From the very beginning of "Inside," Burnham makes it clear that the narrative arc of the special will be self-referential. Burnham had no idea that his song would be seen more than 10 million times,nor that it would kick start his career in a niche brand of self-aware musical comedy. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart, #1 on the Comedy Albums chart, and #18 on the Independent Albums chart. Burnham is especially aware as a creator constantly reflecting on his own life. He's almost claustrophobically surrounded by equipment. Bo Burnhams 2021 special, Inside. He has one where he's just sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar describing our modern world. WebA grieving woman magically travels through time to 1998, where she meets a man with an uncanny resemblance to her late love. And then the funniest thing happened.". But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. . The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. HOLMES: So, as you'll hear there, on the one hand, there's a lot of sadness in what he's talking about there. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. HOLMES: Well, logically enough, let's go out on the closing song. "And so today I'm gonna try just getting up, sitting down, going back to work. As someone who has devoted time, energy, and years of research into parasocial relationships, I felt almost like this song was made for me, that Burnham and I do have so much in common. He's also giving us a visual representation of the way social media feeds can jarringly swing between shallow photos and emotional posts about trauma and loss. The songs from the special were released on streaming platforms on June 10, 2021. At first hearing, this is a simple set of lyrics about the way kids deal with struggles throughout adolescence, particularly things like anxiety and depression. In a giddy homage to Cabaret, Burnham, in sunglasses, plays the M.C. Viewer discretion is advised. One of those is the internet itself. It's so good to hear your voice. And it's important to remember, you know, this is a piece of theater. The special is set almost entirely in one cluttered room. Is he content with its content? I'm sitting down, writing jokes, singing silly songs, I'm sorry I was gone. He's self-evaluating his own visual creation in the same way people will often go back to look at their Instagram stories or posts to see how it looks after they've shared it. Not a comedy per se, but a masterpiece nonetheless. "I don't know that it's not," he said. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. WebBo's transcripts on Scraps From The Loft. During the last 15 minutes of "Make Happy," Burnham turns the comedy switch down a bit and begins talking to the audience about how his comedy is almost always about performing itself because he thinks people are, at all times, doing a "performance" for one another. MARTIN: So as you can hear in that bit, he sounds something like other comedic songwriters who do these kind of parody or comedy songs, whether it's Tom Lehrer, Weird Al or whoever. Each of the songs from the first half of the special are in line with Burnham's earlier Netflix specials and comedy albums. "All Eyes On Me" starts right after Burnham's outburst of anger and sadness. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". And then, of course, he had previous standup comedy specials. Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. Bo Burnham: INSIDE | Trailer - YouTube 0:00 / 2:09 The following content may contain suicide or self-harm topics. Remember how Burnham's older, more-bearded self popped up at the beginning of "Inside" when we were watching footage of him setting up the cameras and lighting? Burnham achieved a similar uncanny sense of realism in his movie "Eighth Grade," the protagonist of which is a 13-year-old girl with extreme social anxiety who makes self-help YouTube videos. Were complicated. "Inside" kicks off with Burnham reentering the same small studio space he used for the end of "Make Happy," when the 2016 Netflix special transitioned from the live stage to Burnham suddenly sitting down at his piano by himself to sing one final song for the at-home audience. But now Burnham is back. And the biggest risk Burnham takes in the show is letting his emotional side loose, but not before cracking a ton of jokes. Web9/10. His new Netflix special Inside was directed, written and performed all inside one room. While he's laying in bed, eyes about the close, the screen shows a flash of an open door. Even when confronted with works that criticize parasocial attachment, its difficult for fans not to feel emotionally connected to performers they admire. Some of the things he mentions that give him "that funny feeling" include discount Etsy agitprop (aka communist-themed merchandise) and the Pepsi halftime show. Some of this comes through in how scenes are shot and framed: its common for the special to be filmed, projected onto Burnhams wall (or, literally, himself), and then filmed again for the audience. "I was a kid who was stuck in his room, there isn't much more to say about it. "If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current rate, then when the clock runs out, the average global temperature will be irreversibly on its way to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels.". His career evolved through YouTube, MTV, Vine, his movie "Eighth Grade," and now Netflix's "Inside." You know, as silly as that one is, some of the other ones are more sedate. He is leaving it to speak for itself in terms of what it says about isolation and sadness. (For example, the song "Straight, White, Male" from the "Make Happy" special). Burnham wrote out: "Does it target those who have been disenfranchised in a historical, political, social, economic and/or psychological context?". Hes been addressing us the entire time. I'm talking to you, get the f--- up.". Burnham skewers himself as a virtue-signaling ally with a white-savior complex, a bully and an egoist who draws a Venn diagram and locates himself in the overlap between Weird Al and Malcolm X. Burnham slaps his leg in frustration and eventually gives a mirthless laugh before he starts slamming objects around him. Burnham starts spiraling in a mental health crisis, mentioning suicidal ideation after lamenting his advance into his 30s. Burnham is also the main character in the game, a character who is seen moving mechanically around a room. Burnham spent his teen years doing theater and songwriting, which led to his first viral video on YouTube a song he now likely categorizes as "offensive.". NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. The song, written in 2006, is about how his whole family thinks he's gay, and the various conversations they're having trying to figure it out. Bo Burnham: Inside, was written, edited, and directed by the talent himself and the entire show is shot in one room. Most sources discuss fictional characters, news anchors, childrens show hosts, or celebrity culture as a whole. that shows this exact meta style. Depression acts like an outside force, one that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. "I didn't perform for five years," he says. "Truly, it's like, for a 16-year-old kid in 2006, it's not bad. Still, its difficult not to be lulled back into, again, this absolute banger. By inserting that Twitch character in this earlier scene, Burnham was seemingly giving a peek into his daily routine. He was alone. A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio (John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris) onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy. Audiences who might not read a 1956 essay by researchers about news anchors still see much of the same discussion in Inside. Hiding a mysterious past, a mother lives like a nameless fugitive with her daughter as they make hotels their home and see everyone else as a threat. Might not help but still it couldn't hurt. With electro-pop social commentary, bleak humour and sock-puppet debates, the comics lockdown creation is astonishing. It's a hint at the promised future; the possibility of once again being able to go outside and feel sunlight again. He decided to stop doing live performances, and instead set out to write and direct his first feature film, the critically-acclaimed 2018 movie "Eighth Grade." MARTIN: You know, about that, because it does move into a deeply serious place at some point. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. The whole song ping pongs between Burnham's singing character describing a very surface-level, pleasant definition of the world functioning as a cohesive ecosystem and his puppet, Socko, saying that the truth is the world functions at a much darker level of power imbalance and oppression. An astronaut's return after a 30-year disappearance rekindles a lost love and sparks interest from a corporation determined to learn why he hasn't aged. So when you get to the end of a song, it often just kind of cuts to something else. Carpool Karaoke, Steve Aoki, Logan Paul. And it has a lot of very clever and very quick wordplay about the specific things you can get on the internet. The Volcano, which touched on labor rights. Burnham watching the end of his special on a projector also brings the poioumenon full circle the artist has finished their work and is showing you the end of the process it took to create it. But before that can register, Burnham's eyes have closed and the special transitions to the uncannily catchy song "S---," bopping about how he hasn't showered in nine days or done any laundry. But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. It's a series of musical numbers and skits that are inherently about the creation of comedy itself. By keeping that reveal until the end of the special, Burnham is dropping a hammer on the actual at-home audience, letting us know why his mental health has hit an ATL, as he calls it ("all time low"). Burnham's growth is admirable, but also revealing of how little we expect from men in the industry. In Unpaid Intern, Burnham sings about how deeply unethical the position is to the workers in a pastiche of other labor-focused blues. MARTIN: Well, that being said, Lynda, like, what song do you want to go out on? He points it at himself as he sways, singing again: Get your fuckin hands up / Get on out of your seat / All eyes on me, all eyes on me.. WebBo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix is an incredibly detailed musical-comedy artwork. The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. Now Burnham is showing us the clutter of the room, where he's almost claustrophobically surrounded by equipment. He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. It's as if Burnham knows there are valid criticisms of him that haven't really stuck in the public discourse around his work. