Chocolate Rain

Last updated
"Chocolate Rain"
Tay Zonday - Chocolate Rain cover art.jpg
Single by Tay Zonday
ReleasedApril 22, 2007 (2007-04-22)
RecordedMarch 2007
Studio Tay Zonday's apartment, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Genre Art pop
Length4:52
Label Self-released
Songwriter(s) Tay Zonday
Producer(s) Tay Zonday
Music video
"Chocolate Rain" on YouTube

"Chocolate Rain" is a song by American singer Tay Zonday. It quickly became popular after the music video for the song was uploaded to YouTube on April 22, 2007, and has since been viewed more than 138 million times. "Chocolate Rain" was ranked as the hottest viral video of summer 2007 by CTV and was awarded the 2008 YouTube Award in the category "Music". [1] [2] Lyrically, the song is a metaphor for racism against African Americans. [3]

Contents

Music video

The official music video for "Chocolate Rain," lasting 4 minutes and 52 seconds, was uploaded on April 23, 2007, to Tay Zonday's official YouTube channel. The video portrays Zonday in a recording studio wearing a white T-shirt and singing into a condenser microphone. Occasional cuts to Zonday playing a digital piano are also shown. A caption appears early in the video – "**I move away from the mic to breathe in".

The music video was ranked as the hottest viral video of summer 2007 by CTV. [4] The video has garnered over 138 million views as of March 2024. [5]

Critical reception

Garth Montgomery of The Daily Telegraph described the song as having a "hypnotic quality," with "curious vocals that sound like a man much older than the young artist," playing over a "cheesy" drum loop. [6]

During a brief interview on The Opie and Anthony Show , Zonday called the song "cheesy" and commented how its lyrics dealt with racism. [7]

The initial spread of the popularity of the song was due to 4chan. [8] Zonday said, "I'm pretty sure the 'Chocolate Rain' attention started as a joke at 4chan.org, an internet forum that is credited with starting lots of popular internet phenomena. It spread to a general audience and people started uploading spoofs. I don't know what causes people to listen to my music. If I could speak it, there would be no reason to write songs." [9]

Performances

Clips of the video have been played or referenced on television and radio shows, including G4TV's Attack of the Show , [10] Last Call with Carson Daly, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart , Maury and Online Nation . On August 9, 2007, Zonday performed the song on the late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live! as part of its "Internet Talent Showcase". [11] It has also been performed live on the BBC Radio 1 Chris Moyles Show . [12] Later, Zonday came out on Lily Allen and Friends , where he sang in a live performance of Lily Allen's song "Smile". Zonday performed Chocolate Rain during the autism education benefit Night of Too Many Stars on October 2, 2010. During some 2007 and 2008 performances, LeRoi Moore, the saxophonist for the Dave Matthews Band, integrated the melody into an outro on the band's song "The Dreaming Tree". [5] [4] [6] Zonday also got a "Web Redemption" on Daniel Tosh's show Tosh.0 .

Spoofs and tributes

"Chocolate Rain" is the subject of numerous parodies, tributes, remixes, and covers on the Internet. Major musical artists (such as John Mayer [13] and Green Day drummer Tre Cool) [14] [15] have spoofed the song on TV and YouTube.

Zonday himself appeared on the August 2007 episode of VH1's Best Week Ever and performed a parody called "Summer Break". [16] In March 2008, Zonday performed the song during YouTube Live - during the same show, Bo Burnham (with his song "Welcome to YouTube") made a comical reference to the song, with the lyrics "Your favourite coat's got a doo-doo stain, I pray to God that's Chocolate Rain." Zonday was featured in the music video for rock band Weezer's song "Pork and Beans" and appeared in a YouTube video with Weezer's Brian Bell to play an acoustic version of "Pork and Beans" on June 3, 2008. [17] Zonday himself appeared as a guest voice on an episode of Robot Chicken , where the song was spoofed as "Chocolate Grain". [18] The song was part of the mashup "Like Tears In Chocolate Rain" from Neil Cicierega's Mouth Sounds .

