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Bill Wurtz

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Bill Wurtz
Logo as of November 2018
Personal information
Occupations
  • Musician
  • Video blogger
Websitebillwurtz.com
YouTube information
Channel
Created byBill Wurtz
Years active2000 (on YouTube from 2013) – present
Genres
Subscribers3 million[1]
Total views296 million[1]
100,000 subscribers2016
1,000,000 subscribers2017
Last updated: December 24, 2018

Bill Wurtz (stylized as bill wurtz) is an online video creator and multi-instrumentalist believed to reside in New York City.[2] Wurtz is known for his distinctive style of song and video, including dry delivery and singing, paired with colorful surrealist or non-sequitur graphics.[3] Wurtz posts jingles and songs on his website, the majority of them being only seconds long, having stated that he favored short projects as a way to get started creating videos.[4] Most of his jingles are also featured on his YouTube channel with colorful text and visuals. Wurtz has been actively making music since 2005.[5]

Popularity

Vine

Wurtz first gained notoriety on Vine, where he was able to take videos he had previously published to his website and Twitter account and repackaging them as shorter, looped versions[6]. Before the service shuttered in 2016, Wurtz was posting a video nearly every day. His most popular vines were "still a piece of garbage" (~343,000 likes with ~168,000 revines), "what are you waiting for you dumb stupid fuck" (~117,000 likes with ~52,000 revines), and "i don't want to go to school" (~88,000 likes with ~45,000 revines).

"history of japan"

Despite some interest on Vine, Wurtz achieved much wider fame with "history of japan", a 9-minute YouTube video that outlines Japan's history from 40,000 B.C.E to 1991 C.E.[7] It fully showcases Wurtz's quirky visual and comedic style through a mixture of fast-paced narration and animation featuring hand-drawn graphics and clipart. It went viral after its release on February 2, 2016, receiving 1.7 million views in two days and more than quadrupling Wurtz's subscriber count in 1 week. It currently has 42.9 million views.[3][8][9]

"history of the entire world, i guess"

However, Wurtz is best known for "history of the entire world, i guess", a 19-minute follow-up to "history of japan" released on May 10, 2017.[10] Expanding greatly on the subject matter — the video took over 11 months to produce, including almost 3 months of research[6] — it briefly covers the topics of natural history and human civilization spanning from the Big Bang to the near future (specifically the year 2028). It went viral after its release, receiving 1.1 million views in its first 8 hours, 3.2 million views on its first day, and 13 million views in its first week. It was the top video on the YouTube trending page on the day of its release,[11] and would later be named No. 8 on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2017.[12] Currently, it has 57.3 million views.[13]

"hi, i'm steve"

The success of "history of japan" and "history of the entire world, i guess" and the ensuing influx of subscribers to Wurtz's channel boosted the popularity of his subsequent videos. One of those videos was "hi, i'm steve".

On July 6, 2017, nearly two months after releasing "history of the entire world, i guess", Wurtz uploaded a one-minute video titled "hi, i'm steve".[14] The video describes the life of a fictional character (though it is not clear whether the character's name is Steve). The video went viral upon being uploaded, gaining over 1 million views within the first day, and peaking at #2 on the YouTube trending page in the same day. Currently, it has 9.6 million views.[15]

Musical style

Wurtz employs a rich and complicated musical style which blends progressive jazz with pop and easy listening. He frequently makes use of unusual time signatures and chord progressions, the latter often finishing on dissonant or atonal notes and chords. Overall, his music is of an uplifting nature.[16]

Lyrically, Wurtz has an aphoristic, economical, and absurdist style, resembling his website's "notebook".[17]

During the Vidcon 2018 panel "Finding a niche and making it work for you", Wurtz answered a question about why his style is so different from other YouTube musicians. He explained that he doesn't watch any other creators on the platform. Instead, he simply does what he himself thinks is normal: "My secret is just live under a rock, and stay there."[18]

Music videos

Wurtz has worked on full-length music videos, following the same format of his shorter videos. Since May 2014, fourteen of these videos have been uploaded to his YouTube channel. After the popularity of "history of the entire world, i guess", Wurtz has focused almost completely on these videos.

  • On May 6, 2014, "new canaan" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has received over 590,000 views.[19]
  • On May 8, 2015, "i'm crazy / it's raining" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has received over 1 million views.[20]
  • On August 3, 2017, "i wanna be a movie star" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. It has since reached more than 3.3 million views as of November 2018.[21]
  • On September 28, 2017, "outside" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has attained more than 4.5 million views.[22]
  • On January 16, 2018, "La de da de da de da de day oh" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. It peaked at number 1 on the YouTube trending page upon being released. As of November 2018, it has attained over 7.8 million views.[23]
  • On April 25, 2018, "and the day goes on" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. Within two weeks of the video's release, it had already amassed over 2 million views and more than 150,000 likes. It has over 4.3 million views as of November 2018.[24]
  • On June 21, 2018, "hello sexy pants" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has attained over 1.9 million views.[25]
  • On August 21, 2018, "hallelujah" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has garnered over 1.1 million views.[26]
  • On September 4, 2018, "i'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has reached 1.4 million views.[27]
  • On September 18, 2018, "Mount St. Helens is about to Blow Up" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of November 2018, it has over 3 million views.[28]
  • On October 3, 2018, "the Moon is made of Cheese (but i can't taste it)" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. It reached #8 on the YouTube trending page within 2 days of its release and has attained over 1.3 million views.[29]
  • On October 16, 2018, "When I Get Older" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel, notably during the worldwide YouTube outage.[30] After just 2 days of being uploaded, it reached #37 on YouTube trending, and received nearly 700,000 views.[31]
  • On October 30, 2018, "long long long journey" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. After 17 hours of being uploaded, it received nearly 300,000 views.[32]
  • On November 13, 2018, "Slow Down" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[33]
  • On November 27, 2018, "christmas isn't real" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[34]
  • On December 25, 2018, "i just did a bad thing" was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. [35]

