Whatever You Like

[The Doctor]

That's what a true parody is.

THANK YOU!

I honestly hope this 362 times thing is some inside joke or something I'm not in on. Even the mere thought of a person having that little to do with their free time is a little disturbing.

Well, I am Stephen...
But I assure you, It is not a joke.

W&N was conceived written, recorded, and remastered in a WEEK... Sooo I don't think the amount of time Al spent making it has anything to do with the quality

YES!
Wow! Thank you!
See, I can say this stuff, but it's other people who put it in more well-written format.

[DonnaNoble]

I got your back

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Now, I haven't spent the last 30 years making a living off predicting which songs will have staying power, so maybe I'm missing something Al sees in the original, but I just don't see T.I.'s WYL as something memorable. I have to remind myself that T.I.'s song has been #1 for the last 5 or 6 weeks, so there's obviously a lot of people who like it, and presumably will remember it in the future, but I personally think "I Kissed A Girl" or "Disturbia" would have been a better choice.

Another carefully thought out review. Thanks, Dave!

I think probably both you and Al are right. TI's WYL is NOT a great song. Musically it's pretty unimpressive... when it's done live, I can imagine Ruben hitting one programmed key and then the rest of the band sneaking backstage for a quick drind of water and a roll of the eyes. But it does have that hooky, earworm quality to it, and tha's why I think it's a hit. And that's enough of a skeleton to hang a parody on. And when it comes out on a whole album, I don't think it will get the skip button. But I also agree that W & N left it with some big shoes to fill. Most artists are lucky to get a song like that once in a career, and we kind of expect that Al will pull one like that out of his hat every time.

[anthontherun]

But Al doesn't "just" do parodies.

Well yeah, but this is a parody.

What's so difficult to understand? A parody isn't all about changing every part of the song.

No, but it's hard not to notice when the original main lyric isn't changed one iota.

I'm really surprised about all the... I don't wanna say negativity... but harshness about this song!

See, I don't get that mentality though. I've listened to Al for nearly two-thirds of my life; he was the first musician I actively cared about and became a fan of; and aside from the Beatles, I've probably gotten more enjoyment out of his work than any other artist. But that doesn't mean I'm gonna blindly praise everything he releases just because it's Weird Al. That's not doing myself any favors and it certainly isn't doing Al any. In fact, I kind of prefer the constructive criticism and "It's decent but it doesn't blow me away" posts than "OMG, this is amazing!!!!! It's new Al music, how can you not like it?" (Not accusing anyone of posting that sort of thing, just an exaggeration there)

Nobody bats a thousand. It's great that most people seem to be enjoying the song and a few already love it, but as much as I hate to bash the latest release...it's just ok for me. It's not unlistenable (well, the lyrics aren't at least) but at the moment it stands as one of the weakest things Al has done in recent memory IMHO.

[Orthography Enthusiast]

Dude... this is a Weird Al forum...
Of COURSE we're going to over-analyze. Why wouldn't we?

Hey, we even have an "Overanalyze this" topic.

[Kayy911]

Weird Al it seems can do Whatever He Likes.

Weird Al Yankovic the artist known for making hilarious parodies of hit and obscure songs has had many firsts in his music career (which has now spanned over 25 years): Gold records, Grammy's and even a Full length film, but now, Yankovic has achieved another first in his prosperous career, an internet only song. The new song entitled "Whatever You Like," (which is a parody of a T.I. song of the same name) deals loosely with our economy which is in "the toilet." The song stays true to Weird Al's origin's; incorporating current events, wit and just randomness.

However, "Whatever You Like" (WYL) seems as if it was done by someone other than Yankovic, it seems as if there is something missing. I think Yankovic should stray away from the Hip-Hop category, it seems as if the subject matter for all of his hip-hop parody's are the same: Food,TV,Money. I'd have to say this is a middle of the road song, a 5 or 6 on a scale from 1-10, Its a good song, perhaps better than the T.I. version, however, rising as high as number 27 on the Itunes chart with little to no publicity or hype shows that Yankovic is still doing something right and can truly do whatever he likes.

[DonnaNoble]

But that doesn't mean I'm gonna blindly praise everything he releases just because it's Weird Al. That's not doing myself any favors and it certainly isn't doing Al any. In fact, I kind of prefer the constructive criticism and "It's decent but it doesn't blow me away" posts than "OMG, this is amazing!!!!! It's new Al music, how can you not like it?" (Not accusing anyone of posting that sort of thing, just an exaggeration there)

ACtually, thats exactly how I am!! "OMG ITS WEIRD AL!!!!!!!"

Thats not what I meant... I should have phrased that better, I know that you guys are just being honest, and I respect that, what I was TRYING to say, was "I'm surprised you all where able to find anything negative to say" not that you SHOULDN'T say what you think...

If that makes sense... sorry for not making that clearer!
Kayy911 (for lack of knowledge of your real name) I think, in a way, your right. Al (as my mom so wisely put it) spit in a lucnbox, and I would laugh... so I'm sure he could do something totally lame, and it would still sell for the mere fact he's Al (after thirty years in the business, I think that's a hard earned right!)

... I'm not an "all knowing master" of catagorizing songs, but the only Hip-hoppish song I can think of about food TV or money is Couch Potato... But then again, I don't know the qualifications of "hip hop" and, while I personally don't care for it, Al follows trends, so I can understand that he really doesn't have much of a choice...

... I don't find anything "missing" in WYL.... I think its very Al-ish... The only thing missing is an UBER HOT PROMO PIC!!!!

... like I said, you do have a point! Most certainly, but I don't think your point is expressed well with this song....

[The Doctor]

I just wanted to say that after 406 listens, I've forced myself to move the song into my normal playlist rotation, so my music-listening should be a bit more normal now.
Huzzah!

[louietheweaselfaceddogboy]

The Doctor, you can do whatever you like.

BWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAA!
HA, HA! Ha ha ha! Heh, heh. Hmm.

[stupidsurgeon27]

I've been listening to this song a bit more and am liking a bit more, but it probably won't become one of my favorites.

I still need to listen to the original to really decide on this first. I had ended up liking Drive-Thru a lot more after I listened to the original.

But it's definitely true that W&N left some pretty big shoes to fill.