It's a quiet, banal scene that many people coming out of a depressive episode might recognize. The battery is full, but no numbers are moving. For the album, Bo is credited as writer, performer, and producer on every song. One comment stuck out to me: Theres something really powerful and painful about, hearing his actual voice singing and breaking at certain points. It's like Burnham's special has swallowed you whole, bringing you fully into his mind at last. WebBo Burnham's "Inside" special on Netflix is an incredibly detailed musical-comedy artwork. MARTIN: So a lot of us, you know, artists, journalists have been trying to describe what this period has been like, what has it meant, what's been going on with us. .] Likewise, the finale of Burnhams next special, Make Happy (2016) closes in a song called Handle This (Kanye Rant). The song starts as him venting his hyperbolically small problems, until the tone shifts, and he starts directly addressing the audience, singing: The truth is, my biggest problem is you / [. He also costarred in the Oscar-winning movie "Promising Young Woman," filmed in 2019. Get up. Burnham says he had quit live comedy several years ago because of panic attacks and returned in January 2020 before, as he puts it in typical perverse irony, the funniest thing happened. "Healing the world with comedy, the indescribable power of your comedy," the voice sings. Something went wrong. "), Burnham sang a parody song called "Sad" about, well, all the sad stuff in the world. At the beginning of "Inside," Burnham is not only coming back to that same room, but he's wearing a very similar outfit: jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers picking up right back where he left off. HOLMES: Well, logically enough, let's go out on the closing song. Bo Burnham: Inside Theyre complicated. MARTIN: And it's deep, too. The whole song sounds like you're having a religious experience with your own mental disorder, especially when new harmonies kick in. ", When asked about the inspiration for the song, like if people he knew thought he was gay, Burnham said, "A lot of my close friends were gay, and, you know, I wasn't certain I wasn't at that point.". Many of his songs begin seriously, then shift into the joke, but this one doesnt. Its a lyrically dense song with camerawork that speeds up with its rhythm. The incentives of the web, those that reward outrage, excess and sentiment, are the villains of this show. It is set almost entirely within one room of his Los Angeles guest house, the same one shown in the closing song of the June 2016 Make Happy special, titled Are you happy?. All Eyes on Me also earned Bo his first Grammy win for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2022 Grammys. And did you have any favorites? "The quiet comprehending of the ending of it all," is another of Burnham's lyrics in this song that seems to speak to the idea that civilization is nearing collapse, and also touches on suicidal ideation. When the song starts, the camera sitting in front of Burnham's mirror starts slowing zooming in, making the screen darker and darker until you (the audience member at home) are sitting in front of the black mirror of your screen. You can tell that he's watched a ton of livestream gamers, and picked up on their intros, the way the talk with people in the chat, the cadence of their commentary on the game, everything. One of the most encouraging developments in comedy over the past decade has been the growing directorial ambition of stand-up specials. MARTIN: This special is titled, appropriately enough, "Inside," and it is streaming on Netflix now. Bo Burnhams Inside begs for our parasocial awareness The comedians lifetime online explains the heart of most of his new songs By Wil Williams @wilw_writes Jun 28, 2021, 11:01am EDT Web9/10. Relieved to be done? "I'm so worried that criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. In the worst case, depression can convince a person to end their life. And finally today, like many of us, writer, comedian and filmmaker Bo Burnham found himself isolated for much of last year - home alone, growing a beard, trying his best to stay sane. Hes bedraggled, increasingly unshaven, growing a Rasputin-like beard. .] Burnham reacts to his reaction of the song, this time saying, Im being a little pretentious. Also, Burnham's air conditioner is set to precisely 69 degrees throughout this whole faux music video. Not in the traditional senseno music was released prior to the special other than a backing track from Content found in the trailer. I like this song, Burnham says, before pointing out the the lack of modern songs about labor exploitation. A distorted voice is back again, mocking Burnham as he sits exposed on his fake stage: "Well, well, look who's inside again. "Any Day Now" The ending credits. "Inside" kicks off with Burnham reentering the same small studio space he used for the end of "Make Happy," when the 2016 Netflix special transitioned from the live stage to Burnham suddenly sitting down at his piano by himself to sing one final song for the at-home audience. The song is a pitched-down Charli XCX-styled banger of a ballad has minimal lyrics that are mostly just standard crowd instructions: put your hands up, get on your feet. When you're a kid and you're stuck in your room, you'll do any old s--- to get out of it.". The final shot is of him looking positively orgasmic, eyes closed, on the cross. Maybe we'll call it isolation theater. Like, what is it? He uploaded it to YouTube, a then barely-known website