The Saratoga Lip Dub was a thing that happened, and boy is it tough to watch.

I’m only providing the video for my masochistic friends out there who get joy and satisfaction out of putting themselves through pain. Here you go, you sick fucks.

 

All Over Albany is a lot kinder and simply reports on the disappointing number – only 35,500 views thus far. The goal was to try to match the high water mark set by Grand Rapids, which sits at over 4,000,000 views and counting. Not gonna happen.

So why didn’t this work?

1. CHOICE OF MUSIC
Emerson College used Lady Gaga, arguably the most famous female pop star of the 21st Century whose music has legitimately catchy hooks. Grand Rapids used a live recording (which I think is strange but whatever) of Don McLean’s “American Pie,” which is one of the most famous and beloved songs of all times. Saratoga used fucking Train and kicked it off with the petulant “Hey Soul Sister.” Yes, I know the drummer’s from Saratoga. If Karen Carpenter The Captain from “The Captain and Tennille”  was from Saratoga, would the dub have been to “Muskrat Love?” Probably.

2. REASONING / BEEN THERE, DONE THAT
The motivation for Emerson was to promote the college in a fun way. The Grand Rapids dub was a bit more heartwarming and defiant: they were responding to a Newsweek article that called them a “dying city.” Saratoga did a lip dub because a media company convinced them this would be a good idea to copy something that’s already been done to death on YouTube. By the by, if anyone from the city of Troy is reading, I have a brilliant marketing campaign for you: it’s called LOLTroy, and it’s pictures of cats enjoying Troy in internet cat speak. “I CAN HAZ ANTEEK DISTRIK?!!1″ Actually, that’s fucking brilliant. See? This lip dub was a total waste.

3. A BAFFLING SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT CONVEYED IN THE VIDEO
Come out and celebrate Saratoga! Our video will get ten million views! Why? Because WE DESERVE IT. No, we’re not struggling or in need of a boost, and we’re not plucky underdogs or charismatic undergrads. We just think we’re special. Look how fancy we are, too!

4. AMATEUR HOUR
Whereas the other lip dubs were a bit adventerous in their shooting and their scenarios, the Saratoga Lip Dub simply goes through the city and has boring people holding up signs and cheering while stuff like horses occasionally run out. Nothing that really entices you to GO to Saratoga, just to tell you what’s already there. This was like the viral video equivalent of a brochure from a small town’s tourism board that leans heavily on boring historical facts and thinks someone other than your grandfather will care. Also, the only impressive aspect of the video is the bodies present. The video looks like it was shot on my phone for God’s sake. Also, guys, you’re supposed to have someone front and center lip-synching to draw the viewer’s eye towards a central location and to take attention away from the fact that the people in the crowd aren’t really lip synching.

5. IT’S BORING AND LAME
This could simply summarize all of the above, but it still bears its own mention. Not to beat a dead horse (SEE WHAT I DID THERE), but where’s the connect for this? Am I supposed to care just because it’s Saratoga? AND WHY ARE YOU FORCING ME TO LISTEN TO THESE AWFUL SONGS BY TRAIN

Now that this experiment has failed, let’s agree that it was always annoying to begin with and never waste your city’s money and my time with this stupid bullshit ever again.

For comparison’s sake, the Emerson College and Grand Rapids “lip dubs”:

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14 Responses to Saratoga lip dumb

  1. Eric N. says:

    Is this just an advertisement for Saratoga being a white person’s paradise? That’s what it comes across as. I’ve watched the first two minutes and so far, I’ve seen three people of color — a guy well in the background of the first shot, the girl double dutching, and a kid that’s part of the track team who quickly gets shoved out of the shot behind the Nordic kid who leads the pack, despite the fact that everyone else who was running is still visible in the shot.

  2. Ed Lass says:

    WNYT did a decent lip dub around their studios back in January.

