers in TBT, but really, the only acceptable answer to this question is Bård’s bright-eyed, gorgeous, playful, who-was-holding-that-camera-and-did-they-melt-when-they-saw-that, perfect grin right after “That’s a special move!” With the shoulder shimmy!  If that’s not your answer, people, you’re not watching this video properly. (I’m joking of course!  Kinda.) Also acceptable is every single scene where Bård gets in the camera’s face - special mention to the “HA!” after the hostage situation when he takes his aviators off. Good grief that man is gorgeous.

13. Favourite Vegard moment? Robin: Everything single second in Vegard’s home movies with his pressure wife and his pressure kids is my favourite Vegard moment. I especially love when he poses for the picture with the two pressure kids - he looks so happy and adorable and it’s so ridiculous and fantastic. Eve: Okay, there are so many Vegard moments I love in this video, primarily his dance moves. But my absolute favorite is how he says "It won't open," and sits on the porch looking hilariously stiff and awkward in a trucker hat that's just perched on top of his head.

14. Let’s talk about their look in this video, hair and klaer. Also, Vegard in cornrows: yea or nay? Eve: I am not as big a fan of the hoodie look as many of you are, so I’ll pass on discussing that. On the other hand I loved Vegard wearing that shirt buttoned at the top and open beneath. On the cornrows: Yea! Totally! I mean, it's perfect for the video and they actually almost work with his hair texture. If Bård tried cornrows with his fine hair, it would look ridiculous with all the little bits sticking out. But maybe that would be funnier. That said, I don't particularly want to see Vegard in cornrows regularly, since I love his curls so much. Robin: Give me Bård Ylvisåker in a hoodie any day of the week. Seriously. I love that man in a hoodie.  Vegard’s button-down polka-dot shirt is the right combination of dork and hipster, but he carries it with swagger in the video and pulls it off.  As for Vegard in cornrows, let me quote the man himself. Neiiii nei nei nei nei nei nei nei nei nei nei nei.

#throwback thursday brovis edition #analyzing ylvis #PRESSURE #One of my favourite Ylvis songs #Join us in the discussion #Vegard would approve LOL