*Despite achieving viral status online and in social media, the “Why You Always Lying” video is not getting any love from a member of the group whose hit song inspired it.
The hit song in question is “Too Close” by Next. The Next member beefing with the video is the group’s former lead singer Robert Lavelle Huggar, a.k.a., RL, who opened up about having mixed feelings on “Why You Always Lying.”
“Vlad asked me to make a video to make light of it and I did it reluctantly because I am going to be honest: I don’t know how I feel about it,” RL revealed during a recent interview on the You Know You Got Soul podcast. You are making a parody of my life’s work. And on one end, I don’t want to be a stickler and, you know, seem like I am bitter or anything. But you are kind of making a parody of something that I really worked hard with. It is something that I continue to get residuals from and you know, it is part of my identity…I promise you, people will send me different languages and like, ‘Did you see this?’ And I’m like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ I try to make light of it but it is getting to the point of overkill.”
Since it surfaced, the “Why You Always Lying” video has been viewed more than 11 million times. The tune, according to MadameNoire, is just a snippet of a longer parody song written and performed by 21-year-old Nicholas Fraser.
The Guardian UK notes that Fraser wrote “Why You Always Lying” “in response to people fake bragging about buying a bunch of products.”
While a case could be made for “Why You Always Lying” exposing a new set of music lovers to “Too Close” and Next as well as RL being among the first to parody the parody, that doesn’t do much for the singer, who admits the “Why You Always Lying” video has become the bane of his existence:
“I always give props to anyone that is creative, that is doing something funny,” RL said. “And I know on the Internet you don’t really have to have much talent or anything to get a bunch of followers or to get something that becomes a meme or whatever. But you know, more power to the guy. God Bless him. But for me, this is my life. This isn’t a hobby; this is something that I do. So I try to make light of it as best as I can…I try to respond to a bunch of people on Instagram and read a bunch of messages that I can. But it is to the point that I don’t even want to read any of the messages cause all of them are just tags about different videos that I have seen a million times. It was never funny to me and now it is to the point that is really frustrating to be honest.”
So what say you? Considering his reasons for not liking the “Why You Always Lying” video/vine, do you think RL has a point with it being a negative look on the song he and Next are best known for and had a big hand in the success the group experienced in its heyday or is he just taking this a little too seriously?
Weigh in below with your thoughts.
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