that offered an easy way for people to share videos, so he could send it to his brother. So he has, for example, a song in which he adopts the persona of a kind of horror movie carnival barker, you might call it, who is trying to sell people the internet. The vocal key used in "All Eyes On Me" could be meant to represent depression, an outside force that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. But by the end of the tune, his narrative changes into irreverence. He takes a break in the song to talk about how he was having panic attacks on stage while touring the "Make Happy" special, and so he decided to stop doing live shows. And then the funniest thing happened.". The piece also highlights Bos anxieties with becoming older and his legacy as a comedian. Known as "Art is a Lie, Nothing is Real," there's a bit Burnham did at the start of his 2013 special "what." After more sung repetitions of get your fuckin hands up, Burnham says, Get up. Other than Fred Rogers, Bo Burnham is one of the most cited single individual creators when discussing parasocial relationships. Like most of Burnhams specials, it includes comedic songs and creative lighting effects. Under the movies section, there's a bubble that says "sequel to classic comedy that everyone watches and then pretends never happened" and "Thor's comebacks.". An older Burnham sits at a stool in front of a clock, and he says into a microphone that he's been working on the special for six months now. Later in Inside, Burnham thanks the audience for their support while holding them at knifepoint. Long before the phrase parasocial relationship had entered the mainstream zeitgeist, Burnhams work discussed the phenomenon. Open wide.. Thematically, it deals with the events of 2020, rising wealth inequality, racial injustice, isolation, mental health, social media, and technologys role in our lives. I've been singing that song for about a week NOW. Most creator-made content online is available for free, meaning creators usually have to rely on their fans for income via crowdfunding like Patreon. The lead-in is Burnham thanking a nonexistent audience for being there with him for the last year. The album peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 chart, #1 on the Comedy Albums chart, and #18 on the Independent Albums chart. / Are you having fun? The crowd directions are no longer stock pop song lyrics; now, the audience understands them as direct orders to them from Burnham. Gross asked Burnham if people "misinterpreted" the song and thought it was homophobic. And I think that's what you're getting here. The whole song ping pongs between Burnham's singing character describing a very surface-level, pleasant definition of the world functioning as a cohesive ecosystem and his puppet, Socko, saying that the truth is the world functions at a much darker level of power imbalance and oppression. That his special is an indictment of the internet by an artist whose career was born and flourished there is the ultimate joke. Review: Bo Burnham's 'Inside During that taping, Burnham said his favorite comic at the time was Hans Teeuwen, a "Dutch absurdist," who has a routine with a sock puppet that eats a candy bar as Teeuwen sings. begins with the question "Is it mean?" HOLMES: That was NPR's Linda Holmes reviewing Bo Burnham's new Netflix special "Inside." The title card appears in white, then changes to red, signaling that a camera is recording. Here's a little bit of that. he sings as he refers to his birth name. Down to the second, the clock changes to midnight exactly halfway through the runtime of "Inside.". But also, it's clear that there's a lot on his mind. You can stream "Inside" on Netflix now, and see our ranking of all 20 original songs from the special here. Burnham's hair is shorter in those initial behind-the-scenes moments, but his future-self has a longer, unkempt beard and messy hair. It's like the mental despair of the last year has turned into a comfort. Now we've come full circle from the start of the special, when Burnham sang about how he's been depressed and decided to try just getting up, sitting down, and going back to work. (The question is no longer, Do you want to buy Wheat Thins?, for example. The global pandemic and subsequent lockdown orders of March 2020 put a stop to these plans. It's just Burnham, his room, the depressive-sound of his song, and us watching as his distorted voice tries to convince us to join him in that darkness. Self-awareness does not absolve anybody of anything.". Let's take a closer look at just a few of those bubbles, shall we? Burnham reacts to his reaction to his reaction to his reaction, focusing so intently on his body and image that he panics, stops the videoand then smiles at his audience, thanking them for watching. Well, well, buddy you found it, now come out with your hands up we've got you surrounded.". Some of this comes through in how scenes are shot and framed: its common for the special to be filmed, projected onto Burnhams wall (or, literally, himself), and then filmed again for the audience. And they're biting, but he's also very talented at these little catchy pop hooks. While sifting through fan reactions to Inside, the YouTube algorithm suggested I watch a fan-made video that pitch corrects All Eyes on Me to Burnhams actual voice. Trying to grant his dying father's wish, a son discovers an epic love story buried in his family's distant past. HOLMES: Yeah. "Everything that once was sad is somehow funny now, the Holocaust and 9/11, that s---'s funny, 24-7, 'cause tragedy