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"First World Problems" is a song by the American parody artist and satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic from his 2014 studio album Mandatory Fun. The song is a pastiche of the music of the Pixies, particularly the songs "Debaser" and "No. 13 Baby".

Background

In 2014, when the song released, Yankovic stated in an interview with Newsweek, "I've been a fan of Pixies for a very long time. In fact I got to play with Pixies a couple years ago at a benefit concert. That was a huge moment in my life. That got me thinking, I should do a Pixies pastiche."

Reception

The Verge described the song as being "a list of Twitter rants", with many of the topics in the song being topical at the time of the song's release.

Music video

The music video, directed by Liam Lynch, shows Yankovic dressed up, mad at various things mentioned in the lyrics. In an interview with PopCrush around the time of the song's release, Yankovic said, "So we thought, 'OK, we'll find you a douchey blonde wig … real human hair … and I tried it on, and it fit, and we had fun with it!". In an interview with Rolling Stone, he said, "I told that I didn’t want to be myself; I wasn't Weird Al in this video — I was kind of like this douchey character."

Personnel

Personnel taken from the liner notes of Mandatory Fun.

• "Weird Al" Yankovic – lead and backing vocals
• Jim "Kimo" West – guitar
• Steve Jay – bass
• Jon "Bermuda" Schwartz – drums

Additional personnel

• Benny Grotto and Amanda Palmer – female backing vocals

References

1. "'Weird Al' Yankovic Vents Frustrations, Channels Pixies in 'First World Problems' Music Video". Billboard. 2014-07-19. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
2. Writer, Zach Schonfeld Senior (2014-07-15). "Weird Al on 'Mandatory Fun' and Dressing Up as Hitler". Newsweek. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
3. Kastrenakes, Jacob (2014-07-15). "Weird Al releasing eight parody videos in eight days". The Verge. Retrieved 2023-12-02.
4. "Weird Al" Yankovic Talks 'First World Problems' Video, retrieved 2023-11-19
5. Dionne, Zach (2014-07-19). "'Weird Al' Yankovic Parodies the Pixies in 'First World Problems'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-11-19.
6. "Weird Al" Yankovic - Mandatory Fun, 2014-08-05, retrieved 2023-12-09

• "Weird Al" Yankovic songs
• 2014 songs