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In 1972, an Italian singer wrote a hit song with English-sounding gibberish and it's so trippy

Seriously, this might be the catchiest 2 minutes of utter nonsense ever recorded.

Sometimes it seems like social media is too full of trolls and misinformation to justify its continued existence, but then something comes along that makes it all worth it.

Apparently, a song many of us have never heard of shot to the top of the charts in Italy in 1972 for the most intriguing reason. The song, written and performed by Adriano Celentano and is called "Prisencolinensinainciusol" which means...well, nothing. It's gibberish. In fact, the entire song is nonsense lyrics made to sound like English, and oddly, it does.

Occasionally, you can hear what sounds like a real word or phrase here and there—"eyes" and "color balls died" and "alright" a few times, for example—but it mostly just sounds like English without actually being English. It's like an auditory illusion and it does some super trippy things to your brain to listen to it.

Plus the video someone shared to go with it is fantastic. It's gone crazy viral because how could it not.


And if you thought that video was something, check out another one of the same song by the same singer. Why are there two videos? Who knows. But this is truly one of the most 1970s things that has ever happened.

Adriano Celentano - Prisencolinensinainciusolwww.youtube.com

Wow, right?

In a 2012 interview on NPR's All Things Considered, Celentano explained how the silly pop song came about.

"Ever since I started singing, I was very influenced by American music and everything Americans did," he told Guy Raz, through interpreter Sim Smiley.

"So at a certain point, because I like American slang—which, for a singer, is much easier to sing than Italian—I thought that I would write a song which would only have as its theme the inability to communicate," he said. "And to do this, I had to write a song where the lyrics didn't mean anything."

In fact, Celentano didn't even write down any lyrics for the song at first, but just improvised the sounds. And people didn't appear to care. "Prisencolinensinainciusol" reached number one on the charts not only in Italy, but also in France, Germany, and Belgium.

Celentano's ability to sound like he's singing in English without actually saying anything in English is pretty impressive. Especially when you hear him sing in Italian, like this:

Adriano Celentano - L'emozione non ha voce - Official Video (With Lyrics/Parole in descrizione)www.youtube.com

Languages are fun. And funky. And frustrating when you don't understand them. Celentano was purposefully making a point with "Prisencolinensinainciusol" to break down language barriers and inspire people to communicate more. Whether he succeeded in doing that or not, it sure is entertaining to see him try.


This article originally appeared on 12.1.20

Sometimes a person opens their mouth to sing, and magic happens. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what qualities make a voice transcend the average and transfix an audience, but we know it when we hear it.

Enter Shawn Louisiana.

A video of him singing in a barbershop has gone viral and it's definitely worth a watch. He wrote on YouTube, "The older guy didn't think I could pull off a Sam Cooke song," but when he started singing "A Change is Gonna Come," he definitely proved that he could. Really well. Like, whoa.

Watch:


The older guy didn't think I could pull off a Sam Cooke song #achangegonnacomewww.youtube.com

There's a reason that video has gotten nearly 7 million views on TikTok alone.

Louisiana frequently shares videos of himself just singing casually for the camera, and I don't understand why this man's talent is not more well known yet.

I mean, just listen to this "Stand By Me" cover. Like butter. Sing me to sleep, sir.

Stand By Me - Ben E. King cover #tiktokwww.youtube.com

His Instagram account says he's available to book for weddings. That's nice, but someone please get this man a record deal so we can listen to him croon all day.

For more from Shawn Louisiana, follow him on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Sheena Melwani is a media artist and singer who has made a name for herself not only with her musical talent, but because her "Indian dad" is freaking hilarious.

Melwani shares videos on TikTok of her playing piano and singing popular songs, only to be interrupted by "dad" making commentary on what she's singing. Melwani can never make it through a whole song without busting up laughing over her father's interjections, and who can blame her? He's like a sitcom character come to life.


Anyone who has a snarky parent will delight in the playful roasts this dad foists upon his daughter. He's even coined some classic dad hashtags like #closethewindows. Just watch:





Melwani told Upworthy that she's been overwhelmed by the positive responses to her dad roast videos, and that she gets messages daily from people—COVID patients, people with depression and more—who tell her how much the videos have helped lift their spirits. "They're holding it like light and laughter and love, and this is what people have been looking for," she says. "It just promotes so much happiness."

She says she's really not a huge social media person at all outside of her work, and she only joined TikTok because her brother encouraged her to. When she started sharing the dad videos on TikTok, she had just 14 followers, then it just exploded. She posts a video every day now to her nearly 700,000 followers, in addition to posting dad videos and other content on Instagram. She's planning on releasing an album of her music (sans dad commentary) this fall, but has no plans to stop making people laugh with her "Indian dad" videos.

In her TikTok videos, the dad is off camera, and his true identity remains a mystery. But you can follow him on TikTok here as well. Melwani says that he adlibs all of the commentary in the videos and she has no idea what's coming, so that infectious laughter is real.

Thanks for bringing us all some much-needed joy, Sheena and Indian dad!

Instagram / Cheryl

Madame Tussauds in London houses a veritable zoo of lifelike waxworks of the influential and famous. Being enshrined in wax at Madame Tussauds is a sign that you made it. Being removed from the museum… not so much.

The waxy likeness of former Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Cole (who now just goes by Cheryl) was taken out of the famed museum. One of the metrics Madame Tussauds uses to determine the fate of a statue is if people are taking selfies with it. Unfortunately, people weren't posing with Cheryl as much as they used to, and the museum decided to axe the wax. This is the 21st century where much of our fate is determined by Instagram.

When wax mannequin Cheryl first went on display in 2010, she was a popular attraction. The figure was even updated a few times to reflect the changes in the singer's appearance. In 2014, her tiara and glittery red gown was swapped out for a glittery gold top and black pants. Her loose waves were styled into an updo, and they added replicas of the rings Cheryl's ex-husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini gave her.


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Cheryl is still relatively obscure in the states, but she was a huge star in Britain in the 2000s. She was part of the popular girl group Girls Aloud, and she became the first British female solo artist to have five number-one singles. Up until 2018, she also held the record for the British female solo artist with the most number-one singles in the U.K. She was even a judge on the "X Factor." So, yeah. She was a big deal.

Recently, her singles haven't been doing well on the charts, and L'Oreal ended their nine-year contract with Cheryl. Then, Madam Tussauds decided to stop displaying her waxwork.

"Our Cheryl figure is currently being stored in the London archives," a representative of Madam Tussauds told the Sun. "This isn't uncommon for our figures, as from time to time we do change who we have in the attraction. We are constantly reviewing our collection of figures to best represent what our visitors want to see."

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To add insult on injury, replicas of her former fellow "X Factor" judges are still on display in the museum. Likenesses of Simon Cowell, Sharon Osbourne, and Louis Walsh reside in the halls of Madam Tussauds. A likeness of her ex-boyfriend, One Direction singer Liam Payne, lives there as well.

It's hard not to feel like this is one big metaphor for the 21st century. You can be a record holding powerhouse, but if you're not getting social media attention, it's time to pack you up and put you in storage.