"How Bizarre" is a song written and performed by New Zealand musical group OMC. It was released in December 1995 by Huh! and

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

as the lead single from their only album, '' How Bizarre'' (1996). It was both written and produced by lead singer of OMC,

Pauly Fuemana Paul Lawrence Fuemana (8 February 1969 – 31 January 2010) was a New Zealand singer, songwriter and musician from Auckland. One of the first globally successful pioneers of his country's unique style of hip-hop, Fuemana was one of New Zealand's ...

with Alan Jansson, and went on to top the charts of five countries: Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand. In the United States, the song peaked at number four on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot 100 Airplay The Radio Songs chart (previously named Hot 100 Airplay until 2014 and Top 40 Radio Monitor until July 1993) is released weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and measures the airplay of songs being played on radio stations throughout the United States ...

chart. Lee Baker directed its accompanying music video featuring the group in a

Chevrolet Impala The Chevrolet Impala () is a full-size car that was built by Chevrolet for model years 1958 to 1985, 1994 to 1996, and 2000 to 2020. The Impala was Chevrolet's popular flagship passenger car and was among the better-selling American-made auto ...

. "How Bizarre" won the award for "Single of the Year" at the 1996

New Zealand Music Awards The Aotearoa Music Awards (previously called the New Zealand Music Awards), conferred annually by Recorded Music NZ, honour outstanding artistic and technical achievements in the recording industry. The awards are among the most significant that ...

. Outside New Zealand, OMC is generally considered a

one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...

; they had a further few successful singles in New Zealand, including " On the Run" and "Land of Plenty". In 2017, ''Billboard'' magazine ranked "How Bizarre" among "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997".

Critical reception

Upon the song's release, Ross Jones of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called the song "supernaturally summery", noting that it "combines a proto- electro beat, a funky

Mariachi Mariachi (, , ) is a genre of regional Mexican music dating back to at least the 18th century, evolving over time in the countryside of various regions of western Mexico. The usual mariachi group today consists of as many as eight violins, two ...

guitar,

Tex-Mex Tex-Mex cuisine (derived from the words ''Texas'' and ''Mexico'') is a regional American cuisine that originates from the culinary creations of Tejanos, Tejano people. It has spread from border states such as Texas and others in the Southwestern ...

trumpets, girly close harmonies, and a goofy rap". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote, " Polynesian pop with a twist.

has a gravelly, deep voice and a major rap attitude. The Spanish guitar, trumpet and the sweet female background vocals create a radio friendly mood. This single from the forthcoming album ''Time Is Money'' smashed New Zealand and Australian sales figures; OMC's quirky catchiness should kick up some dust in Europe too." British trade paper ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' rated it four out of five, adding: "A smash in Australia and NZ, this mix of male vocals with Spanish guitar and a

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

/dance beat could be a surprise hit if radio latches on."

Chart performance

"How Bizarre" topped the singles charts in New Zealand, Australia, Austria, Canada and Ireland. The single was number one for one week in Canada, two weeks in Austria, three weeks in Ireland, three weeks in New Zealand and five weeks in Australia. As the track was only released to radio in the United States, the song was not allowed to chart on the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...

under the chart rules in place at the time. However, it topped the ''

Pop Airplay Pop Airplay (also called Mainstream Top 40, Pop Songs, and Top 40/ CHR) is a 40-song music chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' Magazine that ranks the most popular songs of pop music being played on a panel of Top 40 radio stations in the U ...

chart for a week and peaked at number four on the

chart. On 9 February 2010, the song re-entered the New Zealand charts at number 40 after Fuemana's death.

Music video

A music video was released to help promote the single. The video features lead singer Pauly Fuemana driving a 1968

, dancing, rapping, throwing around money and breathing fire. The video was directed by Lee Baker and released in late 1995, shortly before "How Bizarre" hit number one in New Zealand. Shot on a soundstage in

Ponsonby, Auckland Ponsonby () is an inner-city suburb of Auckland located 2 km west of the Auckland CBD. The suburb is oriented along a ridge running north–south, which is followed by the main street of the suburb, Ponsonby Road. Ponsonby was originally ...

and

Ellerslie Racecourse Ellerslie Racecourse is the main racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand, for thoroughbred racehorses. It is an undulating, grass circuit in the suburb of Ellerslie, New Zealand, Ellerslie, with a circumference of just under 1,900 metres. Racing ...

with a budget of $7,000 from

NZ On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; ), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an Crown entity, autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for providing funding for broadcasting and creative works. The commission operates l ...

, it was shown on US networks about 15,000 times in 1997 and 1998. Besides Fuemana, it also features backing vocalist Sina Saipaia, and a Filipino man named Gil Manaois who stood in for Brother Pele.

