That’s just who I am. BLR: Actually, I’m taking audio notes, instead of writing down things. VV: Can you tell us anything about those? It’s just that, when I’m sitting there trying to let my brain be open to this process, there’s this huge segment of the English language that doesn’t get used in songs, and that is food and animals. Someone will say something that is the beginning of a phrase in one of my videos, and it will trigger that phrase, and I’ll either say it out loud or not, because you know, people may not know, and it could be really bizarre and random if I say it out loud. I sit there and my brain will come up with stuff, and I’ll say, “Nah, that’s not funny.” There’s stuff that’s not very funny: a lot of mundane lines, like “How are you.” Or things that are extremely foul. Right at that same time, Rebecca Black’s “Friday” video came out. I wanted to be able to offer something to people who were waiting for a new song – something to chew on. And I was working on that for a concentrated period and then I would walk out into the real world and keep using that voice, which was embarrassing. And so what I started doing occasionally, as a way to sort of simulate what she was going through, or to see what her life was like. But it happened. I am fond of the Russian Unicorn one. But when you’re saying no words are out of bounds here, there’s a ton of food names, and a ton of animal names, and if you allow yourself to be open to all words, there’s this big pool of nouns that you can pull from all of a sudden, that would never have been sung about previously. Some videos lend themselves to the process better than others. I was also fascinated by fact that they still function as pop songs, even with those ridiculous lyrics. It can just be about being weird, or just a creative combination of words. So it’s a matter of figuring out which of these things I want to do. He’s just a genuinely nice guy. But like his fellow perma­nent Washingtonians, he thinks it only fitting to put Clinton in his place”, “Nobody who played jazz was considered able to walk in and do a studio call. But there’s also some electronic trickery involved. VV: So where did you go after the Rebecca Black video? BLR: Yeah. And that’s when I realized that I had stumbled on another level which had a broader appeal than the music videos. Because if you start worrying too much about what people like or don’t like, you get into a really strange place. Justin Bieber, “Gang Fight,” I wasn’t too worried about it. Michael Buble saw the one I did of him, and really liked it. That’s part of why the songs fascinate me more than the political bits, because they exist on another level, beyond the gimmick of “Oh, those words match their lips.” But sure, I expect for the novelty to wear off at some point. I let it run through, and I’ll record my ideas over the video so I can evaluate. That guy is now a completely different character in my mind, who exists completely apart from the real guy. The songs – I love making music, even if they’re just these silly songs, It’s just great to sit back at the end of the song to sit back and listen to the song, and to learn that other people are liking them too, as songs. VV: Do you find one more satisfying to work on than the other? The songs, I construct them and evaluate and refine them. All he’ll say is that he lives in Texas, is “out of college,” and works primarily as a music producer, songwriter, and musician. I wanted to comment on the phenomenon where a rap artist is just shoehorned into a song, just to give it some credibility. Just because that’s not even right, geographically. I love how out of synch it was. There’s that moment when it’s new to me. VV: So after you fool around with each shot, you’ve got a working script? Even though nothing had changed on screen, what you felt about it, and the people, changed a lot. So that’s an interesting thing. VV: How did you move from the pop music videos to the political figures? Whereas with the spoken word, I just have to figure out what they’re saying and how they’re going to present it and work on any post-production embellishments, and I’ll write a little score to accompany it. I’m not a particularly political person, but I landed on Rick Perry. It happens for them. BLR: Of course. They encouraged me to make a YouTube channel. And so I tried to do the lip-reading thing on that, and again, the same thing happened, where I started pulling out strange word combinations. And usually the last take is the one where I say, “That’s where I’m stopping.” Some of them aren’t funny, but there’s something about the words that I like. I never thought anyone else would hear it. And when I played it back, it looked like he was saying “Bacon hobbit.” I titled the video “What He Really Said” and sent it to my friends, and it just destroyed them. So I made a channel, and I named it Bad Lip Reading, and then it just kind of went crazy. It was fascinating watching my grown mother learn a new skill at that age, a skill that was vital to her survival and mental health. ©2017 Village Voice, LLC. It was just a stopgap. The perfect example of that is the lead singer for Rascal Flatts. “A few days after it happened, before it hit the pa­pers, while the rumors started spreading around the Village, the homeless in the park were going, ‘Yeah, Dan did give us soup yesterday.’ They were goofing on it but they were pretty much grossed out”. And so they began take longer to do. But it did, and it started airing all over the place – on national programs. I didn’t expect it to do as well as it did. It is interesting how all these disjointed lines coming form people, but they’re delivering them very earnestly. The sound-bites are satisfying for how quickly I can do them, and my friends and I can sit back and laugh at them. It’s never the things you think it’s going to be in life. People are listening to these songs in their cars and when they work out, away from the computer and the visual component. VV: Do you feel like there’s a sort of surrealist element of your process, using the randomness of your lip-reading to access a kind of creativity you wouldn’t otherwise have? they’re not actually singing along, they’re just watching. The last two songs I released both have the word bullfrog in it. All rights reserved. I wanted to comment on that. And I know this is the kind of thing she would have loved. It’s going somewhere. And when I saw that I did what I do: I pull the video and hit the mute button and see what my brain lands on. If it lands on something that I think is funny, I flag it. Also the Miley Cyrus one. They were videos chosen partially on who is popular, and who would it be interesting to see, but a lot depends a lot on the video itself, if there’s sufficient facetime. VV: Do you expect that at some point people will burn out on the Bad Lip Reading videos? But it’s not from any prudishness. As for the other questions though, he had a lot to say: Village Voice: So what’s the origin story on this whole project? There’s no ill will. But I’ve been surprised how popular the end tags have been. Like everyone else, we were bewildered by it. But there’s only so far I can go with that — I’m not an impressionist. I knew the spoken word pieces don’t take that long, because it’s just strictly the words. And so I thought “Maybe I can do just a few spoken word things to give them in the meantime.”. Herman Cain, only slightly less coherent when given the Bad Lip Reading treatment. It comes down to which videos come down to the process the most. They were convinced you couldn't read, or you wouldn't show up, or you'd fall down drunk”, “Drugs became his escape hatch and his prison. And because I’m a musician and producer, I was able to write and record an entirely new song from scratch with this new set of lyrics from her mouth-shapes. There are a lot of things that I strive for that I was actually pulling off in that one. So if it made me laugh, I figured it would make other people laugh, and I was right. And that’s not because I have any fixation on chicken, it’s just, apparently in the English language, people’s mouths make that shape a lot, so it fits. This goes back to the fact that I don’t know what they’re going to say. That was the first one where I thought, “Oh, I’ve really done what I really wanted to do.” Which is to take something and completely change the context and still have it be a satisfying musical production. Though it seemed at first only a fanatical cult committed to a bizarre version of Islam, Elijah Muhammad’s homemade Nation was far from an aberration. I just don’t know when it will. So when I got the footage back to the studio and I was watching it all again, I was thinking “Maybe I can figure out what he’s saying.” Were they random mouth shapes? I’m going to be making music no matter what. BLR: Rick Perry was done in two and a half days. If I’m forced to do it, the results are never going to be as good as if I get into that state of being creatively invested. Everyone’s been clamoring “Do Lady Gaga, do Lady Gaga, but problem with Lady Gaga, as with most modern videos, is they change camera angles every second, and she’s rarely on screen for more than two or three seconds. '” And no one has ever commented on that, but it’s a personal favorite. I use Logic. Psycho Crooner: Michael Buble wants to kill a Russian Unicorn. It’s also interesting to watch someone saying “Ah this is the worst one you ever did, followed by someone saying “This is the best one you ever did.” You just have to accept that, and do it for yourself. So I started doing more of them. I used to call up my friends and speak in the girl voice and they wouldn’t know who it was. Someone had sent it along to him, and he loved it, so he had label people track me down so we could talk. And it was right when I had realized that “Hey, I can do this weird thing where I look at mouths and come up with words… Does it work with songs?” So I muted her video, it looked like she was saying “gang fight.” And it was just so incongruous. I’ve found even in my regular work, some of my best lyrics have been written in that period when I’m about to fall asleep. It … Vices January 22, 2014. VV: Do you have a trusted audience you test your material with? She never came up in any of the other pieces, but twice in that one. And then I did it with the Beegees and Magic Man, so people sort of expected them to sound like they’re supposed to. I’m not trying to pick on anyone. It was an inside joke. “Dear reader, we begin a collaboration, which may go on for three weeks, three months, or, Lord forbid, for three-and-thirty years. Watch this bad lip sync of One Direction's "Story of My Life" if laughing is a hobby of yours Watch this bad lip sync of One Direction's "Story of My Life" if laughing is a hobby of yours. I don’t chose videos because I’m trying to bash anyone or make fun of anyone.