Parodies are an inevitable result of all things popular (or ridicule-worthy). Once something viral comes out, of course there’s going to be discussions, memes, and parodies done on the topic. And there are also rare occasions when parodies mash up several things, like what the Holderness Family recently did.
The Holderness Family, a music, parodies, and vlogs YouTube channel hosted by a family of four, Penn, Kim, Lola, and Penn Charles, have recently come out with a parody of Hamilton: An American Musical that covered one of the most recent and most heated issues regarding the wearing of masks in the US. And it’s every bit as hilarious as you’d imagine.
Bored Panda got in touch with the Holderness Family for an interview on their spot-on parody.
The issue of people not wearing a mask has been around for so long that there's now a medley about it
Image credits: The Holderness Family
A week ago, on June 30th, the Holderness Family released a video titled Hamilton Mask-up Parody Medley that has been making headlines recently for its witty parody of the current issue regarding the wearing of masks. It features the Holderness Family dad, Penn, performing a number of songs from the 2015 musical Hamilton.
Specifically, he performs Aaron Burr, Sir, My Shot, and You’ll Be Back, using much of its original sound as well as lyrical mannerisms, except substituting certain parts with phrasing that is more appropriate for criticizing those not wearing a mask for ridiculous reasons.
"We were sitting around the kitchen table last week, talking excitedly about the Disney+ release of Hamilton... we are huge fans," explained Penn Holderness the origins of the idea. "Kim asked the question: 'What do you think Hamilton would sound like if it were written in 2020?'"
"We talked about all the parallels—social injustice, the new normal, and how heated arguments get out of hand (those days, with duels, these days, in the Facebook comments". We then landed on the 'war on masks.' We decided it would be fun to frame that argument in the style of Hamilton, and the idea really took off!"
YouTuber Family The Holdernesses recently came out with a parody medley on this long-lasting issue
Image credits: The Holderness Family
It starts as a "rapversation" between a mask wearer and a person who's against it, subtly ridiculing the latter throughout its entirety
Image credits: The Holderness Family
The medley starts off with a rap-battle (more of a rapversation, I guess) between someone who wears a mask and someone who doesn’t, explaining that it’s all a government ruse to asphyxiate yourself because Bill Gates, 5G, chipping—if you’ve been on the internet (or just in the loop) for the past several months, you know the drill.
Though the songs switch, the narrative stays the same, assuming a monologue on how the situation is getting really sad with honest people genuinely keeping quarantine and being bored to tears at home, while others are out partying, despite the virus still being at large, and quite likely leading to a second wave and reinstated lockdown restrictions.
The song touches upon many of the conspiracies out there, including Bill Gates and microchipping
Image credits: The Holderness Family
The whole medley is based on three songs sung in Hamilton: An American Musical
Image credits: The Holderness Family
The song ends by showing how ridiculous not wearing a mask actually is by pointing out that the price of a mask is honestly not worth it when trying to stop a pandemic and that wearing one doesn’t hurt anyone. Covid-19 has come back and “actually, it never left”, urging everyone to wear a mask because they don’t really have a reason not to at this point.
The video has since then been going viral, garnering over 500,000 views and 18,000 upvotes on YouTube as of this article. The video was also uploaded onto their Facebook account, where it got another 13 million views with 125,000 reactions and 22,000 comments.
Not only does it maintain much of its lyrical similarity to the original, but also does a good job conveying how ridiculous the anti-mask issue is
Image credits: The Holderness Family
Image credits: The Holderness Family
The parody medley is based on the songs from Hamilton: An American Musical, a musical that tells the story of American Founding Father, Alexander Hamilton. It’s inspired by Ron Chernow’s biography of Hamilton and draws heavily from music genres like hip hop, R&B, soul, and traditional-style show tunes. Some have described it as “America then, as told by America now.”
But, writing Hamilton parodies aren't that easy, as explained Penn: "Writing a Hamilton parody is a bigger challenge because the lyrics are so good and so complex. We wanted to keep the cadence as close as possible to the original. It took a little longer than usual to write, so I can't even imagine how many hours, days, years it took for Lin-Manuel to write the musical. Mad respect."
And it shows as there is an amazingly good rhyme and rhythm to the medley, making some listen to this more than the original.
Throughout the medley, songs switch styles from hip hop to traditional-style show tunes
Image credits: The Holderness Family
Just like the songs, Penn Holderness also switches outfits without breaking the flow of the performance
Image credits: The Holderness Family
If you’re not aware, the Holdernesses are a very fun and wholesome family that creates original music, parodies, and vlogs for YouTube to poke fun at themselves and celebrate the absurdity in circumstances most families face in their day to day life. They received internet fame in 2013 when they published Christmas Jammies. Since then, they’ve released a number of other parodies including All About That Baste, Baby Got Class, and original music Snow Day, all of which made headlines upon their release.
And before you ask, they have already done a bunch of Disney related songs, like If Disney Songs Were About Quarantine, parts one and two, Do You Want To..., a parody of Frozen's Let It Go, and there was also the Why does the mother always die? acapella, which touches on many of Disney's IPs. So, no, they really weren't thinking of doing the mask-up parody in a Disney style.
He even takes a jab at Florida, likely because of that one woman who thinks face coverings are the devil's work
Image credits: The Holderness Family
The video immediately went viral, getting over 500k views on YouTube and another 13M on Facebook
Image credits: The Holderness Family
Check out the full parody medley below
Image credits: The Holderness Family
We've asked Penn Holderness what are some other ideas for parodies that the family was thinking of doing in the near future, if it was no secret, of course. He put it plain ant simple: "When we think of a parody, we just DO it. So, if we get an idea, you will see it go live in the next few days. No secrets here!" So, you heard the man, stay tuned by subscribing to their channel for some parody (and other) goodness!
So, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think the entire family now needs to come out with a parody or a catchy tune to encourage people to wear masks? Let us know in the comments section below!