Loituma Girl
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Loituma Girl (also known as "Leekspin") is a
Content
The animation of Loituma Girl is taken from
The music used consists of the second half of the fifth stanza (four lines) and the complete sixth stanza (eight lines) from "Ievan polkka". Unlike the rest of the song, these two stanzas have no meaning, consisting mostly of phonetically inspired Finnish words that vary from performance to performance and are usually made up on the spot by the singer (compare scat singing in jazz). These stanzas are therefore not generally listed on lyrics pages, causing confusion for people looking for lyrics that match the animation.
Popularity
On 10 July 2006, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reported that Loituma Girl had caused a resurgence in Loituma's popularity, and the band had received thousands of fan letters from around the world.[3]
Band member Timo Väänänen describes his initial reaction to the video:[2]
I first found out there was something going on when I looked at the statistics of my own web page and then I realized that something weird is happening because there is such a huge traffic there. And most of the traffic came from Russia and then I started to track down what is happening and then I found this video. And well, I have no idea what this video is about, and what this girl is about.
The meme's author is widely believed to be the Russian Livejournal user "g_r_e_e_n", having posted a link to the meme on his LiveJournal feed on 23 April 2006 at 15:40.[4] However, mentions of the meme online go as far back as April 20th of the same year.[5]
The song clip soon enjoyed overwhelming popularity in Russia as a ringtone.
PRI's The World radio program covered the animation in a segment, in which they noted the clip's trance-inducing qualities. Patrick Macias, who was interviewed in the program, described the animation:[2]
This is basically a joke for someone who spends all of their time staring at a computer, made by people who spend all of their time staring at a computer. It's possible to read deeper meanings into it, but it sort of defeats the purpose because in the end it's just this hypnotic clip of animation.
As with most Internet memes, numerous videos, remixes, and parodies have been inspired by the Flash animation.[citation needed] These may feature the animated background, the song clip, or otherwise reference the style of the animation.
In August 2010, Disney Channel aired "
In December 2010,
Commercialization
In August 2006,
In January 2007, a similar video entitled "Holly Dolly – Dolly Song (Ieva's Polka)" appeared in the
The Dutch company
In October 2007, McDonald's used this song in a Hungarian TV spot for their McCafé coffee.[12] Typing "Loituma Girl" in the 2009 DS game Scribblenauts results in a red-haired girl spinning a leek.
Vocaloid adaptation
In September 2007, a cover of "Ievan polkka" was made, sung by
The popularity of the Vocaloid version of "Ievan polkka" has led to the chibi-Miku featured in the video being treated as a separate character known as Hachune Miku. Good Smile Company produced a Nendoroid action figure version of her.[16]
See also
References
- ^ "NorthSide Catalog - Things of Beauty - Loituma". Archived from the original on 2006-06-15.
- ^ a b c Werman, Marco (2006-08-18). "Global Hit" (radio). The World. Public Radio International. Retrieved 2006-08-18.
- ^ "Hittibiisi kulman takaa". Helsingin Sanomat. 2006-07-10.
- ^ "Цук-цопом по Преведу". Rе:Акция. 2006-05-11. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
- ^ "Bye Bye Brain Cells". LiveJournal. 2006-04-20. Retrieved 2006-04-20.
- ^ "Russian meme and cultural phenomena wiki Lurkmore - Yak Zup Zop article". Archived from the original on 2012-08-10. Retrieved 2012-08-05.
- ^ "Wikileaks: Anonymous stops dropping DDoS bombs, starts dropping science". 2010-12-09.
- MPEG). Jamba!. Archived from the originalon 2006-11-27.
- ^ Holly Dolly – Dolly Song (Ieva's Polka). Google Video.
- ^ "Dutch Eneco commercial". YouTube.
- ^ "Preidols.nl - Jouw eigen meisje met de prei!" (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 2007-05-28. Retrieved 2007-06-11.
- ^ McCafé TV Spot - Loituma. YouTube.
- ^ "How Hatsune Miku opened the creative mind: Interview with Crypton Future Media" (in Japanese). February 25, 2008. Retrieved February 29, 2008.
- ^ VOCALOID2 初音ミクに「Ievan polkka」を歌わせてみた. Nico Nico Douga.
- ^ Hatsune Miku sings "Ievan polkka". YouTube.
- ^ Good Smile Company – Nendoroid Miku Hatsune: Hachune Face Ver.