On April 2, 2008, South Park aired "Canada on Strike", in which Zonday appears talking about "Chocolate Rain" (along with other Internet memes), only to be killed when a stare from the Dramatic Look Gopher makes his head explode. The title of the hit was humorously manipulated in the phrase "get ready for some chocolate pain" within the episode. The episode brought back the video's popularity and boosted its views by over one million in the days following its airing. In The Office episode "Business Ethics," Michael Scott confesses that when he discovered YouTube, he "watched Cookie Monster sings 'Chocolate Rain' about a thousand times". This prompted the creation of several such videos a few days later. While making a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live in April 2007, Paul Reubens debuted a spoof educational movie called Journey to Banana Land that beckoned "Chocolate Rain" when the narrator mentions cocoa trees; Zonday's YouTube video is used as Reubens sings along (Zonday himself performed the song on Kimmel in August 2007, to a mixed audience reception.) On 30 Rock , Liz called Toofer "Chocolate Rain" in "SeinfeldVision". It was also referenced in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Boating Buddies", where Squidward spills hot chocolate on himself and SpongeBob says, "Chocolate Rain!"

On July 28, 2017 [19] the rock and roll jam band Phish paid tribute to the song by performing it as the opening number to their Baker's Dozen chocolate donut themed concert at Madison Square Garden.

Commercials

In November 2007, Tay Zonday licensed the song to and recorded spoof lyrics for Comedy Central as a promo clip for their show Last Laugh with Lewis Black. On November 28, 2007, Zonday released a spoof/sequel to the song titled "Cherry Chocolate Rain". The music video is professionally shot and makes many allusions to the original song. The song makes fun of itself with its over-the-top visuals and mentions how Zonday was "paid a hefty, hefty fee" to do the video, as well as featuring professional rapper Mista Johnson, who repeats, "He moves his mouth away from the mic so he can breathe." The video and song were created as part of a promotional campaign for Cherry Chocolate Diet Dr Pepper. [20]

License

The song and video are licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license. It has been suggested that the relative openness of the license has helped to encourage the song's spread. Creative Commons has praised Tay Zonday specifically for this very reason. [21] Zonday has expressed his own thoughts on the licensing situation on his Myspace blog, stating, "I want non-profit radio and small mom/pop cafes to be able to play my music for free. But I also want giant corporations who can afford to give me a dime or two to pay fair royalties." [22] [ failed verification ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Numa Numa (video)</span> Internet meme

"Numa Numa" is an Internet meme based on a video by American vlogger Gary Brolsma made after the song "Dragostea Din Tei" as performed by Moldovan pop group O-Zone. Brolsma's video, entitled "Numa Numa Dance", was released on December 6, 2004, on the website Newgrounds under the username "Gman250" and shows Brolsma lip-syncing the song with lively gesticulations and dance moves. The video title is derived from the Romanian words "nu mă nu mă" that occur in the refrain of O-Zone's song. It was the first Numa Numa-themed video to gain widespread attention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger</span> 2001 song by Daft Punk

"Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" is a song by French duo Daft Punk, released in October 2001 as the fourth single from their second studio album Discovery. A live version of "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" was released as a single from the album Alive 2007 on 15 October 2007. This version won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2009. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 132 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Viral video</span> Video that becomes popular via Internet sharing

A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on the social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Maynard</span> American internet celebrity

Jay Maynard is an American computer programmer, system administrator and the volunteer project maintainer for Hercules, a free emulator of IBM mainframe hardware. He is known for his self-made electroluminescent costume based on the film Tron, which resulted in his nickname Tron Guy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judson Laipply</span> American internet personality

Judson Laipply is an American internet celebrity from Bucyrus, Ohio. He served as the state president of The Ohio Association of Student Councils from 1993 to 1994. He is best known for his performance in the "Evolution of Dance" viral video clip, which became one of the most famous YouTube videos ever. He has worked as a public speaker since 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leslie Hall</span> American singer (b. 1981)

Leslie Merritt Hall is an American satirical rap artist and front-woman for the band Leslie and the LY's. She also operates a "gem sweater museum". She is best known for the YouTube hits like "How We Go Out" and "Tight Pants/Body Rolls". She is also currently a member of pop duo Neon & Nude.

"What What (In the Butt)" is a viral video created by Andrew Swant and Bobby Ciraldo for the song of the same name by Samwell. It is known for its numerous blatant and camp references to homosexuality and anal sex. The lyrics of the song, a production of Mike Stasny, mostly revolve around the title. The video was made in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and uploaded on Valentine's Day 2007 to YouTube. As of November 2023, the video has over 75 million views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cara Cunningham</span> American Internet personality, songwriter, and recording artist

Cara Cunningham is an American internet personality, songwriter, recording artist, YouTuber, and former pornographic film actress. As of October 2010, Cunningham's videos had received a combined 50 million plays on MySpace, and her vlog channel on YouTube was the 100th-most viewed of all time in all categories, with over 205 million video views, before Cunningham closed her YouTube account in September 2015. Her work consists mainly of short-form, self-directed monologues shot in her grandparents' home.

Jodie Amy Rivera known professionally as VenetianPrincess, is an American former YouTuber. Rivera's content typically included parodies of songs and events in pop culture. Despite being inactive, her channel maintains 860,000 subscriptions with total video views of 363 million as of July 2021. The VenetianPrincess channel gained notoriety in 2006 after being featured on the front page of YouTube. In 2007 she became one of the first people invited into YouTube's revenue sharing program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dramatic Chipmunk</span> Internet comedy viral video

Dramatic Chipmunk is a viral Internet video. The video is a 5-second clip of a prairie dog turning its head while the camera zooms in and dramatic music is played.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube Awards</span> Promotion that rewarded youtubers with the best video on the platform

The YouTube Awards was a promotion run by the American video-sharing website YouTube to recognize the best user-generated videos of the year. The awards were presented twice, in 2007 and 2008, with winners being voted for by the site's users from shortlists compiled by YouTube staff. YouTube was launched on February 14, 2005, and quickly began to grow – by July 2006, traffic to the site had increased by 297 percent. As a result of this success, YouTube launched their own awards promotion in March 2007 to honor some of the site's best videos. Seven shortlists were compiled, with ten videos per shortlist. Users were invited to vote for the winners over a five-day period at a dedicated web page. Singer Damian Kulash, whose band OK Go won in the Most Creative category for their music video Here It Goes Again, said that receiving a YouTube Award was a surreal honor and that the site was changing culture "quickly and completely".

"Canada on Strike" is the fourth episode in the twelfth season of the American animated television series South Park. The 171st episode of the series overall, it first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on April 2, 2008. In the episode, the nation of Canada, feeling disrespected by the rest of the world, goes on a general strike, demanding money, spurring the boys to raise money by creating a viral video.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pork and Beans (song)</span> 2008 single by Weezer

"Pork and Beans" is a song by the American alternative rock band Weezer, released on the group's 2008 self-titled album Weezer, also known as the Red Album. It was released to radio on April 22, 2008 and released in digital form on April 24. The track debuted at number 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and spent eleven weeks at number one. The song charted in many countries such as Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

<i>Star Wars Kid</i> Viral video and Internet meme

Star Wars Kid is a viral video made in 2002 by Ghyslain Raza in which he wields a golf ball retriever in imitation of Darth Maul's lightsaber moves from the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. At the time, Raza was a 15-year-old high school student from Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. He had not intended for the video to become public, but its subsequent release led to ridicule, during which Raza chose to distance himself from the video. Raza has since affirmed his identity and has used the video to help to speak on the effects of bullying and harassment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tay Zonday</span> American YouTube personality

Adam Nyerere Bahner, better known by the pseudonym Tay Zonday or as "Chocolate Rain Guy", is an American YouTube personality, singer-songwriter, and voice actor. He is known for his bass singing voice.

<i>Keyboard Cat</i> Internet meme

Keyboard Cat is a video-based internet meme. Its original form was a video made in 1984 by Charlie Schmidt of his cat Fatso seemingly playing a musical keyboard to a cheery tune. While Schmidt had uploaded the video himself to YouTube in 2007, Brad O'Farrell, with Schmidt's permission, appended the video to the end of a blooper video uploaded in 2009 as if to have the cat "play" the person offstage after the gaffe as they had done in Vaudeville. The idea of this quickly expanded on the Internet by numerous other users, typically under the name "Play Him Off, Keyboard Cat", and became a popular meme on YouTube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?)</span> 2013 electronic dance novelty song and viral video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis

