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Help Anne make a Weird Al style parody song/video to Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" called "Rip It Off"!
This idea sprang from showing this comparison video I’ve been working on hoping that I can get some people from digital news publications to report about.
I’ve had a wide range of responses - some people understanding what it’s about before even explaining anything to them - to some people not understanding it even after explaining a lot to them. I had already driven myself crazy editing up to this version, and was about to say "screw it, I'm just going to polish this one & release it as it is". But then...
My brother Jay and I were arguing about some of the sections, and I basically said to him, if Ariana Grande went on a character trajectory of : goofy dancing all-styles girl > dark, bitter, “sexed up” villain > uber-optimisitc rainbow butterfly > retreating into the forest; then people would have a lot easier time believing one artist / their team was copying the other. I said even if a post has 100 views, 1 of the views can be from a creative director working with a big corporation, especially if the poster is on their radar.
Jay and I also talked about the section in the comparison video where I purposely copied Pharrell’s music video to “Feels” and how it is a funny way to approach all this. (When I put that video up independently https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZr8qCq3-II , it got taken down for using Pharrell's song and my Youtube account got locked, only when it started getting popular, which I also made a video about).
Jay is a high-level creative director in advertising, and is used to seeing other directors "getting inspired"... so he esp wanted to help his dear sister out. In an enlightened moment, as our conversation had cooled out, Jay randomly said "You know what you should do... you should make a parody video again........instead of 'Shake It Off'... call it 'Rip It Off' ". The whole energy of the talk changed. We went from skepticism and pissiness - to non-stop ideas and laughter. I said "Yeah, yeah! And I can dress up as Taylor Swift and find social media posts that will turn into paper that I can 'rip off'!". We came up with lyrics texting each other right after the call, completing the entire song in the same hour .
So this is the idea now: to make a parody video, Weird-Al Yankovic style. Parodies are protected under copyright laws. I want to have no issues with copyright when I put the video up, so I think that means the backing track will have to also be a parody. I will sing the lyrics (sample below), and I've connected with the artist Jase Harley, whose song , "American Pharoah" had musical elements copied off of in Childish Gambino's, "This Is America". Jase is on board to make the instrumental part of the parody song.
The whole video I will be dressed as Taylor Swift and I’ll be scrolling through an oversized phone, finding clips from Anne’s account and then grabbing the screen which will turn to paper that can be “ripped off”, then slapping the thumbnail, of say - the butterfly footage, to me as Taylor, which then turns me into a butterfly (cue the butterfly comparison footage).
I’ve been speaking to a lawyer the past couple years who loves the idea. He has been trying to figure out how to help me, but has been saying there is not much protection out there for lesser-known artists (even the choreographer for Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” has been going through hell to protect his work). The lawyer said litigation would be a long uphill battle, and the best bet would be to first get it talked about in a big way in the media. I’m not sure if I would even want to be known “the girl who sued Taylor Swift”, but I do want to make this parody video, and get this conversation of creative inequality louder.
I consider myself to be a pretty brave and "out-there" artist and I have noticed that seeing all these similarities and not getting credit for my creative ideas can get me feeling... uncreative. It makes me wonder how many other people out there exploring their creativity might feel vulnerable to similar things happening to them. I think there is a sense of people thinking that only the stars they see on TV, or the ones with large social media followings, can be creative- when the person right across from them at a coffee shop might be just as, if not more so. Big artists working with big corporations have big protection. What do the rest of us have?
As more creators put their ideas on the internet, I imagine this will become more of an issue. And I keep coming back to the idea of - as we go deeper into the digital age, I don't want to live in a "Black Mirror" world... I want to live in a RAINBOW MIRROR world. I want there to be more creativity in the world coming from everyone. We need creativity now more than ever.
I'm making this project no matter what, but every dollar that would be donated here would go towards making it that much more impactful.
Here is what the money would be going towards (will fill in estimates later, I just set the goal to the average gofundme amount & first want to see if the project will pick up any legs / of course $1,000 would be a big help to make this a stellar parody):
Studio Rental with Big White Backdrop & Bright Lights
Hiring Camera Person
Camera Rental
Music Studio Rental
Hiring Recording/Sound Engineer
Paying Jase Harley for Music Production
Big Printouts of Social Media Posts
Transportation (I drive a vespa-esque scooter)
Costumes, Wigs & Makeup
+
Some of my hours taken off work to produce, shoot, perform, edit, and release this video out into the wild wild web
* Future NFT's of the "Rip It Off" parody and other videos created from this to be made, with proceeds going towards organizations that help independent artists.
* Future crowdfunder using "Rip It Off" video (yes this is a crowdfunder to make another crowdfunder- 2020's, yo) as a trailer to fund a series on the topic of "What Does It Mean To Be Authentic?", featuring different artists that have had their creativity siphoned with no credit, also with proceeds towards organizations that help out independent artists.
Thank you for your consideration :-)
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Cuz my talent’s startin’ to slip slip slip slip slip
My ideas aren’t very hip hip hip hip hip
Maybe I’ll just go and rip rip rip rip rip
I rip it off, I rip it off
Album sales startin’ to dip dip dip dip dip
Startin to lose my grip grip grip grip grip
Maybe I’ll just rip rip rip rip rip
I rip it off, I rip it off