Wurtz has added songs to other platforms such as his own website, Amazon Music, and Spotify. These songs are not available on YouTube. They include:

  • "in california" (May 30, 2017)
  • "i love you" (June 7, 2017)
  • "got to know what's going on" (June 20, 2017)

Awards

  • On April 11, 2016, Wurtz won the Shorty Award for "Best in Weird" at the 8th Shorty Awards for his six-second videos on Vine (history of japan was released after the voting and so was not included in the award consideration).[36] His acceptance speech for the award was notably curt, as he simply walked up to the mic, said "Thank you", and walked off the stage right after.[37] He has stated in a video on his website that this was entirely intentional, having been directly inspired by an acceptance speech given by Andre 3000.[38]

Discography

Source:[39]

References

  1. ^ a b "About billwurtz". YouTube.
  2. ^ Wurtz, Bill. "questions". billwurtz.com. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "History lesson with a difference: Surreal 'History of Japan' video goes viral". RT International. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  4. ^ Wurtz, Bill. "questions". billwurtz.com. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  5. ^ stuck in a rut, retrieved September 8, 2018
  6. ^ a b H3 Podcast Highlights, Bill Wurtz On The History of the World, retrieved December 9, 2018{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ bill wurtz (February 2, 2016), history of japan, retrieved November 14, 2018
  8. ^ "WATCH: Trippy Video Teaches The Entire History Of Japan In Just 9 Minutes". The Huffington Post. February 8, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  9. ^ Strange, Adario. "Psychedelic history of Japan turns learning into an acid trip". Mashable. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  10. ^ Wurtz, Bill (May 10, 2017), history of the entire world, i guess, retrieved May 14, 2017
  11. ^ Gutelle, Sam (May 11, 2017). "Bill Wurtz's "History Of The Entire World" Gets 3.2 Million YouTube Views In Its First Day". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  12. ^ Allocca, Kevin (December 6, 2017). "It's time for #YouTubeRewind: Celebrating what you watched, shared, and created in 2017". Official YouTube Blog. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  13. ^ Gartenberg, Chaim (May 11, 2017). "History of the Entire World, I Guess could have been the best online video of 2005". The Verge. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  14. ^ Wurtz, Bill (July 6, 2017), hi, i'm steve, retrieved August 27, 2017
  15. ^ "History of Japan's Bill Wurtz Creates 'Steve' and a Viral Video", Memeburn, July 7, 2017, retrieved September 17, 2017
  16. ^ "Meet Bill Wurtz, the Internet Musical Genius You've Never Heard Of - MEL Magazine". MEL Magazine. October 12, 2018. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  17. ^ "billwurtz". billwurtz.com. Retrieved October 26, 2018.
  18. ^ WintersDays (June 23, 2018), MIRANDA SINGS & THE EXPO HALL | VidCon US 2018 | Day 2, retrieved October 26, 2018
  19. ^ bill wurtz (May 6, 2014), song: new canaan, retrieved November 13, 2018
  20. ^ bill wurtz (May 8, 2015), song: "i'm crazy / it's raining", retrieved November 13, 2018
  21. ^ Wurtz, Bill (August 3, 2017), i wanna be a movie star, retrieved August 3, 2017
  22. ^ bill wurtz (September 28, 2017), outside, retrieved November 13, 2018
  23. ^ bill wurtz (January 16, 2018), La de da de da de da de day oh, retrieved November 13, 2018
  24. ^ bill wurtz (April 25, 2018), and the day goes on, retrieved November 13, 2018
  25. ^ bill wurtz (June 21, 2018), hello sexy pants, retrieved November 13, 2018
  26. ^ bill wurtz (August 21, 2018), hallelujah, retrieved November 13, 2018
  27. ^ bill wurtz (September 4, 2018), i'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door, retrieved November 13, 2018
  28. ^ bill wurtz (September 18, 2018), Mount St. Helens is about to Blow Up, retrieved November 13, 2018
  29. ^ bill wurtz (October 2, 2018), the Moon is made of Cheese (but i can't taste it), retrieved November 13, 2018
  30. ^ "YouTube Service Restored After Users Experience Worldwide Outage". October 16, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018. {{cite news}}: no-break space character in |title= at position 58 (help)
  31. ^ Wurtz, Bill (October 16, 2018), When I Get Older, retrieved October 18, 2018
  32. ^ bill wurtz (October 30, 2018), long long long journey, retrieved November 13, 2018
  33. ^ bill wurtz (November 13, 2018), Slow Down, retrieved November 13, 2018
  34. ^ bill wurtz (November 27, 2018), christmas isn't real, retrieved November 28, 2018
  35. ^ bill wurtz (December 25, 2018), i just did a bad thing, retrieved December 25, 2018
  36. ^ "Bill Wurtz – The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  37. ^ "Bill Wurtz accepts the Shorty Award for Best in Weird". youtube.com. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
  38. ^ ""201604121847.mp4"". billwurtz.com. Retrieved November 25, 2018.
  39. ^ "Bill Wurtz discography". RateYourMusic. Retrieved October 18, 2018.
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