We Are Number One
 | This article may contain excessive or inappropriate references to self-published sources. (February 2017) |
| "We Are Number One" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"We Are Number One" is a song from the Icelandic children's television series LazyTown, composed, lyrics and music by Máni Svavarsson. The song was featured in the 12th episode of the show's fourth season, entitled "Robbie's Dream Team", which is the 107th episode overall.[1]
Music video
Robbie Rotten, the main antagonist of LazyTown, attempts to teach his "dream team" of villainous accomplices (three fictional villains called Bobby, Tobby, and Flobby Rotten) how to successfully catch a superhero (specifically Sportacus, one of the show's protagonists).
Robbie Rotten goes on to teach his team how to properly be a supervillain. Multiple methods are used, chronologically in order of appearance, an overhead cage attached to a tree (which ends up trapping Robbie), a large butterfly net, a false apple containing enough sugar to induce an overdose and consequently temporary unconsciousness to the sugar-adverse Sportacus, a somewhat small fishing net, and banana peels intended to cause Sportacus to slip, but instead causing Robbie's own team to do so.
The false apple proves to be the effective trick, successfully sedating Sportacus and giving Robbie and his team a chance to put him in a portable cage. Robbie's three teammates relocate the trapped Sportacus to Robbie's underground headquarters while Robbie stays on the surface to set up a cannon, revealed in the full episode to be the way Robbie intends to run Sportacus out of town. However, his plans are thwarted when Stephanie opens the base's periscope and uses the cylindrical inside of it as a means of transporting a real apple to Sportacus. The apple rolls undetected by the now-sleeping Bobby, Tobby and Flobby, with Sportacus reaching it and regaining his power, of which he was deprived by the sugar overdose. He then uses his reclaimed strength to break free from the cage and coax his three captors to play sports with him on the surface.
Robbie watches as his previous companions play sports with Sportacus, and, out of apparent rage, walks over to them disregarding a bucket on the ground. This bucket is kicked, hitting and triggering Robbie's cannon and thus blasting Robbie away from the scene via the cannonball. The video ends with Bobby, Tobby and Flobby accidentally falling into a trapping pit constructed by themselves to capture Sportacus, thus enforcing for a final time the clumsiness of the team.
Internet popularity
Two years after the LazyTown episode aired, "We Are Number One" became an Internet phenomenon. In September 2016, a parody of the song was uploaded onto the YouTube channel SiIvaGunner[1] (spelt with two i's, not "il"), and various other parodies were uploaded afterwards.[2]
Typically these parodies took the form of the original music video edited in some irregular and often highly complex way, most of them with the title "We Are Number One but..." followed by the changes from the original, which would occasionally be placed in the video description due to their length.[3] This type of remix was common in 2016, particularly during the year's waning months; a The Verge article described "We Are Number One" and other, similar remixes as "weird solipsistic creation[s]".[4]
However, the meme did not reach peak popularity until October, when Robbie Rotten's performer Stefán Stefánsson announced that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.[5][6] A campaign was created by Mark Valenti, head writer for LazyTown, on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe[7] to pay for Stefán's living costs while he was too unwell to work and the creators of these parodies used their videos to raise awareness for the campaign.[3][8] As of 20 December 2016, the campaign had surpassed its $100,000 goal.[9] To thank the contributors, Stefán held a live stream on Facebook on 11 December 2016, where he performed "We Are Number One" with the other actors (Björn Thors, Bergur Þór Ingólfsson, Snorri Engilbertsson) from the original music video[2] which was later uploaded to his personal YouTube channel.
The official LazyTown YouTube channel has posted several videos relating to the song, including an hour loop of the original song, an instrumental version, a reversed instrumental version, every "one" being replaced by "The Mine Song" (another song from the series, also known as It's Mine), a compilation of the songs with other well-known songs from the series (however, in PAL speed) and the full episode that the song appeared in (Robbie's Dream Team).[2] The original tracks (otherwise known as the "stems") used in composing the song were released shortly after.[10]
The official music video has over 17 million views on YouTube as of 24 March 2017. "We Are Number One" was voted by Reddit users as 2016's "meme of the year" in the website's "dank memes" subreddit, "/r/dankmemes".[11]
A petition was set up to have Stefán perform the song to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest, receiving over 12,000 signatures.[12] Despite the petition's popularity, the song was not selected to represent Iceland, and was instead awarded to "Paper" by Svala.
References
- ^ a b "'We Are Number One' Meme: Why Do People Keep Remixing a Children's Show Song?". iDigitalTimes. IBT Media. 17 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ a b c Rogers, Zachary (12 December 2016). "Fans of children's show actor support his fight against cancer, raise over $80k". NBC 10. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
- ^ a b Benedict Townsend (30 November 2016). "YouTubers Are Using Memes To Help The Robbie Rotten Actor Fight Cancer". We the Unicorns. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
- ^ McCormick, Rich (30 December 2016). "The latest in a weird new meme trend". The Verge.
- ^ "Stefán Karl alvarlega veikur". Visir.is (in Icelandic). 22 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
- ^ "Stefán Karl lagður inn á sjúkrahús um helgina". DV (in Icelandic). 22 September 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
- ^ "Robbie Rotten, villano de LazyTown sufre de cáncer". La Prensa. 19 October 2016.
- ^ Jacob Shamsiand (2 December 2016). "This YouTube video that has been viewed over 12 million times could be the heralding of a new meme". Insider. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Foley, Kyle (20 December 2016). "How a Flurry of Internet Memes Are Helping a 'LazyTown' Actor Battling Cancer". Heat Street.
- ^ Rollins, Krister (15 December 2016). "It's an Internet Meme, But It Helped to Fight Cancer!". WCSH.
- ^ Hathaway, Jay (4 January 2017). "Robbie Rotten's 'We Are Number One' was just named 'Meme of the Year'". The Daily Dot. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ ago, Anthony Granger • 1 month (2017-01-06). "Iceland: 10,000 People Sign Petition For Robbie Rotten To Compete At Eurovision". Eurovoix. Retrieved 2017-02-19.
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