We Are Number One

"We Are Number One" is a song from the English language Icelandic children's television series LazyTown, composed by Máni Svavarsson. The song was featured in the twelfth episode of the show's fourth season, entitled "Robbie's Dream Team", which is the 103rd episode overall.[3]

"We Are Number One"
Still frame from the music video. From left to right, Bobbie (Björn Thors), Robbie (Stefán Karl Stefánsson), Tobbie (Snorri Engilbertsson), and Flobbie (Bergur Þór Ingólfsson).
Song by Máni Svavarsson and Stefán Karl Stefánsson
Released3 October 2014 (2014-10-03)
RecordedIceland
GenreSka[1]
Length2:18
LabelLazyTown Entertainment[2]
Songwriter(s)Máni Svavarsson
Music video
"We Are Number One" on YouTube

Following its release, the song gained significant online popularity and became common among internet memes and comical remixes, especially in support of the lead singer, Stefán Karl Stefánsson (Robbie Rotten), who had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer and died on 21 August 2018.

The music video of the song is the most-viewed video on the LazyTown YouTube channel, garnering over 102 million views as of January 2021.

Composition

The song is written in common time and has a tempo of 162 beats per minute. It is written in the key of F harmonic minor and also incorporates elements from the Hungarian gypsy scale such as a raised fourth scale degree. It follows the chord progression of Fm–Db–C.[4]

Music video

The music video is composed of clips from the LazyTown episode "Robbie's Dream Team". Robbie Rotten, the primary antagonist of LazyTown, attempts to teach his "dream team" of villainous accomplices (three fictional doppelgänger actors for children's parties, named Bobbie, Tobbie, and Flobbie Rotten) how to successfully catch a superhero, specifically Sportacus.

Robbie demonstrates different methods to his team: an overhead cage attached to a tree, a trapping pit, a large butterfly net, a false apple containing enough sugar to render the sugar-averse Sportacus unconscious, a somewhat small fishing net, and banana peels intended to cause Sportacus to slip while running. Almost all methods backfire, resulting in either Robbie or his team falling for the traps.

The sugar apple is an effective trick, successfully sedating Sportacus and giving Robbie and his team a chance to put him in a portable cage. Robbie's three teammates relocate the trapped Sportacus to Robbie's underground headquarters while Robbie stays on the surface to set up a cannon, revealed in the full episode to be the way Robbie intends to run Sportacus out of town. His plans are thwarted when Stephanie and Stingy open the base's periscope and use its cylindrical interior as a means of transporting a real apple to Sportacus. The apple rolls towards the cage undetected by the now-sleeping Bobbie, Tobbie, and Flobbie. Sportacus regains consciousness, eats the apple, and regains his power lost to the sugar apple. He then uses his reclaimed strength to break free from the cage and coax his three captors to play sports with him on the surface of LazyTown.

Robbie watches as his previous companions play sports with Sportacus, and out of apparent anger, walks over to them disregarding a bucket on the ground. This bucket is kicked, hitting and triggering Robbie's cannon and blasting Robbie away from the scene on the cannonball. The video ends with Bobbie, Tobbie, and Flobbie accidentally falling into the trapping pit constructed to capture Sportacus, reinforcing for a final time the clumsiness of the team.

History

The song originally had the working title called "Villain Number One" before it was changed to "We Are Number One".

During production there were many lyrics that were cut from the final version. These lyrics first surfaced to the public when it was revealed by Máni during the live stream that Stefán Karl held on Facebook on 11 December 2016, at the Icelandic studios where the show was filmed.[5]

Internet popularity

Two years after the LazyTown episode aired, "We Are Number One" became an Internet meme due to Robbie Rotten's performer Stefán Karl Stefánsson having announced that he had been diagnosed with bile duct cancer.[6][7] A campaign was created by Mark Valenti, head writer for LazyTown, on the crowdfunding platform GoFundMe[8] to pay for Stefán Karl's living costs while he was too unwell to work, and the creators of these parodies used their videos to raise awareness for the campaign.[9][10] As of 20 December 2016, the campaign had surpassed its $100,000 goal.[11]

To thank the contributors, Stefán Karl held a live stream on Facebook on 11 December 2016, where he performed "We Are Number One" with the other actors (Björn Thors, Bergur Þór Ingólfsson, Snorri Engilbertsson) from the original music video[12] which was later uploaded to his personal YouTube channel.[5]

