Doja x Calabria - Bryce - The song and trending TikTok of 2020

Who is the author of the mashup called "Doja x Calabria" that went viral in Tik Tok 2020? Before shedding light on the identity of the author of this cool mashup, it's worth clarifying what the mashup itself is!

Mashup means "mixing of compositions". It is a new piece of music that consists of several existing compositions. It is worth remembering that a mashup is not a cover, and the two should not be confused! It is recorded in the studio: you take one composition and overlay it on top of another, while adjusting the tempo to the same one. The parts of the songs should be combined and complement each other. Over time (starting from the noughties) mashups have become their own genre of dance music and any other electronic music! Today they are usually recorded during a live concert. But there are exceptions to the rules....

Creator of the 2020 Hit

The author of the much hyped Doja x Calabria mashup is a TikTok user himself, one Bryce. On 14 September 2020, the guy uploaded his first work on TikTok. Yes, yes, the musician chose this very platform as a promotion. And rightly so! After all, the daily audience of TikTok 600 million people (as of 2020), and it continues to grow!!!!

The guy (bryceyouloser is his nickname) doesn't have a super big audience yet (as of early November 2020), with only 55k subscribers. But judging by the success of the mashup, he has a great future, as this is his first published video!

https://www.tiktok.com/@bryceyouloser/video/6872158683594247430

Way to go, Bruce! To better understand the meaning of the trend, we suggest to remember the history of each track separately!

The Story of the Making of Calabria (2003) and Destination Calabria (2006)

"Calabria" (means the name of a southern region of Italy) is a composition by Rune Reilly Kölsch, a famous Danish Dj and producer. The track was released in 2003 by Credence.

It was originally intended as an instrumental, but was later re-released in 2007: this time Rune remixed the dance beats in a more modern way, and also added vocals! Danish reggae singer Natasha Saad was chosen to play the vocalist role! This reggae fusion version was called "Calabria 2007" and became a huge success all over the world! The remix was especially warmly received in the United States....

Soon after its re-release, "Calabria 2007" became a major hit in every club without exception! Eventually it entered the Top-40 dance tracks of the biggest radio stations! As for the "100 Best Songs of 2007" ranking, the composition was on the 80th line...

A little later, in late 2007 and early 2008, Calabria 2007 gained popularity on television, largely due to the adverts, where it was widely distributed.

It's worth noting that worldwide success came to the track after DJ group Nari & Milani used the instrumental to create a mashup with Alex Gaudino and Crystal Waters! What did they come up with? - We think everyone remembers this 2006 bestseller... But we'd better refresh our memory!

A bit about Alex Gaudino's Destination Calabria ...

"Destination Calabria" is a composition by Italian producer Alex Gaudino. The vocals belong to American house singer Crystal Waters. The track became the first single and a major hit in 2006 from the producer's debut album titled My Destination!

"Destination Calabria" was released on 4 December 2006 as a 12-inch single by the Rise Records label. The track was later released on compact disc by Data Records.

The track itself is a mashup that harmoniously combines the instrumental from Rune's "Calabria" with Crystal Waters' vocals from "Destination Unknown" (2003). The highlight that turned the track into a smash hit is the gorgeous saxophone riff borrowed from Rune's Reilly Kölsch....

The single was a huge success in a number of countries around the world, including France, Spain and the UK! A colourful music video was soon made for it:

The music video was directed by Ehren Creevey. In the story, eight dancers (including Natasha Payne and Jessica Fox), wearing sexy green marching band costumes, seductively play various instruments and dance! In some scenes, it would seem that we may see hundreds of dancers! But in fact, it's still the same original eight dancers, repeatedly reproduced using digital images... Waters herself was not involved in the filming.

Doja Cat - Boss B*tch (2020)

Now let's move on to a more recent "ingredient" of the mashup! Let's talk about the song "Boss B*tch" by the singer Doja Cat....

This track literally tore up the music charts in 2020! Dynamic, brash, bold - this single can rightfully claim the title of "the most powerful hit of the passing year!" "Boss B*tch" is a speedy record, with layers of synths and bells... The song's lyric is addressed to the heroine's haters.

"Boss B*tch" was also a major breakthrough for American singer and rapper Doja Cat. The song received warm and very positive reviews from critics! For example, one Patrick Johnson from Hypebeast commented on Doja's performance as "radiating confidence and anti-artistic swagger of the main character in the film Harley Quinn"! What does this have to do with the supervillain from the "Batman" animated series? It's simple: the song "Boss B*tch" became the soundtrack to the film "Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)"! You only have to watch at least a clip of it to be convinced....

The music video saw the light of day in January 2020. The clip consists of previously unseen footage from the film. Doja Cat herself, in the guise of a comic book heroine, fights off enemies and dances with Harley Quinn! The scenes featuring the singer were filmed by Jack Bergert.

In the summer of 2020, "Boss B*tch" was named the best song of the year! It also entered the Billboard Top 30.

Nicki Minaj - Super Bass (2011)

Bruce's mashup also includes the song "Super Bass" by American rap singer Nicki Minaj! This song was released in 2011, as part of the Pink Friday album.

In her interview while shooting the music video for the track, Nicki explained the meaning behind it... According to the singer, "Super Bass" is a flirty romantic story between a man and a woman:

"This song is about an affair, a flirtatious flirtation... A woman takes a playful approach to a man..."

The track features electronic music and shades of pop. At the same time Nicky herself raps in hip-hop style, appropriately adding J-pop elements in fusion with the uplifting mood of the performance! There's a tense rhythm here, which is successfully emphasised by the strong bass....

The track received a lot of positive reviews from critics! The song quickly reached the 3rd position on the Billboard Hot 100, and also conquered the charts in New Zealand, Australia and Canada!

4 years after its release, the "Super Bass" record has already sold out (or rather to say, downloaded by the user) more than 5 million copies!

Now for the trend itself

On 24 October 2020, the most popular ticktocker Charlie (charlidamelio) picked up the viral trend. By the way: the video where she dances to the so-called "collaboration" of the forgotten Calabria and the hit of the rising star Doja Cat has gained 8 million likes, more than 200 reposts and about a hundred reviews from the admiring public!

https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio/video/6886940164170517766

Charlie was followed by thousands of other ticktockers! So far, over 275k videos have been made to the sound of Doja x Calabria - Bryce!

On the same day (24 October), the YouTube channel "Oscar Kip" published a cool video consisting of cuts - short clips taken from the TikTok platform. Of course, it is unpopular, but since it conveys the essence of the trend perfectly, we will show it to you... In these cliffy videos we see guys and girls performing incendiary dance moves, bouncing energetically and gesticulating their hands like first-class "dancers"!

These uncomplicated dance moves started gaining a lot of popularity on the vastness of TikTok after the popularisation of the "Doja x Calabria - Bryce" mashup!