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Foil (song)

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"Foil"
Song by "Weird Al" Yankovic
from the album Mandatory Fun
ReleasedJuly 15, 2014
Genre
Length2:23
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)"Weird Al" Yankovic

"Foil" is a song by American satirical singer "Weird Al" Yankovic from his fourteenth studio album, Mandatory Fun (2014). The song is a parody of the 2013 single "Royals" by Lorde. It begins as an ode to the uses of aluminum foil for food storage, but becomes a parody of conspiracy theories, the New World Order, and the Illuminati in its second verse. "Foil" received positive reviews from music critics, and peaked at number three on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks. The song's music video stars Yankovic as the host of a cooking show, and features cameo appearances from Patton Oswalt, Tom Lennon, and Robert Benjamin Garant.

Background and composition

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A ball of aluminium foil over a white background
An image of aluminum foil, the song's namesake.

"Foil" is a parody of Lorde's 2013 single "Royals".[1] He mimics Lorde's "sultry croon".[1] At two minutes and 23 seconds, it is the shortest parody on Mandatory Fun due to its omission of the bridge and final chorus from the original track.[2] In an interview with Billboard, Lorde said Yankovic "asked ages ago if he could do it” and she agreed to his offer. Lorde enjoyed Yankovic's music, specifically his parody of "Confessions" (2004) by Usher.[3]

The song opens with Yankovic lamenting that he cannot finish food at restaurants, opting for a doggy bag.[4] The first verse and chorus expand upon the usage of aluminum foil for food storage and preventing food spoilage,[5] which Yankovic deems better than other food storage options such as "Tupperware containers."[6] In a twist, the second verse discusses conspiracy theories;[4] in particular, he mentions the Illuminati, shadow organizations, "black helicopters comin' cross the border," the New World Order and reinforces the belief that the Moon landings were staged.[7] Yankovic planned to incorporate a twist in the song while outlining ideas.[8] To conclude the song, Yankovic supports the benefits of aluminum foil by placing a tin foil hat atop his head to shield himself from "thought control rays" and "psychotronic scanning."[7]

Reception

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"Foil" received positive reviews from music critics. Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times deemed the song a highlight of Mandatory Fun.[4] Consequence of Sound writer Henry Hauser noted that it could have been included in his 1993 record The Food Album.[9] Kenneth Partridge of Billboard wrote that while both "Tacky" (2014) and "Foil" could have been "one-joke affairs," they were both successful.[10] The song received a nomination for Best Individual Performance at the 2015 Webby Awards, but lost to "If Google Was a Guy" by CollegeHumor.[11] Other critics were less positive. Paste considered "Foil" to be less clever than the other parodies on Mandatory Fun.[12] Ben Kaye, writing for Consequence of Sound, praised the first half of the track, but criticized the "weird switch to Illuminati jokes".[9] Commercially, "Foil" peaked at number three on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks.[13]

Music video

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A woman with curly hair dressed in a white T-shirt against a light olive background.
A man with long curly hair in a red dress shirt against a beige background.
The video for "Foil" (pictured bottom) was compared to "Royals" (pictured top) for the artists' similar hair style and background setting.[14]

The music video for "Foil" was released on July 16, 2014, through CollegeHumor's YouTube channel.[1] It was part of an eight video series, released once per day, produced for Mandatory Fun. "Foil" was the most successful video, attracting 11 million views in five days.[15]

The video begins with Yankovic singing straight into the camera as a waiter gives him a doggy bag.[4] Throughout the sequence, he spoofs Lorde's "on-camera intensity"; Breanna Ehrlich of MTV News also observed that the video highlights the similarity between Yankovic and Lorde's hair styles.[14] He then walks out of a restaurant and onto the set of a cooking program titled Now We're Cookin'!. L.V. Anderson of Slate described his role in the video as an "infomercial huckster."[6] During the chorus, three female backup singers dressed in silvery outfits appear as they echo the song's lyrics.

