Kyle Gordon

"Planet of the Bass" is a song written by American comedian Kyle Gordon under the pseudonym DJ Crazy Times, featuring American singer-songwriter Chrissi Poland under the name Ms. Biljana Electronica. It was released on August 15, 2023. Brooks Allison, a sketch writer for ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', and Jamie Siegel served as producers.

"Planet of the Bass" is part of ''Kyle Gordon Is Great,'' a comedy album set for release in early 2024.

Background and composition

The song was created as a parody of 1990s European dance music. The song contains broken English lyrics, such as "When the rhythm is glad / There is nothing to be sad", and "Life, it never die / Women are my favorite guy".

The female vocals are provided by Chrissi Poland, who vocally portrays the fictional character Ms. Biljana Electronica. In the music videos, she is mainly portrayed by actress Audrey Trullinger, in addition to Mara Olney and Sabrina Brier. Electronica was featured in the original short video of the song, being portrayed by Trullinger. Trullinger was replaced by Olney, who was criticised for being less energetic. Olney was replaced with Brier who portrayed Electronica in one video. Electronica was featured in the official "Planet of the Bass" music video, ultimately portrayed by Trullinger, but with minor appearances by Olney and Brier as Biljana on a computer screen.

Gordon filmed a short video for the song in New York City's Oculus building, with Trullinger portraying Biljana Electronica, before they were asked to leave by the police for filming in the area.

Release

The video was uploaded on July 28, 2023, and it soon went viral on Twitter, TikTok and Tumblr. Gordon advanced the song's official release date from August 22 to August 15.

On August 3, Gordon uploaded another snippet of the song, this time with Mara Olney playing over the same vocal track. This, as well as Olney's "less nostalgic fashion and relatively muted expressions", was faced with backlash from fans who demanded Trullinger's return. That same night, Gordon premiered the full song live at Mood Ring, a queer bar in Brooklyn. On August 7, a third snippet was uploaded, featuring TikTok personality Sabrina Brier portraying . Gordon told ''NBC News'' that the videos with Trullinger and Olney were inspired by a common trope in 1990s Eurodance music videos, in which the singers would be replaced by various models. In an interview with ''The Washington Post'', Trullinger said that she initially thought she had been replaced after learning that Gordon was filming the version with Olney. After both versions were released, she called the stunt "so funny" and praised Olney for being "fantastic and hilarious".

Reception

Soon after the release of the snippet of the song, Mark Harris, former executive at ''Entertainment Weekly'', praised the clip, saying that had the song been released in 1997, they would've been given a whole page with a photo shoot in ''Entertainment Weekly''. The band Aqua commented: "Wait, is this play about us???", on Gordon's initial TikTok clip of the song, referencing a line spoken by ''Euphoria'' character Maddy Perez. Gordon named Aqua as one of the inspirations for the track, and credited the hype around their 1997 song "Barbie Girl" (due to the release of the film ''Barbie'') for his song's popularity. Miles Klee of ''Rolling Stone'' described the song as a "landmark achievement" and a party anthem.

On August 16, Gordon and Trullinger were invited by the Jonas Brothers to perform the song in Boston during their world tour. The song debuted at number 46 on ''Billboard'' Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart, with 736,000 streams in the US.

Charts

References

External links

*{{YouTube, id=hxGNcMhiOro, title=Planet of the Bass teaser video

2023 songs
2023 singles
American eurodance songs
BMG Rights Management singles
Musical parodies
Internet memes introduced in 2023