"The Fox " is an electronic dance novelty song and viral video by Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis. The top trending video of 2013 on YouTube, "The Fox" was posted on the platform on 3 September 2013, and has received over 1 billion views as of November 2023. "The Fox" peaked at the top of the Norwegian Singles Chart and was successful in the United States, where it peaked at number six on the Billboard Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks, and was, before the U.S. release of "Am I Wrong" by Nico & Vinz, the highest-ranked song by a Norwegian artist on the chart since A-ha's number-one song "Take On Me" in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Something Is Not Right with Me</span> 2008 single by Cold War Kids

"Something Is Not Right with Me" is a song by American indie rock band Cold War Kids. It serves as the fourth track and debut single off their second album Loyalty to Loyalty (2008). The song was released online in July 2008 by the band on their Myspace page. It was given an official release on September 1, 2008, on iTunes. Lyrically, it describes a person facing a dilemma about living in a world that's constantly changing.

Taylor Walker is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Inglewood, California. Taylor performed as a writer, keyboardist and vocalist on The Internet's debut album Purple Naked Ladies as well as playing keyboards in the music video for "Objects in the Mirror" from the Mac Miller album Watching Movies With The Sound Off. In 2015 Walker released his debut solo album 25 Hours A Day, independently.

References

  1. ↑ Carlson, Erin (March 20, 2008). "Will the Obama Girl win a YouTube award?". Associated Press. Archived from the original on March 23, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
  2. ↑ Associated Press (March 21, 2008). "Viral videos win big at second YouTube Awards". CNN.com. Archived from the original on March 23, 2008. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
  3. ↑ "We talked to the guy who sang Chocolate Rain on the video's 10th anniversary". 22 April 2017. Archived from the original on 22 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  4. 1 2 Droganes, Constance (August 1, 2007). "10million hottest viral videos of the summer (so far)". CTV.ca. Archived from the original on December 10, 2015. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Zonday, Tay (April 22, 2007). ""Chocolate Rain" Original Song by Tay Zonday". YouTube. Archived from the original on May 29, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Montgomery, Garth (August 3, 2007). "Chocolate Rain goes huge". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on December 3, 2007.
  7. ↑ "Tay Zonday on the Opie & Anthony show". YouTube . July 19, 2007. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
  8. ↑ Mathew Ingram (August 15, 2007). "Who is Tay Zonday? 21". The Globe and Mail . Archived from the original on October 19, 2007. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  9. ↑ "Make It Rain: Tay Zonday". HHNLiv. July 30, 2007. Archived from the original on February 22, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Tay Zonday on Attack of the Show's Daily Video Podcast". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  11. ↑ Zonday performs "Chocolate Rain" Archived 2016-04-21 at the Wayback Machine on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, August 9, 2007
  12. ↑ Zonday performs "Chocolate Rain" Archived 2016-04-08 at the Wayback Machine on The Chris Moyles Show
  13. ↑ MTV News Staff (August 6, 2007). "Jennifer Lopez And Marc Anthony Roll Out Tour Dates; Plus Lindsay Lohan, Gwen Stefani, Nas, Amy Winehouse & More, In For The Record". MTV News. Archived from the original on May 28, 2012. Retrieved August 8, 2007.
  14. ↑ Cashmere, Tim (August 3, 2007). "Green Day Drummer Tre Cool Covers Tay Zonday". Undercover. Archived from the original on August 10, 2007. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  15. ↑ Tré Cool's parody cover on YouTube
  16. ↑ "Summer Break" Archived 2007-08-17 at the Wayback Machine from ifilm.com
  17. ↑ Acoustic Pork and Beans Archived 2013-01-27 at archive.today
  18. ↑ Robot Chicken: Chocolate Grain Archived 2009-11-12 at the Wayback Machine – Adult Swim Video (Retrieved April 26, 2010)
  19. ↑ Phish.com Official Tour Archive Archived 2017-11-07 at the Wayback Machine (Retrieved April 3, 2018)
  20. ↑ Cherry Chocolate Rain on YouTube
  21. ↑ Parkins, Cameron (August 1, 2007). "Tay Zonday's "Chocolate Rain"". Creative Commons weblog. Archived from the original on January 3, 2014. Retrieved November 2, 2017.
  22. ↑ Tay Zonday's Archived 2014-01-03 at the Wayback Machine Myspace page
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.