Tay Zonday's cherry chocolate reign
By Lindsey Rivait
Arts Editor
February 6, 2008
 If you’ve ever been online, chances are you’ve seen a deep-voiced man warbling away in front of his keyboard belting out the words “Chocolate Rain” again and again. Tay Zonday, or Adam Bahner, began posting videos of himself on YouTube, achieving Internet celebrity status in July 2007. The Minneapolis, MN grad student went from American studies to appearances on national television shows overnight.
The original message of “Chocolate Rain” dealt with racism, but Zonday is not disappointed that his lyrical commentary went unnoticed by many. “Music is subject to interpretation. Many people ask what the meaning is,” says Zonday.
While Zonday’s deep Barry White-esque voice is powerful, he has no previous vocal training, nor is he currently pursuing any. “I have hardly had time to tie my shoes,” jokes Zonday.
Zonday’s upload of “Chocolate Rain” to YouTube has opened up many doors for him. His most recent foray into music came in the form of a commercial for Dr. Pepper’s new Cherry Chocolate beverage with a song and video for “Cherry Chocolate Rain” in November.
Also in November, Zonday licensed “Chocolate Rain” to Comedy Central to use as promo clips for their Last Laugh with Lewis Black special.
While his YouTube videos, with the exception of the professionally produced “Cherry Chocolate Rain,” are simple, Zonday has attempted to branch out into more complicated videography like in his video for “Do The Can’t Dance.”
“It is fun to play with effects in a video editor. To the extent that post-production is an easy stage in which to make the video more interesting. I will probably continue to experiment,” promises Zonday.
Zonday didn’t think too much about posting his videos on YouTube originally. “Posting videos on YouTube has become as ordinary as making a phone call was in the 1980s, or sending a letter in the 1960s. It is simply a part of our life and times. I did not give it a lot of thought,” he explains.
“Chocolate Rain” was not Zonday’s first upload; in fact his first video contained what Zonday himself describes as “a bad acoustic cover” of “Swing Low Sweet Chariot.” Most of his older videos have been removed from the site, however.
Of course, parody is one of the best forms of flattery, and there is certainly no shortage of YouTube video tributes uploaded for Zonday, including videos by John Mayer and Green Day drummer Tre Cool.
Evil Happy Clown and Dead Bill Clinton of the television show OMGWTF! on public access in the Cincinnati, OH region uploaded their version of the song and video in December 2007. “We made it as a joke on our local TV show. We wanted to do one a few episodes earlier, but thought the joke might have been overdone. The Dr. Pepper thing gave us an excuse. We really don’t know if anyone who hasn’t seen the show will get it,” says Dead Bill.
Other worthwhile parodies include blamesocietyfilms’ “Chocolate Rain by Chad Vader,” in which Vader moves his “frontal breathing vent away from the mic to respirate,” an 8-bit remix by UuUuUuUuUuU that features a Tay Zonday-themed NES video game hack, snedge45’s “Fast Food Chain,” where the singer orders his meal through song from a drive-thru window, and peppergod’s equally nonsensical “Vanilla Snow.”
Zonday is also a big supporter of the Creative Commons license, believing that while music shouldn’t necessarily be free, those who can afford to pay more should. When asked about his position on file sharing, Zonday responded, “The real question is whether I support the enclosure of the non-material (information) commons as property. I never figured out how such enclosure is consistent with theories of capital (Locke, Smith, etc.). I would say that my position is to be puzzled and remain puzzled where the majority of people find continuity,” Zonday explains.
While there isn’t much nowadays that surprises Zonday, he says that he “did not anticipate the song’s public attention.”
Besides furthering his musical career and garnering awareness for the Creative Commons license, Zonday would love to get into voice-over work as well. He is also busy working on new songs, a preview of which, “The Year 6000,” is available on his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/tayzonday.
As for the future, Zonday hopes he can make a living creating and performing art. “Most people aren’t able to do that. I’m no longer sure what my day job will be.”
The quick Internet celebrity status that Zonday achieved has helped him discover a little more about himself. “I’ve developed a better sense of what I enjoy and what I don’t in terms of potential career paths. But I’m still very much figuring out what I want to do in life.”
For more information about Tay Zonday, visit him online at http://www.youtube.com/user/tayzonday, or http://www.tayzonday.com.
|
