Photo: crommelincklars / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)
entertainment

Sushi Ramen remixes Billie Eilish’s 'Bad Guy' with bod sounds and the result is strangely catchy

10 Comments
By Luke Mahoney, grape Japan

If you follow music, then you know Billie Eilish. The 18-year-old has experienced runaway success. Her 2019 album "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" was a Billboard 200 hit and the best performing album of the year. She has appeared on nearly every American talk show and even "Saturday Night Live." She has five Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards, two Guinness World Records, three MTV Video Music Awards, and one Brit Award. What’s more, she recently released "No Time to Die." The 2020 single will be the theme song of the next James Bond movie.

The young musician has even caught on in Japan. Despite the current pandemic, she is slated to play a stadium show in Yokohama in September. And tickets aren't cheap—they range from 9,500 to 15,000 yen. If you're interested, more information is available here.

Billie Eilish has a robust following among Japanese netizens. The Universal Music Japan upload of her hit "Bad Guy" has over 3 million views. Numerous YouTubers have covered her work and received thousands and even millions of views in the process. The musician also has a strong presence on Japanese SNS. The Japanese hashtag for Billie Eilish is full of fan art, cover videos, and retweets of the singer's media content.

They say, "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." But in the case of YouTuber Sushi Ramen and Billie Eilish, I'm not so sure whether or not that is true. Particularly that bit about flattery.

Recently, YouTuber Sushi Ramen experienced a surge of views on his cover of Eilish's "Bad Guy." The attention is well deserved. Indeed, the vlogger accomplished something special; he recreated the hit single scene-for-scene using sounds generated from his body. Why don't we have a look:

Sushi Ramen begins the video replicating the bass track by kicking the studio room floor. A metal can crashing on his head recreates the drum track while some weird PVC pipe rig appears to mimic the opening bass line.

As the video continues, Sushi Ramen relies on unusual found sounds as well a microphone techniques to remake "Bad Guy." He recreates a snare drum by a popping balloon. He mimics snapping by brushing his hair across a string, and he sits on a vibrating plate to add some extra tremolo to his vocals.

While the audio track is creatively recorded, the visual component of the video is perhaps more impressive. Sushi Ramen manages to recreate several scenes, several of which are bold colored rooms. There are also the essential small cars from the original. My favorite, however, is the bloody nose scene. In the original, Eilish is bleeding on her all-white outfit. In the case of Sushi Ramen, it's ketchup dripping from corn dogs. Pretty creative.

Just like me, fans gushed over the video:

“This is like a fever dream.”

"People are coming here to listen to this every day."

“This video will still be studied 100 hundred years into the future.”

“I want Billie Eilish to see this for herself, that’d be really interesting.”

The video also received numerous English comments from overseas viewers, something unusual for Japanese vlogs:

“This is a national treasure of the world.”

"By this point, it wouldn't surprise me if he's in Eilish's next music video."

“I'm sorry, man, this girl Billie Eilish stole your song, and somehow people think that this is not the original...Yours is so much better."

“I know Sushi Ramen is actually a ‘good guy.’”

Finally, there is a nice side-by-side video that makes comparing the two a little easier. Check it out below.

Japanese Cover Artists

With the broad appeal of Eilish's music, there are naturally many musicians interested in covering her singles. Japanese artists are no exception. Interestingly enough, even amateur videos are amassing massive amounts of likes and views.

As you can see, Beteruchaneru got over a million views for her basic video and excellent cover. She also did fans the service of translating the song's lyrics. Speaking to the popularity of Eilish, out of all of Beteruchaneru's cover videos, this seems to be by far the most popular.

Vlogger Mii also made a popular cover video. This version incorporates Japanese lyrics and is well sung. And of course, there is some much-needed headbanging.

Indeed, the 18-year-old American artist's star-power is astonishing. Although musicians are being hit particularly hard by the coronavirus, hopefully, Eilish continues to be a prolific live musician. And hopefully, September's concert goes according to plan.

Read more stories from grape Japan.

-- Beloved Voice Actor Fujiwara Keiji Passes Away at Age 55

-- Final Fantasy Pornhub searches skyrocket over 7,000% following FF7 Remake release

-- Japanese artist’s stuffed fish cake animal is way cuter than it has any right being

© grape Japan

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

10 Comments
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Not to be a downer, they are calling it a cover but uses the original recording in a movie. Unless this was authorized you are missing publishing clearance, copyright clearance, and a license to synchronize to video.

A cover is only legal if you recreate the entire song without using any original recordings.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

JUNK!

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

What a pile of unadulterated cack.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

I thought it was somewhat clever, and obviously a lot of effort was put into it, but I wonder about copyright and what not. I think in this case the guy is clear because he completely recreates everything (not sure it can be called a cover), but in the other cases...

I do like how the guy makes no effort to cover up the fact he can't understand most of the lyrics and says a few words and then just starts mumbling or humming. haha. Still, half of the video, once, is more than enough for me.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

Pure crap!

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Well done, so much energy and creative thought in the making of that. And what's most important, it will make many people smile. Something many people are in need of at the moment

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Not to be a downer, they are calling it a cover but uses the original recording in a movie. Unless this was authorized you are missing publishing clearance, copyright clearance, and a license to synchronize to video.

Popular music was much better before the lawyers took it over.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

The lawyers "took it over" because otherwise the general public pretty much thinks it's ok to steal the hard work of others and use it in any way they see fit. And those same people wouldn't feel the same if the tables were turned.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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