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Weird Al releasing eight parody videos in eight days

For his 14th album, Mandatory Fun, Weird Al is releasing a music video every day for eight straight days. Not surprisingly, Al's jokes are all up to date for the year of their release, mocking everything from how people use Instagram to the bad grammar of doge. We'll be keeping up with the videos, so you can follow along here to find the best ones.

  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 21, 2014

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Weird Al parodies corporate buzzwords in final 'Mandatory Fun' music video

    Weird Al's final song in his eight days of music videos is sort of like your company's CEO on Auto-Tune: a bizarrely compelling string of often-meaningless buzzwords that sound great together. Called "Mission Statement?," the song parodies the style of Crosby, Stills & Nash with a near-constant self-harmony of Al's vocals over a bit of jangling and quiet guitar. As for the lyrics, it's hard to say if they really mean anything in a straightforward way. His lines might make sense from moment to moment, but they're pretty meaningless as a whole: "Invest in world-class technology / and enrich our core competencies / in order to holistically / administrate exceptional synergy," Al sings. You can watch the video over at The Wall Street Journal.

    The track's music video is truly what the song might call a value-added experience — itself a parody of the white-board animations that you see on YouTube videos by RSA. They're well-made and interesting animations, but they often accompanying a dry talk with a name that begins with something like "The Power of…". The premiere of "Mission Statement?" concludes Al's eight days of music video releases. The actual album that they're in support of, Mandatory Fun, has been out for nearly a week now, and it includes a few additional songs that didn't make the jump to video too, including a polka medley and an Imagine Dragons parody.

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Jul 20, 2014

    Dante D'Orazio

    Weird Al adopts Southern rock style for 'Lame Claim to Fame' music video

    "Weird Al" Yankovic is putting on his trucker hat and grabbing a cowbell for his latest music video, "Lame Claim to Fame." The stop-motion animated video is the seventh in his series of eight music videos for his new album Mandatory Fun, and it's arguably one of the most creative so far. Notably, the video features DJ Dr. Demento, who helped bring Weird Al to the national stage with his radio show.

    The song itself sounds like something you'd catch while flipping through the radio stations on some back road in Texas, and Pitchfork notes it's in the style of rock band Southern Culture on the Skids. True to its name, Weird Al lists off some truly dubious celebrity connections, such as posting "first" on a Russell Crowe YouTube video. Perhaps the best is the suitably random: "I used the same napkin dispenser as Steve Carell / At a Taco Bell."

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  • Dante D'Orazio

    Jul 19, 2014

    Dante D'Orazio

    Weird Al turns hashtag into song with 'First World Problems' music video

    Weird Al's eight days of music videos for his album Mandatory Fun sure seems perfectly designed to take the internet by storm. In today's ridiculous video, "First World Problems," the one-of-a-kind artist has transformed a list of Twitter rants into a song that pokes fun at bands like the Pixies. While Weird Al's self-proclaimed "douchey" alter-ego in the video has some perennial problems, like missing breakfast because he overslept, many of his complaints are right up to date for 2014. "My Sonicare won't recharge / now I gotta brush my teeth like a Neanderthal," he chants at one point, later adding: "My house is so big / I can't get Wi-Fi in the kitchen." He finishes the track with the ultimate first world problem: "I had to buy something I didn't even need / just so I could qualify for free shipping on Amazon." We've all been there, Al.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 17, 2014

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Weird Al parodies Iggy Azalea's 'Fancy' with music video of a strange handyman

    Weird Al is taking on Iggy Azalea's sassy single "Fancy" for the fourth in his planned eight days of music video releases to promote his new album, Mandatory Fun. As he did with his parody of Lorde's "Royals" yesterday, Al twists "Fancy" into a strange sort of advertisement — this time for handyman services in a song appropriately titled "Handy." It's hard to keep up with Azalea's energy, but as you'd expect, Al does an impressive job of translating it into the voice of his overly enthusiastic handyman.

    Al has taken on a number of big hits already in his week of videos. Aside from "Royals," he also parodied Pharrell's "Happy," and Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines."

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 16, 2014

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Weird Al rants about the Illuminati in parody of Lorde's 'Royals'

    Weird Al is getting a bit weirder for day three in the eight days of music video releases to promote his new album, Mandatory Fun. This third parody is of Lorde's breakout single "Royals," which Al twists into a strange infomercial for aluminum foil. The song, called "Foil," translates surprisingly well, but it's partway through that things start to get really odd. "Oh by the way I've cracked the code," Al sings. "I figured out these shadow organizations / and the Illuminati know / that they're finally primed for world domination." Patton Oswalt costars in the video, and Reno 911! stars Thomas Lennon and Robert Ben Garant cameo as secret agents to wrap things up.

    Al is now through several of the biggest parodies on his new album. Yesterday, he released a video for "Word Crimes," a parody of Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," and on Monday, he released "Tacky," a parody of Pharrell's "Happy."

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 15, 2014

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Weird Al's 'Blurred Lines' parody skewers Reddit and doge for grammar crimes

    Weird Al plans to release a new music video every day for eight straight days, and for day two he's taking on Robin Thicke's infectious (and controversial) single "Blurred Lines." Al's version is called "Word Crimes," and it's a general send-up of people with poor grammar. "If you can't write in the proper way / if you don't know how to conjugate," Al opens, "maybe you flunked that class / and maybe now you find that people mock you online." Al eventually delves into some brief grammar lessons, so you might actually learn a thing or two about parts of speech by listening.

    As with yesterday's parody of Pharrell's "Happy," the video for "Word Crimes" only serves to make the song all the more funny. Reddit, doge, and Clippy all make cameos in the video, which switches back and forth between dropping grammar lessons and dropping pop-culture references. The video also remakes a few elements of Thicke's original video, including its use of bold hashtags across the screen and a certain set of silver balloons. There isn't, however, any nudity.

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  • Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jul 14, 2014

    Jacob Kastrenakes

    Weird Al releasing a new video every day for eight days, starting today with 'Happy' parody

    Weird Al has a new album of parodies coming out tomorrow, but you'll probably want to look for them on the web rather than over the radio: eight songs off of the album are getting music videos, and they'll be premiering over eight days. The first video came out this morning and has Al singing "Tacky," a parody of Pharrell's unbearably catchy hit "Happy."

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