Culture

Here’s what your favorite song sounds like when slowed down

Spend a few minutes with a very good meme.

Culture

Meme time

Culture

Here’s what your favorite song sounds like when slowed down

Spend a few minutes with a very good meme.

Ever wonder what your favorite songs sound like slowed down? If not, witness the latest meme to take Twitter by storm. Users are making videos that purport to show viewers what a slowed down song sounds like, but instead offers something so much better: audio of someone else singing the same damn song, but way shittier. It sounds unfunny when I describe it, but incredible in practice, which is the sign of a great meme.

Of course like any meme, some iterations are better than others. Clear standouts are one that “slows down” Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” only to bring you back to a classic Vine.

Another I can’t get enough of, this one “slowing down” Rihanna’s “Needed Me."

This version of Mariah Carey's "Hero" stings in the best way, since this is what most of us sound like singing along to her.

And a definite favorite on Twitter is this iteration of “Please Mr. Postman,” which cites another iconic Vine.

When you first watch one of the videos, the defiance of expectation is what lays you out. You’re expecting deep-voiced Rihanna; instead you get a different voice that highlights the subtleties of the original, while making it absurd. Once that initial reaction is over, the videos retain their humor simply because they’re inexplicably weird.

Though the origins of this meme are hazy, it may be rooted in a February 5 video in which user @jesse21valona played Adele’s “Hello” on a turntable, and then manually slowed the speed until the record sounded (rather convincingly) like Sam Smith was singing. It’s a funny observation that the internet improved on, as it does, by pushing parody as far as they can go.