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Harlem Shake (meme)

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Revision as of 12:42, 23 February 2013 by Davykamanzi (talk | contribs) (Disambiguated: KQED → KQED (TV), The Mirror → Daily Mirror, Today → Today (U.S. TV program))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Not to be confused with Harlem shake (dance).

The Harlem Shake is an Internet meme that went viral on YouTube in early February 2013. The meme is in the form of a video that began being replicated according to a similar concept by many people.

The meme was established in a video uploaded on February 2 by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia. The teenagers' video, in its turn, was a follow-up to a video by a YouTube comedy vlogger named Filthy Frank featuring a part where several costumed people danced to the song "Harlem Shake" by Baauer.

Concept

Stills from a Harlem Shake video made by the office of Rolling Stone Indonesia

The videos last between 30 and 32 seconds and feature an excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake" by electronic musician Baauer. Usually, a video begins with one person (often helmeted or masked) dancing to the song alone for 15 seconds, surrounded by other people not paying attention or unaware of the dancing individual. When the bass drops, the video cuts to the entire crowd doing a crazy convulsive dance for the next 15 seconds. The dancing style should not be confused with the original Harlem Shake dance. Additionally, in the second half of the video, people often wear a minimum of clothes or crazy outfits or costumes while wielding strange props.

Reasons for success

The success of the videos was in part attributed to the anticipation of the breakout moment and short length, making them very accessible to watch.

The Washington Post explained the meme's instant virality by referring to the jump cuts, hypnotic beat, quick setups and half minute routines.

The Harlem Shake is technically very easy for fans to reproduce, as it consists of a single locked camera shot and one jump cut. Nonetheless, the simplicity of the concept allows fans considerable scope in creating their own distinctive variant and making their mark, while retaining the basic elements. In its simplest form, it could be made with two people; a more sophisticated version might even involve a crowded stadium. Moreover, there is a level playing field for celebrities and fans alike, with no guarantee of success for either group. There is a strong vein of humour running through each video that is not dependent on language, further increasing its potential to spread virally.

History

Creation

This meme was established by five teenagers from Queensland, Australia. After a while, more people started to replicate the original video and upload their own versions to YouTube, therefore Harlem Shake became what is called an Internet meme, in this case a series of similar videos re-created according to a similar concept.

Viral spread

On February 10, the upload rate of Harlem Shake videos reached 4,000 per day. As of February 11, about 12,000 versions of the popular Internet meme had been uploaded to YouTube, garnering over 44 million unique views. As of February 15, about 40,000 Harlem Shake videos had been uploaded, totalling 175 million views.

As a result of the popularity of the phenomenon, Baauer's single reached #1 on the iTunes America chart and #2 on iTunes in the UK and Australia on February 15, 2013.

The Harlem Shake meme went on to achieve widespread global success, including in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and most of the rest of Europe, even spreading as far as Russia and Eastern Europe, China, India, The United Arab Emirates,and Jamaica, to name but a few.

Legacy

The unexpected success of Harlem Shake caused Billboard to bring forward its plans, following two years of discussions, to incorporate data on YouTube views as one of three metrics used to calculate the influential Billboard Hot 100 chart. This marked an important recognition that YouTube now plays a vital role in shaping cultural trends, defining hit songs ahead of radio programmers. Songs like Gangnam Style and the Grammy award winner Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye owe much of their success to the new phenomenon of video virality.

In consequence of this significant change, Baauer's Harlem Shake made its debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on February 21, 2013. Without the change the song would only have debuted in the Top 15.

The success of Harlem Shake also highlights a change of direction for music rights holders. With the exception of a takedown notice issued when established artist Azealia Banks tried to upload her own version of the track, Baauer and his label, Mad Decent records, instead made use of YouTube's Content ID database to assert copyright over the fan-made videos and claim a proportion of advertising revenue in respect of each one.

Gangnam Style, like other videos that preceded it, was a corporate, top-down traditional campaign. By contrast, the grassroots, bottom-up Harlem Shake has been described as a symbiotic viral meme, where open culture and business coexist. The short length of the video, 31 seconds in most cases, impacts directly on the duration of advertisement that can precede it, which in turn limits advertising revenue.

In addition, the comparatively short life cycle of this kind of video meme means that by the time a traditional advertising agency or brand has put together its response to a current trend, it is likely that the trend will have long since peaked.