Legacy

"How Bizarre" won the award for "Single of the Year" at the 1996

. It was also featured on ''

Nature's Best 2 ''Nature's Best 2'' is a two-disc compilation album of 35 New Zealand popular music songs, numbers 31-65 on the APRA 75th Anniversary Top 100 New Zealand Songs of All Time. See ''Nature's Best'' for more information on the selection process of t ...

'', as the 34th-greatest New Zealand song of all time as voted for by members of the

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

in 2001. In 2002, the song was named as the 71st-greatest

of all time on a

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

countdown hosted by

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

. In 2017, ''

'' magazine ranked "How Bizarre" number 19 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997", naming it "a fantastical Latin-tinged story song bearing a handful of absolutely dynamite hooks".

Track listings

* Australasian and UK CD single # "How Bizarre" (radio mix) – 3:49 # "How Bizarre" (album mix) – 3:49 # "How Bizarre" (instrumental) – 3:49 # "How Bizarre" (dance mix) – 6:00 * Australasian cassette single # "How Bizarre" (radio mix) # "How Bizarre" (album mix) # "How Bizarre" (instrumental) * UK 12-inch single :A. "How Bizarre" (Sharp Raided mix) – 7:50 :B. "How Bizarre" (Flexifinger "In My Face" mix) – 8:18 * UK cassette single and European CD single # "How Bizarre" (radio mix) – 3:49 # "How Bizarre" (dance mix) – 6:00 * Japanese CD single # "How Bizarre" (radio mix) # "How Bizarre" (album mix) # "How Bizarre" (instrumental) # "How Bizarre" (dance mix) # "How Bizarre" (acoustic mix)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Covers and parodies

In 1996,

radio personality A radio personality is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host (North American English), radio presenter (British English) or radio jockey. Radio personali ...

Dean Young created a parody of the song called "Stole My Car". Dean was working with

RNZ Radio New Zealand (), commonly known as RNZ or Radio NZ, is a New Zealand public service broadcaster and Crown entity. Established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995, it operates news and current affairs station, RNZ National, and a classica ...

-owned Rock 99, formerly based in Rotorua on 99.1 FM. In 2003, the radio stadion ZM and

Iain Stables Iain Phillip Stables of Ngati Porou is a Maori New Zealand Kapa Haka, TV and Radio personality. In the past Stables worked on various radio stations across New Zealand beginning his radio career on Radio Windy in Wellington at the age of 14. As ...

released a compilation album of some of the parodies that were created in the radio company called ''Stables Label Volume 3''. The album name was a parody itself as there was no Volume 1 or 2. The song "Stole My Car" was the eighth track on the album.

In popular culture

The song became the anthem of the English 1997 FA Women's Cup Final-winning

Millwall Lionesses Millwall Lionesses Football Club is an English women's football club based in Rotherhithe, south-east London, that plays in the , the fifth tier of English women's football. Founded in 1973, the group of women who made up the Lionesses were at ...

soccer team. "How Bizarre" was included in the 1998 movies '' Palmetto'' and Disney's '' The Parent Trap'' and plays at the start of the first episode of the second season of American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Clueless ''Clueless'' is a 1995 American coming-of-age teen comedy film written and directed by Amy Heckerling. It stars Alicia Silverstone, and was produced by Scott Rudin and Robert Lawrence. The film is a loose adaptation of Jane Austen's 1815 no ...

''. It is also used in the third-season episode, "Coming Home", of the American

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

television series '' For All Mankind''. The song was also used in the 2023 Christmas television campaign for UK supermarket chain

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the United Kingdom at its head offices in Welwyn Garden City, England. The company was founded by Jack Cohen (businessman), Sir Jack Cohen in ...

. The music video for New Zealand band

Six60 Six60 is a New Zealand pop rock band formed in Dunedin, Otago in 2008. The band consists of Matiu Walters (lead vocals, guitar), Ji Fraser (lead guitar), Chris Mac (drums, bass guitar), and Marlon Gerbes (guitar, bass guitar, synthesiser). Th ...

's " All She Wrote" (2021) was shot as a tribute to "How Bizarre".

Recent popularity

In the months leading up to March 2021, there was a resurgence of the song's popularity secondary to its adoption by many users of

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

. Over 100,000 videos have incorporated the song's lyrics in videos showing awkward conversations and strange coincidences. The #HowBizarre hashtag has generated more than 1.4 billion views.

References

{{Authority control 1995 singles 1995 songs 1996 singles APRA Award winners Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Mercury Records singles Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in Austria Number-one singles in New Zealand OMC (band) songs Polydor Records singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles