iamamiwhoami
iamamiwhoami is an anonymous electronic music project featuring a female lead singer, found in 2009. It was promoted through a viral campaign on YouTube.[1] On 4 December 2009, a surreal clip less than a minute long appeared on YouTube submitted by iamamiwhoami.[2] The clip was forwarded to several known blogger as well as music journalists. A second soon appeared and then a third. By then, Chris Cantalini and MTV writer James Montgomery picked up on the clips fueling speculation that had been building in blogs.[3][4]
The case
To date, iamamiwhoami has released eight videos, varying from short to quite long; the first six videos featuring a provocative slime-covered girl and, as Montgomery says, "a dendrophiliac’s wet dream, loaded with images of a mud-smeared woman licking a tree and some strangely sexualized sap."[3]
The music is a compelling mix of electronic, alternative rock and experimental music though the woman's voice is distorted and or muted at points in each video. They are believed to be part of a viral marketing campaign. The seventh video features a woman covered in plastic from head to toe playing the electric organ, while the eighth shows a woman in a greenhouse singing with an Elizabethan collar around her neck.
The clues
The first six videos are titled with a series of numbers. When indexed into the alphabet, these spell out words such as "educational", "I am", "its me", "mandragora", and "officinarum". Mandragora officinarum is the mandrake root, particularly when used for psychedelic purposes. [5]
Each of the first six clips closes with a drawing of an animal– a goat, an owl, a whale, an bee, a llama, and a monkey. After previously blogging about the anonymous clips MTV writer James Montgomery received a package by messenger with a lock of blond hair, a piece of bark, and a pictogram of the six animals with the question "says what?",[3] it is however, still unproven that the sender of the package is the same as the person behind the clips.
Furthering the mystery; the sixth clip ends with the woman in the video whispering "Why" or "Y".[5]
The seventh clip was posted without the mysterious coded numbers as previous clips were and is instead simply titled "b". This video features a woman wrapped in plastic, watched over by three men. Unlike the others, it does not include an animal illustration at the end or a numeric code though there is a cat, or possibly six cats, in the video.
The eighth video, at 6:52, is the longest video to date, and is the video for the single "o". It features (presumably) the same woman as in "b" who this time has slightly shorter white eyelashes and is singing in what appears to be a greenhouse with a dog collar around her neck. This video follows the trend from "b" and does not have a numeric code or animal illustration, but seems to take place in the same style of house as the last video and has 6 cats, strawberries and what looks like 6 black faces.
Videos
In order, the clips uploaded to YouTube with titles and associated animal are:[5]
- "Prelude 699130082.451322-5.4.21.3.1.20.9.15.14.1.12" ("goat")
- "9.1.13.669321018" ("owl")
- "9.20.19.13.5.723378" ("whale")
- "13.1.14.4.18.1.7.15.18.1.1110" ("bee")
- "15.6.6.9.3.9.14.1.18.21.13.56155" ("llama")
- "23.5.12.3.15.13.5-8.15.13.5.3383" ("monkey")
- "b"
- "o"
Music releases
- "b" (iTunes Store, 15 March 2010)[6]
- "o" (Amazon, 11 April 2010)[7]
Official app
On the same date as the 'b' mp3, 15 March 2010, the Official iamamiwhoami app appeared on iTunes sold by iLike, inc. [8]
Official Remix
On 8th April 2010 an official remix by American/British artist and producer Tara Busch was released on the iamamiwhoami Facebook page and the music blog Analogsuicide. [9][10].
This was the first collaboration with a known artist prompting iamamiwhoam fans to asks how it happened without Tara Busch's inside knowledge of the project.
The suspects
Much speculation has focused on the funding and resources behind the video clips. Blogs have focused on Trent Reznor, Little Boots, The Knife, especially Karin Dreijer Andersson, Goldfrapp, Lykke Li, Gwen Stefani, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Christina Aguilera,[11] and The Golden Filter. Some of them denied their involvement.[12] As of March 2010, no one has clearly been identified with the project. Many have begun to focus on Jonna Lee,[5][13][14] although in an email to MTV, Jamie Jaffe, who works for her North American management team, Philadelphonic stated "If Jonna is involved in this, we have no knowledge of such."[15]
References
- ^ The Times Online, by Priya Elan
- ^ "iamamiwhoami". YouTube. 2009-12-04. Retrieved 2010-03-15.
- ^ a b c Who's Behind 'Iamamiwhoami' Viral Clips?
- ^ Gorilla vs Bear– iamamiwhoami
- ^ a b c d Musical Mystery
- ^ The track B on iTunes
- ^ "O: Iamamiwhoami: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ The Official iamamiwhoami app on iTunes
- ^ "iamamiwhoami (Tara Busch Remix) - Inside Their Beautifully Bizarre World... - Latest AnalogSuicide - Analog Synths Music". Analogsuicide.com. 2010-04-08. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ "Niet compatibele browser". Facebook. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ "How to spread an infectious viral". London: Times. 2010-03-23. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ Trent Reznor denies connection to iamamiwhoami videos
- ^ Montgomery, James (2010-03-15). "Jonna Lee Behind Viral Campaign?". MTV. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ McKnight, Connor (2010-03-18). "Bloggers (Possibly) Crack 'IAMAMIWHOAMI' Mystery". Billboard (March). New York. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 2010-03-27.
- ^ "Mystery over identity of YouTube star iamamiwhoami". London: Telegraph. 2010-03-24. Retrieved 2010-03-27.