Reception

Cambridge, England (stills from one of 4000 videos a day uploaded at the peak of the meme's popularity)

Initial critical response

Numerous commenters have compared the Harlem Shake to "Gangnam Style". But the business magazine Forbes pointed out that unlike "Gangnam Style" and other notable hits from 2012, Harlem Shake is more of a meme, since a wide variety of groups and individuals have uploaded variants of the dance.

Martin Talbot, Managing Director of The Official Charts Company in the UK, described "Harlem Shake" as a "phenomenon", the first ever "crowd sourced video" to significantly drive sales of a song. Previously, as happened with "Gangnam Style", there was always an initial video created by an artist which would start a dance craze that was subsequently adopted by fans.

Projected lifespan

The Atlantic magazine declared the "meme murder" when the mainstream Today television program broadcast their version of the Harlem Shake on February 13.

The Los Angeles Times cited a number of reasons why it felt the meme was nearing its peak, including what it described as an "extravagant" departure from the meme's humble origins, adoption by a very broad demographic including the elderly, choreographed corporate versions by ad agencies and marketing departments, apparent boredom of video participants, and significant departures from the original formula, such as the use of multiple camera angles and visual effects.

Ad Age identified sixty advertising agencies exploiting the meme, calling it "played-out" after Pepsico released a Harlem Shake video featuring dancing soft drinks. Gabrielle Levy of UPI called the Pepsi ad "a bridge too far," noting that low production values had been "part of the charm" of the meme. Time asked, "do you really want to open a can of soda after it’s done the Harlem Shake?"

A KQED blog declared on February 19th that the phenomenon had "jumped the shark" after heavy exposure in the mass media and a plethora of "forced and forgettable" efforts.

Notable people and groups who performed the Harlem Shake

Various groups that shot videos of themselves doing the Harlem Shake included the staff of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, a squadron of the Norwegian Army, basketball players from the Dallas Mavericks, football players from Manchester City and the colleagues of CNN newsanchor Anderson Cooper, the last of whom received a Twitter shout-out from Baauer himself. Cooper showed video of his staff performing the dance, while declaring himself "horrified" and "uncomfortable" about it. Other participants in the craze included the University of Georgia swim team, whose video received at least 7.8 million views, music producer and international DJ Markus Schulz, "a senior community," NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon, musicians Matt & Kim, musician Azealia Banks, the staff of The Daily Show, Ryan Seacrest, Stephen Colbert, Rhett & Link and members of the WWE show.

A video titled Harlem Shake (Grandma Edition), in which a man and his two octogenarian grandmothers dance, received over a million views online within three days. It was broadcast on the Today show and CNN.

After numerous companies and startups began uploading their own Harlem Shake videos for what appeared to be promotional purposes, the business magazine Forbes advised them to produce their own original content instead of variants of the same video. It stated that there were too many versions already on YouTube, and that such publicity efforts could become "lost amidst all the noise."

Similarly, Ad Age begged advertising agencies not to "attempt to surf on the now-crashed viral wave."

In February 2013, a New York boys' hockey team was forced to forfeit a first-round playoff game as a result of a Harlem Shake video uploaded to YouTube. The team's video, shot in a locker room, depicts scantily clad team members, notably, one player wearing nothing but a sock. On February 20, 2013, the cast of American reality television series Splash including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Katherine Webb, Ndamukong Suh and Louie Anderson also uploaded a video of them dancing on the clip. The same day, Australian singer Cody Simpson uploaded a video of his crew and him doing the Harlem Shake in his tour bus.

Timeline of going viral

Because of the unusual way in which this meme started, it is important to clarify the precise sequence of events; namely a longer 3 minute 22 second video was uploaded by Filthy Frank on Jan 30th 2013 which included a 19 second section with some elements of the meme. The Sunny Coast Skate then uploaded their 31 second version of that original section on February 2 at 15:17. This includes all the recognisable elements of the meme, with the exception of the slowed down ending which many include. Filthy Frank then uploaded an extended 36 second section of his original dance as a standalone video clip on February 2 at 17:38.

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All times UTC

  • 2013-01-30 22:34: "Filthy Compilation #6 - Smell My Fingers" by Filthy Frank (channel DizastaMusic) uploaded to YouTube
  • 2013-02-02 15:17: The Sunny Coast Skate's version uploaded
  • 2013-02-02 17:38: Filthy Frank's version uploaded

References

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