The lights then dim as Yankovic sings about conspiracy theories; the camera shows the director (played by Patton Oswalt)[4] watching "in horror".[7] Stock footage of the Eye of Providence, an atomic bomb explosion, a set of military helicopters, troops marching, and police men in riot shields is shown.[4] Yankovic looks into a fisheye lens camera in static filter and twice a man with a bloody face quickly appears on screen. The following scene proceeds to show a video of a staged Moon landing and thought control rays. Two men in black suits (played by Tom Lennon and Robert Ben Garant) insert a sleep injection into Yankovic's neck and drag him off set.[4] The video ends with Oswalt taking off his human mask to reveal the face of a reptilian humanoid.

Live performances

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Yankovic performed "Foil" as part of the Mandatory World Tour (2015–2016).[16] The live version replicates the majority of the music video, with Yankovic behind a Now We're Cookin'! table and accompanied by various props including a roll of aluminum foil, a teapot, and a foil hat.[17] For some international performances, Yankovic changed the pronunciation of "aluminum" to "aluminium" to reflect the different ending being commonplace outside of North America. Orlando Weekly noted that "Foil" was one of two "special moments during a show that was nonstop and insanely memorable mayhem."[18]

Weekly chart positions

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Chart (2014) Peak
position
US Comedy Digital Tracks (Billboard)[13] 3

References

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  1. ^ a b c Reed, Ryan (July 16, 2014). "'Weird Al' Wards off Illuminati, Sandwich Mold in Lorde Parody Video". Rolling Stone. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  2. ^ O'Keefe, Kevin (July 15, 2014). "Ranking Weird Al's 'Mandatory Fun' Parodies: Who Gets Skewered Best?". The Atlantic. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  3. ^ Corner, M. Tye (2 August 2014). "Lorde Talks 'Mockingjay,' 'Weird Al' and New Music Backstage at Lollapalooza 2014". Billboard. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Roberts, Randall (July 16, 2014). "Weird Al Yankovic fears conspiracies in his new Lorde parody, 'Foil'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  5. ^ Waxman, Olivia B. (July 16, 2014). "Weird Al's Parody of Lorde's "Royals" Is About…Foil". Time. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  6. ^ a b Anderson, L.V. (July 16, 2014). "Weird Al's Latest Video Is a Lorde Parody About "Foil"". Slate. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  7. ^ a b c Lynch, Joe (July 16, 2014). "'Weird Al' Yankovic, Patton Oswalt Confront the Illuminati in 'Royals' Parody 'Foil' (Watch)". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  8. ^ Martin, Kate (9 September 2015). "Weird Al Yankovic heads to Puyallup on 'Mandatory' tour". The Olympian. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b Melis, Matt. ""Weird Al" Yankovic – Mandatory Fun | Album Reviews". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  10. ^ Partridge, Kenneth (July 15, 2014). "'Weird Al' Yankovic's 'Mandatory Fun': Track-by-Track Album Review". Billboard. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  11. ^ McIntyre, Hugh (7 April 2015). "The Webby Awards: Here Are This Year's Nominees". Forbes. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  12. ^ Morgan, Chris (July 15, 2014). "Weird Al Yankovic Review: Mandatory Fun". Paste. Retrieved July 15, 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Comedy Digital Tracks: August 2, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Ehrlich, Breanna (July 16, 2014). "Weird Al — Lorde's Hair Twin — Takes On 'Royals' With 'Foil'". MTV News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  15. ^ Gallo, Phil (July 23, 2014). "'Weird Al' Yankovic on His No. 1 Album, and Only Releasing Singles From Now On: 'I'd Still Do Videos for Them'". Billboard. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  16. ^ Hardy, Tony (5 October 2015). "Live Review: "Weird Al" Yankovic at London's Eventim Apollo (10/4)". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
  17. ^ Vejnoska, Jill (19 June 2016). "Concert Review: Sunday's "Weird" Al Yankovic show really was (and that made it good)". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved 16 December 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  18. ^ Belanger, Ashley (13 August 2015). "Review: Weird Al's Mandatory World Tour is a torrential downpour of showmanship". Orlando Weekly. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
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