Internet memes

The song gained popularity in September 2016, when the first remix was uploaded onto the bait-and-switch YouTube channel SiIvaGunner, disguised as an actual song from the video game Kirby Super Star Ultra.[3][13] Various parodies have been subsequently uploaded since, most prominently by the YouTuber and disk jockey Grandayy,[12] as well as proper cover versions by bands such as comedy punk group The Radioactive Chicken Heads.[14]

Typically, these parodies take the form of the original music video edited in some irregular and often highly complex way. A common title format would begin with the phrase "We Are Number One but...", followed by a list of changes from the original, for instance "We Are Number One but it's 1 hour long" or "We Are Number One but it's co-performed by Epic Sax Guy". Due to the extent of modification and resulting length of the title, they would occasionally be placed in the video description.[9] This type of remix was common in 2016, particularly during the year's waning months; a The Verge article described "We Are Number One" and other, similar remixes as "weird solipsistic creation[s]".[15]

It has been deemed the 2010-2019 "Meme of the Decade" in Grandayy's video "Grandayy's Meme Awards 2019."[16]

Alternative versions

The official LazyTown YouTube channel has posted several videos relating to the song, including an hour loop of the original song, an instrumental version, a reversed instrumental version, every "one" being replaced by "The Mine Song" (another song from the series, also with numerous parodies, which later became an internet meme in November 2016), a compilation of the songs with other well-known songs from the series (however, in PAL speed) and the full episode that the song appeared in, "Robbie's Dream Team" from 2014.[12] The original tracks (otherwise known as the "stems") used in composing the song were released shortly after.[17]

Eurovision petition

A petition was set up to have Stefán Karl perform the song to represent Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest, receiving over 12,000 signatures.[18] The petition wanted him to participate in the 2017 edition, but he did not apply, acknowledging that he was unlikely to do so, as recovering from his cancer was a bigger priority. Stefán Karl later died from bile duct cancer on 21 August 2018.

References
  1. "R.I.P. Stefán Karl Stefánsson, LazyTown's Robbie Rotten, dies of cancer at 43". Consequence of Sound. 21 August 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  2. "LazyTown (TV Series 2002–2016)". Retrieved 15 February 2019 – via www.imdb.com.
  3. Asarch, Steven (17 December 2016). "'We Are Number One' Meme: Why Do People Keep Remixing a Children's Show Song?". iDigitalTimes. IBT Media. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  4. MuseScore. "We Are Number One but it's a piano transcript". MuseScore.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  5. Stefán Karl Stefánsson. "We Are Number One live but it's the live version with an interview 12.11.16". YouTube.
  6. Sunna Kristín Hilmarsdóttir skrifar (22 September 2016). "Stefán Karl alvarlega veikur". Visir.is (in Icelandic). Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  7. Einar Þór Sigurðsson (22 September 2016). "Stefán Karl lagður inn á sjúkrahús um helgina". DV (in Icelandic). Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  8. "Robbie Rotten, villano de LazyTown sufre de cáncer". La Prensa. 19 October 2016.
  9. Townsend, Benedict (30 November 2016). "YouTubers Are Using Memes To Help The Robbie Rotten Actor Fight Cancer". We the Unicorns. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  10. Shamsiand, Jacob (2 December 2016). "This YouTube video that has been viewed over 12 million times could be the heralding of a new meme". Insider. Retrieved 11 December 2016.
  11. Foley, Kyle (20 December 2016). "How a Flurry of Internet Memes Are Helping a 'LazyTown' Actor Battling Cancer". Heat Street.
  12. Rogers, Zachary (12 December 2016). "Fans of children's show actor support his fight against cancer, raise over $80k". NBC 10. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
  13. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYJsZJhUxzQ
  14. "We Are Number One But We're The Radioactive Chicken Heads". YouTube. 16 January 2017.
  15. McCormick, Rich (30 December 2016). "The latest in a weird new meme trend". The Verge.
  16. Grandayy's Meme Awards 2019, retrieved 18 January 2020
  17. Rollins, Krister (15 December 2016). "It's an Internet Meme, But It Helped to Fight Cancer!". WCSH.
  18. Granger, Anthony (6 January 2017). "Iceland: 10,000 People Sign Petition For Robbie Rotten To Compete At Eurovision". Eurovoix. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
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