The ever eccentric Weird Al Yankovic is back, this time spoofing Robin Thicke’s controversial and sexy “Blurred Lines” with parodic “Word Crimes.” The second of eight new videos off his fourteenth studio album Mandatory Fun released this week follows up 2011’s Apocalypse. He will continue to release one new video parody until next week. We can expect goofy repurposing of hits including Lorde’s “Royals,” Imagine Dragon’s “Radioactive,” and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy” this week.
“Word Crimes” comes second to “Tacky,” poking fun at Pharrell’s “Happy,” and featuring Jack Black twerking out earlier this week. His day by day release is meant to comment on the viral nature of modern music videos, letting each video have its day before burning out and hopefully teaching some etiquette along the way.
In an interview with NPR, Yankovic discusses “Word Crimes” saying, “I try to think of an angle that might be a little bit different to left-of-center that somebody else hasn’t thought of already. And I don’t think anybody, to this point, had done a ‘Blurred Lines’ parody about proper use of grammar.” Always thinking outside the box, Yankovic’s inventive video pokes fun at society with gaudiness and self-mockery that the world has come to expect from the enigma that is Weird Al. We are no less entertained, and perhaps even a little more grammatically correct.
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