Literal Lyrics

"But now you're not so beautiful!"

I’ve written before about literal videos, that short-lived online phenomenon emerging from the strangeness of the music video and the inventiveness of remix culture. And there are a number of videos out there showing “misheard lyrics,” where an original song is slightly mutated by miscommunication. Sometimes “misheard” lyrics are even more widely accepted than the correct versions—hey, was the original line “kiss the sky” or “kiss this guy”?

This “literal lyrics” video, however, seems like it’s fairly unique. It starts with the lyrics of popular songs and “autocompletes” them in an incorrect way…that often feels strangely correct.

(Janice loves the song “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction, and I would never get between her and her enjoyment of it. But every time I hear it, my logic-brain kicks in and I come to a similar conclusion to the one this video gives, about 43 seconds into its runtime.)

This Buzzfeed video features Eugene Lee Yang, who would go on to greater fame as a member of the Try Guys.

Just to round this out, here’s a compilation of “misheard lyrics” videos from Buzzfeed, featuring Yang and a cameo from fellow future Try Guy Keith Habersberger. This one can get explicit, and I’d call it not safe for work—but it’s Saturday morning, so I’m hoping that’s not an issue for you anyway! (And if it is, let’s keep reminding each other that it shouldn’t be. Life’s too short.)