Soon to be one-hit-wonder Piko-Taro of PPAP has officially been signed to Ultra Music/Sony Music. And the music scene as we know it is officially dead.
Rejoice youtube obsessors and moms who post three-week-old videos on your Facebook wall! Piko-Taro, more commonly known as the “Pen Pineapple Apple Pen” guy has been signed to Ultra Music (merged with Sony). Hooray…
Piko-Taro, the singer and songwriter from Chiba, Japan, quickly took the world by storm with his ear-worm PPAP song. If you have NO idea who or what I’m talking about here’s his official extended video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct6BUPvE2sM
With his Asian-Lionel-Richie-esque looks, animal printed style and slammin dance moves, it’s no wonder his video quickly climbed to over 200 million views. PAAP all started when Piko-Taro posted his video (himself, shocker) and was quickly embraced by teens, spreading to international media creating a huge buzz around him.
If you would like a gauge of his fanbase, Justin Bieber said PPAP was “My favorite video on the internet”... So, yeah there’s that.
Since it debuted PPAP has garnered almost 450 million total plays on worldwide streaming websites and has been #1 for three consecutive weeks on You Tube Music Global top 100. Ultra Records founder and President of electronic music Patrick Moxey says “Piko-Taro has created a song with great originality and humor, and it’s breaking through all cultural boundaries. We look forward to working with him…”
Alright… I get finding an act that quickly gains popularity and wanting to jump on to represent them. But did we learn NOTHING from Psy and Gangnam style?! Do you think six months of constant appearances and commercial spots are worth the effort and funds? I would say… no. But hey I’m just a person with ears who likes their music to have a little bit more than the same lines repeated over and over and over again.
The song is currently on Billboard’s Hot 100. It has also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. PPAP now holds the record for the shortest song to ever enter the chart.
Excuse me while I put my headphones in and hide in my closet listening to actual music until this is all over.