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. Likewise. Research and analysis of parasocial relationships usually revolves around genres of performers instead of individuals. He had a role in the film "Promising Young Woman." Finally doing basic care tasks for yourself like eating breakfast and starting work in the morning. At the forefront of this shift has been Bo Burnham, one of YouTubes earliest stars, who went on to make his own innovative specials with satirical songs backed by theatrical lighting and disembodied voices. ", "On September 17, the clock began counting down from seven years, 103 days, 15 hours, 40 minutes and seven seconds, displayed in red," the Smithsonian reported. While platforms like Patreon mean creators can make their own works independently without studio influence, they also mean that the creator is directly beholden to their audience. [1] Created in the guest house of Burnham's Los Angeles home during the COVID-19 pandemic without a crew or audience, it was released on Netflix on May 30, 2021. The song is a pitched-down Charli XCX-styled banger of a ballad has minimal lyrics that are mostly just standard crowd instructions: put your hands up, get on your feet. Other artists have made works on the wavelength of Repeat Stuff, but few creators with a platform as large as Burnhams return to the topic over and over, touching on it in almost all of their works. The performer, along with the record label and brand deals, encourage a parasocial relationship for increased profits. My heart hurts with and for him. Like most of Burnhams specials, it includes comedic songs and creative lighting effects. This plays almost like a glitch and goes unexplained until later in the special when a sketch plays out with Burnham as a Twitch streamer who is testing out a game called "INSIDE" (in which the player has to have a Bo Burnham video game character do things like cry, play the piano, and find a flashlight in order to complete their day). This line comes full circle by the end of the special, so keep it in mind. It's an instinct that I have where I need everything that I write to have some deeper meaning or something, but it's a stupid song and it doesn't really mean anything, and it's pretty unlikable that I feel this desperate need to be seen as intelligent.". "That's a good start. He says his goal had been to complete filming before his 30th birthday. MARTIN: So a lot of us, you know, artists, journalists have been trying to describe what this period has been like, what has it meant, what's been going on with us. At first it seems to be just about life in the pandemic, but it becomes a reference to his past, when he made faces and jokes from his bedroom as a teenager and put that on the internet. When we saw that projection the first time, Burnham's room was clean and orderly. Coined in 1956 by researchers Donald Horton and Richard Wohl, the term initially was used to analyze relationships between news anchors who spoke directly to the audience and that audience itself. It's an emergence from the darkness. Don't overthink this, look in my eye don't be scared, don't be shy, come on in the water's fine."). In his new Netflix special, Inside, Bo Burnham sings about trying to be funny while stuck in a room. "And I spent that time trying to improve myself mentally. So let's dive into "Inside" and take a closer look at nearly every song and sketch in Burnham's special. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. Bo Burnham's new Netflix comedy special "Inside" is jam-packed with references to his previous work. "Part of me needs you, part of me fears you. "This show is called 'what.,' and I hope there are some surprises for you," he says as he goes to set down the water bottle. But in recent years, theres been enough awareness of online behavior to see how parasocial relationships can have negative impacts on both the creator and the audience if left uninterrogated by both parties. "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. WebBo Burnham: Inside is a 2021 special written, directed, filmed, edited, and performed by American comedian Bo Burnham. How how successful do you think is "Inside" at addressing, describing kind of confronting the experience that a lot of people have had over the past year? Not only has his musical range expanded his pastiche of styles includes bebop, synth-pop and peppy show tunes Burnham, who once published a book of poems, has also become as meticulous and creative with his visual vocabulary as his language. BURNHAM: (Singing) Could I interest you in everything all of the time, a little bit of everything all of the time? Burnham has said in interviews that his inspiration for the character came from real YouTube videos he had watched, most with just a handful of views, and saw the way young women expressed themselves online. Then comes the third emotional jump scare. Similarly, Burnham often speaks to the audience by filming himself speaking to himself in a mirror. Years later, the comedian told NPR's Terry Gross that performing the special was so tough that he was having panic attacks on stage. As he shows in this new sketch, he's aware at a meta level that simply trying to get ahead of the criticism that could be tossed his way is itself a performance sometimes. For the album, Bo is credited as writer, performer, and producer on every song. The song's melody is oddly soothing, and the lyrics are a sly manifestation of the way depression convinces you to stay in its abyss ("It's almost over, it's just begun.
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