The Surreal Life of Singing To Camera

An acquaintance asked me recently for my take on videos he'd posted on his YouTube account. A couple of the videos were of himself, singing to camera.

This reminded me of an account I actually subscribe to, whose name is "wiwibulle." He seems to be in France, and it seems ALL HE DOES is sing to his camera alone in his apartment. Furthermore, he sings over existing songs with the singers' lyrics. And uses what appears to be a baby's rattle shaped in a starry microphone.

I think I found his channel when I was looking for videos or music from Europe, more obscure pop songs that might be in another language, that Americans would have no access to. Though he may be French, of course, he's sung lots of songs that were big in the United States...

...as well as other English-language songs. New Bedford shoutout:

There's a certain kind of fascination to be had with these videos, I reckon. He could not get MORE awkward. He isn't always on lyric. He may come in early, or with the wrong word, though coming in early could be a choice on purpose. His eyes are extremely penetrating.

Then again, it DOES get more awkward when he's doing it with his shirt off. Maybe he's just woken up and has to get a song in before showering and getting ready for work.

He's badly framed. There's too much headroom. Is it because it's at the top of a computer screen? Probably not. The camera appears to have a real focus problem. We can even hear grinding of the camera sometimes, whether it's the auto-focus going nuts, or somehow if it's actual, honest-to-goodness, old skool, VIDEOTAPE! HORRORS! -- which would require much more work if that's how he was recording. Surely he musn't actually lay to tape, and hopefully he's just got the camera aimed into a digitizing card.

He appears to be RIDICULOUSLY prolific. He must record multiple songs a day. He's got over 5,000 videos. His account started in July 2006, so between now and then there's only been about 2,190 days. It doesn't look like there's any repeats either. And, somehow, it's like some songs he holds out for months -- though they may have been posted in April, there's a Christmas tree in some of the videos.

In addition to singing videos, there are also "muppetshowise" videos where he holds stuffed animals up in the camera's view in time to the music. This one is particularly enjoyable, though it involves Barbie-style dolls, not soft toys.

And more recently I've noticed he does another type of video where he simply DANCES to music. Ladies and gentlemen, we now take you back, back, back... to the 70's.

He's a decent dancer.

At least one of these he's done and I swear to God he's completely naked. The camera goes right down to his bare hips. Extremely epic:

He's got a nice body. But that's beside the point.

The only way the video could be funnier would be if he was dancing to Al Hirt's Java, used famously in, yes, a Muppet Show sketch.

Wiwi is not riding a fence; he's completely in the backyard swimming pool, doing the backstroke, with all his clothes on (a full tuxedo and shoes to boot). If the awkwardness is on purpose, it works; he's rocking it one hundred percent.