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Ylvis has been called “The Lonely Island of Norway.” Their EDM parody “The Fox” blew up on YouTube in early September of 2013 after being posted the the popular r/videos community on Reddit. Now, Ylvis’s Vegard Ylvisåker tells the story behind the smash hit “Fox.” Does he think “The Fox” is offensive to Furries? How does he feel about the “Lonely Island” comparisons? What’s the secret to making a video that gets millions of views overnight? (OK, he admits he doesn’t really know that one.) Watch and see for yourself!
“It’s definitely very shocking,” he says of all the attention they’re receiving for their video. “We thought we could make some waves […] but when it really took off, it caught us all by surprise.”
Still, it’s hard for him to point out why the video was so successful. “If I knew that, I would be a very rich man,” he jokes. “Maybe some of the key there is the fact that we passed 30 and we really just do what we like to do.”
Ylvisåker notes that they’ve received varied reactions from many different groups of people, including a community he didn’t know existed: the Furries. “They actually dress up like furry animals with suits, and their reactions are mixed. They’re like, ‘Oh, this is kind of insulting to us Furries,’ which I don’t think it is because I didn’t know Furries existed.”
Regarding the comparisons to The Lonely Island, he admits, “I first of heard of them when being compared to them, which is kind of embarrassing because I should’ve known them, because I love them.”
The comparisons to “Gangnam Style” seem crazy to Ylvisåker as well. He says that he made a calculation that if they held their momentum, in terms of views, for six years, they just might catch up with the success of “Gangnam Style.”
Even though they have the attention of the Internet now, Ylvis is still primarily invested in their talk show. “We’re sort of moving outside of our real agenda here now, because our agenda is to run this talk show in Norway,” he says.
Why did they post the video? The answer is simple. “To cover three minutes and 45 seconds of our show, but then of course when people all over the world like it, it’s really nice.”
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