will be exclusively joked about, because my empathy iss bumming me out," he sang. The song brings with it an existential dread, but Burnham's depression-voice tells us not to worry and sink into nihilism. All rights reserved. Tell us a little bit more about that. So for our own little slice of the world, Burnham's two time spans seem to be referencing the start and end of an era in our civilization. HOLMES: I liked a bunch of the songs in this, and a lot of them are silly songs about the things that his comedy has already been concerned with for a long time, right? WebBo Burnham is more than a comedian he's a writer-director-actor who first went viral in 2006. Were complicated. He had a role in the film "Promising Young Woman." A weekly roundup of the best things from Polygon, By submitting your email, you agree to our, Bo Burnhams Inside begs for our parasocial awareness, Sign up for the Bo Burnham Now, you heard me struggling to describe what this is, so help me out. You know, I was not, you know, I was alone, but I was not trapped in one room. Get the fuck up! Burnham walks towards the camera and grabs it like hes grabbing the viewer by the throat. MARTIN: You know, about that, because it does move into a deeply serious place at some point. LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Thank you, Michel. "Trying to be funny and stuck in a room, there isn't much more to say about it," he starts in a new song after fumbling a first take. But when reading songs like Dont Wanna Know and All Eyes On Me between the lines, Inside can help audiences better identify that funny feeling when they start feeling like a creator is their friend. But before that can register, Burnham's eyes have closed and the special transitions to the uncannily catchy song "S---," bopping about how he hasn't showered in nine days or done any laundry. Some of the narrative of the show can be indulgently overheated, playing into clichs about the process of the brooding artist, but Burnham has anticipated this and other criticisms, and integrated them into the special, including the idea that drawing attention to potential flaws fixes them. As someone who has devoted time, energy, and years of research into parasocial relationships, I felt almost like this song was made for me, that Burnham and I do have so much in common. Or DM a girl and groom her, do a Zoomer, find a tumor in her HOLMES: And this is what the chorus of that song sounds like. Instead of working his muscles at open mics or in improv, Burnham uploaded joke songs to the platform in 2006. Then he moves into a new layer of reaction, where he responds to that previous comment. Bo Burnham: Inside review this is a claustrophobic masterpiece. But, of course, it tangles that right back up; this emotional post was, ultimately, still Content. Burnham spoofs a PewDiePie-like figure a YouTuber who narrates his playing of a video game with a dead-eyed smugness, as shown in an image at the bottom-right corner of the screen. My heart hurts with and for him. He puts himself on a cross using his projector, and the whole video is him exercising, like he's training for when he's inevitably "canceled.". Audiences who might not read a 1956 essay by researchers about news anchors still see much of the same discussion in Inside. Hes been addressing us the entire time. "I'm criticizing my initial reaction for being pretentious, which is honestly a defense mechanism," he says. This is when the musical numbers (and in-between skits) become much more grim. Burnham reacts to his reaction to his reaction: Im so afraid that this criticism will be levied against me that I levy it against myself before anyone else can. The video keeps going. In the song Problematic, Burnham sings about his past problematic behavior, asking the audience, Isnt anyone going to hold me accountable? The specials intermission looks like a clear view into Burnhams room, until Burnham washes a window between himself and the viewer an explicit, but invisible, boundary between creator and audience. People experiencing depression often stop doing basic self-care tasks, like showering or laundry or brushing their teeth. To save you the time freeze-framing, here's the complete message: "No pressure by the way at any point we can stop i just want to make sure ur comfortable all this and please dont feel obligated to send anything you dont want to just cuz i want things doesnt mean i should get them and its sometimes confusing because i think you enjoy it when i beg and express how much i want you but i dont ever want that to turn into you feeling pressured into doing something you don't want or feeling like youre disappointing me this is just meant to be fun and if at any point its not fun for you we can stop and im sorry if me saying this is killing the mood i just like ". BURNHAM: (Singing) The live-action "Lion King," the Pepsi halftime show, 20,000 years of this, seven more to go. WebBo Burnham: Inside is by far one of the riskiest and original comedy specials to come out in years. The structured movements of the last hour and half fall away as Burnham snaps at the audience: "Get up. The tropes he says you may find on a white woman's Instagram page are peppered with cultural appropriation ("a dreamcatcher bought from Urban Outfitters") and ignorant political takes ("a random quote from 'Lord of the Rings' misattributed to Martin Luther King"). He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. Now, five years later, Burnham's new parody song is digging even deeper at the philosophical question of whether