An American performed a cover version of Vitas' hit "The Seventh Element"

There are plenty of covers of well-known songs to be found on the internet, but what do you think of the unusual approach of American music's blogger Andre Antuneswho performed a song by Russian musician and composer Vitas "The 7th Element.". The song itself was not a success on television back in 2001, but no one knew what was in store for the song next. We offer to understand how the composition became popular on the Internet and how the cover-version of the American guitarist gained the over a million Views.

How Vitas' "7th Element" became super popular and exploded into memes online

At the origin of the popularity of this song online is one of the users of the video hosting YouTube, who posted a original performance by Vitas on "Blue Light" in 2001. After a while, the video went viral on Western social networks, where users ridiculed the song and its artist. After that Vitas was called Russian Mr Trololo.

Various hilarious videos - from joke covers to drawn cartoons - began appearing on YouTube, while other social media sites were gaining popularity memes featuring the song "Seventh Element" - that's how Vitas' forgotten song from 2001 became a popular meme in 2015.

Popularity in China

While Vitas has not been heard of in Russia for quite a long time, in China he is is still popular today. His Chinese fans were mesmerised by the singer's high and magical voice back in 2006: he made his Chinese stage debut on the set of a programme on China Central Television, where he sang the imperishable hit – "Opera No. 2.". A year later the musician came on tour, and since then the Chinese community has been fond of the . "the boy with the gills.".

Vitas now tours China every year in autumn and winter, and the number of subscribers on the internet forum dedicated to him is only growing.

The "7th Element" and "Opera No. 2" singer's popularity in China has reached the point where Vitas has been honoured with a role in the Chinese film adaptation of the film "Mulan.".

Brief Biography of Vitas

Vitaly Vladasovich Grachev - aka Vitas - was born in Daugavpils, Latvian SSR, and later moved with his family to Odessa. He studied at a music school for three years accordionand later worked in plastic and voice parody theatre.

Vitas's career took off when he arrived in Moscow. In December 2000. debuted as a musician - his song "Opera No. 2", sung in falsetto, gathered a lot of speculation around the singer. Even more excitement in Russian pop culture was brought by his clip to this song, where Vitas appeared before the audience as a hybrid of a man and a fish with gills, playing a accordion and handing out flyers in support of mermaids.

Particular attention was paid to his vocal data: many believed that Vitas was a commercial project, standing out for his epatage more than his vocals. However, this did not invalidate successes a singer on stage.

After that, the musician made several solo programmes and performed on tour, but such sensational songs as his "Opera No. 2", the singer wrote already failed. He was gaining some grits of fame thanks to scandalous incidents in 2013. However, it was only in 2015 that his popularity increased againthanks to his song "The 7th Element," which became an Internet meme.

Vitas at a festival in Belgium

In 2019, Vitas was invited to perform as a special guest at the Belgian the Tomorrowland festival. The singer appeared during a set by Australian DJ Timmy Trumpet. The crowd of thousands roared and cheered when Vitas, who has already become a famous meme, appeared in the exact same suit he wore in the viral video. But to be honest, after changing from an alien image to a representative suit, the singer's appearance was an extremely amusing reference to his debut image.

The story behind the song "7th Element" and the album "Philosophy of Wonder"

"The Philosophy of Miracle." - Vitas' debut studio album, released in 2001. The album includes a total of 13 tracks; the music for all of them, except for the song "Prelude", was composed by Vitas. The song "Opera No. 2" became singlewhich won the Record Award as the best-selling single from 2001 to 2003.

The album became widely known in 2015, thanks to the earlier prominence of tracks such as "Seventh Element" and "Opera No. 2". In China, the album sold approx. 3.5 million copies. The album was also recorded with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and many other musicians.

Several songs from this album were included in Vitas's concert programmes "Opera No..." and "Philosophy of Miracle or Smile!", the latter bringing him the record as the youngest artist to perform in the State Kremlin Palace.

One of the most mysterious Vitas songs is "Seventh Element". Users are still lost in speculation: some people consider this song to be the supreme absurditywhich the singer gave us is not for reflection and depth, but for relaxation and a sense of true joy, others believe that the track has a more deep meaningOthers are convinced of the magical underpinnings of the song, which is as if it were trance. But no matter how many opinions there are on the subject, one thing is clear: "Seventh Element" is a song that immerses a person in himself, no matter what meanings he discerns in it.

American bloggers' reactions

In the West, "The Seventh Element" was taken as seriously as can be taken: first, countless parodies of it appeared, one YouTube user made a ten-hour version with the song. In 2016, "Reaction Time" was released on Reaction Time. reaction to "Strange Russian Singer", and there have been numerous remixes of Vitas' performance since.

Some bloggers have taken a very different take on this song, making it a real track for jazz nights and turning it from a meme into a relaxing and modern composition.

Andre Antunes is a metal man with a guitar in YouTube

YouTube blogger Andre Antunes - a man who does really cool things with a guitar and viral internet videos. A close look at his channel can tell you that Andre is a musician who can make a good track in the genre from a meme of metal or punkand doing it in a way that's also funny.

Throughout the channel's existence, the author has been making music content ranging from live performances with his trousers changing while playing guitar to videos of some of the best known solo in the history of Daft Punk rock. Andre is also involved in the production of own trackshe releases clips for which he releases on his channel.

About a year ago on his channel began to appear clips in which the guitarist plays along on the electric guitar to viral videos from the Internet. In the category of such content was a video where the musician made a cover version to Vitas' "The Seventh Element" in an interesting arrangement.

A cover version of the "7th" element in Smooth Jazz

About 4 years ago, another cover of a Vitas song appeared on Andre Antunes' channel "The Seventh Element.". However, this cover made me re-listen to this song again and again - it looks so softened against the background of the original. There's a reason why it's so softened - the Smooth Jazz direction in which the American guitarist performed the Internet hit translates as "Smooth Jazz". "soft jazz".

If the original sound of the song makes you want to dance and try to sing like Vitas does, then Andre's version is different - when you listen to it, you immerse yourself in it into the jazz atmosphereand you immediately want to sit in a chair, sipping mulled wine. The light strumming of guitar strings plunges you into a home atmosphere, while the original brings you more into an unearthly trance. Both the cover and the original are good in their own way; each of them has its own soul and message, and this is the version you'll want to listen to more often only your heart will decide.