Even if you don’t immediately recognize the name of Japanese comedian Pikotaro, you more than likely are familiar with some of his work. He is, after all, the one who created the worldwide hit song PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen) back in 2016. By the way, please allow me to remind you that song reached number one on the Billboard charts in Japan and also became a top 100 song on the US charts that same year. Feeling a little fuzzy about this song? Let’s revisit it.
A simple little song that is guaranteed to get caught in your head, isn’t it?
Well, Pikotaro is back at it again with a brand new single and music video which could only be described as a complete departure from his previous effort.
Giving this single the upbeat (if not a little on the nose) title of “Everyone Must Die”, there’s a lot to digest in this video. Let’s start with the tone and lyrics, if you were to hear this song by itself without the accompanying music video you might find yourself pretty confused to hear soft, almost poetic spoken lyrics followed by a sudden upbeat chorus of “Everyone must die” for three minutes.
Once you watch the bizarre visuals of the video, however, you’ll be even more confused thanks to the electric halo over Pikotaro’s head, the band playing toy instruments as though they were on stage at the Tokyo Dome, and then by Pikotaro’s… let’s call it dancing as he sings that eerily catchy chorus.
It’s at this point though that we need to step back and wonder who this song is for. The one good thing about PPAP is that it was a simple song that even children around the world were singing. I can’t really imagine parents around the world having the same level of enthusiasm towards their offspring walking around their house singing “Everyone must die” over and over again.
The internet is a strange place however and this song has racked up over 609,000 views in its first week since being uploaded to Pikotaro’s official YouTube channel on August 14. Perhaps the comedian is onto something here and we’re actually looking at the next worldwide viral hit except we just don’t know it yet.