or not it's appropriate to be creating comedy during a horrifyingly raw period of tragedy like the COVID-19 pandemic and the social reckoning that followed George Floyd's murder. His 2014 song Repeat Stuff and its music video parodies how boy bands and other corporately-owned pop stars prey on young fans desire to feel loved by writing songs with lyrics vague enough anyone can feel like it was written specifically about them. Only he knows. While talking to the audience during the opening section, Burnham takes a sip out of a water bottle. Exploring mental health decline over 2020, the constant challenges our world faces, and the struggles of life itself, Bo Burnham creates a wonderful masterpiece to explain each of these, both from general view and personal experience. Burnham's career as a young, white, male comedian has often felt distinct from his peers because of the amount of public self-reflection and acknowledgment of his own privileges that he does on stage and off screen. The song made such a splash in its insight that it earned its own episode in Shannon Struccis seminal Fake Friends documentary series, which broke down what parasocial relationships are and how they work. Bo Burnham Performing "Make Happy" was mentally taxing on Burnham. And the very format of it, as I said, it's very much this kind of sinister figure trying to get you interested. I don't think it's perfectly morally defendable.". In another scene, Burnham gives a retroactive disclaimer to discussions of his suicidal ideation by telling the audience, And if youre out there and youre struggling with suicidal thoughts and you want to kill yourself, I just wanna tell you Dont! Look Whos Inside Again is largely a song about being creative during quarantine, but ends with Now come out with your hands up, weve got you surrounded, a reflection on police violence but also being mobbed by his fans. Bo Burnham The song's melody is oddly soothing, and the lyrics are a sly manifestation of the way depression convinces you to stay in its abyss ("It's almost over, it's just begun. "Problematic" is a roller coaster of self-awareness, masochism, and parody. For all the ways Burnham had been desperate to leave the confines of his studio, now that he's able to go back out into the world (and onto a real stage), he's terrified. Bo Burnham But before that can register, Burnham's eyes have closed and the special transitions to the uncannily catchy song "S---," bopping about how he hasn't showered in nine days or done any laundry. Once he's decided he's done with the special, Burnham brings back all the motifs from the earlier songs into "Goodbye," his finale of this musical movie. The song begins with a fade in from back, the shot painfully close to Burnhams face as he looks off to the side. Just wanted to make sure everybody knew about Bo's comedy special transcripts on Scraps. Instead of a live performance, he's recorded himself in isolation over the course of a year. So we broke down each song and sketch and analyzed their meaning and context. that shows this exact meta style. The penultimate song "All Eyes on Me" makes for a particularly powerful moment. In a giddy homage to Cabaret, Burnham, in sunglasses, plays the M.C. Come and watch the skinny kid with a / Steadily declining mental health, and laugh as he attempts / To give you what he cannot give himself. Like Struccis Fake Friends documentary, this song is highlighted in Anuska Dhars video essay, Bo Burnham and the Trap of Parasocial Self-Awareness. Burnhams work consistently addresses his relationship with his audience, the ways he navigates those parasocial relationships, and how easy they can be to exploit. WebBo Burnham's Netflix special "Inside" features 20 new original songs. It's so good to hear your voice. He brushes his teeth, eats a bowl of cereal, and begins editing his videos. In Inside, Burnham confronts parasocial relationships in his most direct way yet. At various points, the gamer is given the option to make the character cry. It's full circle from the start of the special, when Burnham sang about how he's been depressed and decided to try just getting up, sitting down, and going back to work. Bo True, but it can deepen and clarify art. It has extended versions of songs, cut songs, and alternate versions of songs that were eventually deleted; but is mainly comprised of outtakes. Bo Burnham I got better. Bo Burnham Its a feat, the work of a gifted experimentalist whose craft has caught up to his talent. Burnham watching the end of his special on a projector also brings the poioumenon full circle the artist has finished their work and is showing you the end of the process it took to create it. Fifteen years later, Burnham found himself sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic and decided to sit back down at his piano and see if he could once again entertain the world from the claustrophobic confines of a single room. Depression acts like an outside force, one that is rather adept at convincing our minds to simply stay in bed, to not care, and to not try anymore. As we explained in this breakdown of 31 details you might have missed in "Inside," Bo Burnham's newest special is a poioumenon a type of artistic work that tells the story of its own creation. ", And last but not least, for social media he put "sexually pranking unsuspecting women at public beaches" and "psychologically abusive parents making rube goldberg machines" alongside "white people using GIFs of Black people widening their eyes.".

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