  3. Rob Madeo says:

    I like things done in one long take, like the opening shot in The Player, so I always watch these things — even if the music generally sucks and the acting is terrible.

  4. Andrew says:

    1. “Muskrat Love” = Capt. & Tennille. If we’re talking Karen Carpenter, perhaps “Sing” would have been appropriate. Still, it could have been worse. They might have used a rewrite of that horrid “Albany Song”.
    2. It was too business centered, not enough about what makes the city special. Like Caroline St.
    3. Nothing to add.
    4. When someone says “It’s Awesome!”, the first question to ask is “Are you in it?” There’s your answer.
    5. See the above.

    • Anonymous says:

      GODDAMNIT ANDREW, you’re right! I always confuse Karen Carpenter (who died) with Tennille (who somehow survived).

    • J Eric Smith says:

      You know what’s most terrifying about The Captain and Tennille’s version of “Muskrat Love”? The fact that it wasn’t an original . . . the duo actually heard America’s version of the song, and decided it was good enough to re-record on their own . . .

      And you know what’s most terrifying about America’s version of “Muskrat Love”? The fact that it wasn’t an original either . . . the trio actually heard Willis Alan Ramsey’s original version of the song, and decided it was good enough to re-record on their own . . .

      Personally, I think Willis Alan Ramsey may be the luckiest musical mofo on the planet . . . has any songwriter ever earned more, for less???

      • Andrew says:

        JES – I didn’t want to go that far, as I had already lost about 13 minutes of my life – that I will never get back – watching the stupid thing.

  5. Anonymous says:

    It’s ALSO too damn long. The other two are under 10 minutes long. Actually, it’s the damn credits – on the Grand Rapids video, it’s 1 min; the Emerson one is over 2 min, but more interesting; on the Saratoga video, over 5 minutes! I also find the musical segues unconvincing.

    I’ve watched the Grand Rapids video before. I think they used the live version for 1) its length (no need for segue) , and 2) the audience ambiance. Whatever, it worked. Haven’t listened to the Emerson one yet.

  6. Leigh Cummings says:

    I guess I’m one of those sick fucks you talk about because I just sat through this entire shit show. So many questions. Why Train!? OK, so they’ve chosen Train, and one of the songs contains the line about “fried chicken” but they don’t show Hattie’s during that part of the song? And I’ve never actually listened to the lyrics of Hey Soul Sister but they are creepy.

    This is just a mess of missed opportunities and should really include a warning about getting vertigo. My eyes…my stomach.

  7. Jenifer Prouty says:

    I loved the Grand Rapids video. But the Saratoga and Emerson videos were poorly conceived and executed. Personally I like Train and saw them at SPAC back in August (with Maroon 5) but the multiple song transitions were choppy and awkward.

  8. Jen says:

    Does anyone else think it’s the total length of the Saratoga video? This was meant to try to go viral and gain some internet buzz, but someone in Saratoga needs to spend more time on the internet before they try to market. My thought is that it’s typically the younger folks who are making videos go viral. So let’s think about the young people on the internet today and what kind of people they are. They all have the attention spans of gnats, people. In addition, please explain why anyone in South Dakota who has never heard of Saratoga Springs would click this and watch nearly fourteen minutes of video?

    Part of the issue I see here: Grand Rapids video started credits at 8:49, with the video being a total of 9:49. Exactly one minute of credits for a nine minute video. Saratoga’s credits began rolling at 8:25 and keep rolling until 13:51. I know movies have over five minutes of credits that roll, but that’s about it. A 22 minute television show production has less than a couple minutes of credits. No checks to see that the video is actually about the same length as the Grand Rapids one. If anything, it should go viral for the ridiculous display of attention whoring that is the credits in my opinion.

  9. […] have I seen the Saratoga Lip Dub before? October 5, 2011By kevinmarshallSomething about the Saratoga Lip Dub seemed vaguely reminiscent. It wasn’t the content of the video so much as what it was trying […]

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