In its annual tradition since 2011, Youtube has released this year's "Year in Review" video, wisely titled "Now Watch Me 2015." Taking YouTubers from across the globe, filming in Los Angeles, Mexico, New York, London, and a few other places, the six-minute video sums up all the biggest videos, trends, and songs from the past year with the biggest YouTube stars. The remix for the video was created by Avicii, of "Levels" fame. This year's video also recreated some of the biggest videos of the past 10 years in honor of YouTube's 10th anniversary this year. Let's look at the highlights from the video, and therefore, the year.
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We're first introduced to the x-ray machine, which becomes a reoccurring transition during the video. This is in honor of one of the top 10 most popular videos, in which the Ad Council used one to show that love has no labels. The rainbow wall is meant to be a representation of same-sex marriage becoming legal in the U.S. The ball pit is a reference to another top 10 video in which a dad turned his house into a gigantic ball pit. From there, we jump to the beach scene. This scene is more just for fun, although it can be argued the outfits are chosen to represent the Coachella vibe.
The next scene is a reference to a set of videos that have blown up with the past year, with the theme "A Century of _____". There has been one with male fashion, one with female fashion, and even one with wedding gowns. And as you can tell by the song, it is also the scene where they're openly performing the Whip and the Nae Nae.
Jumping out of the building, we're taken to a scene in the middle of nowhere with a bus full of people. This is one isn't a reference to a video, but a movie. "Mad Max Fury Road" was one of the biggest movies of the year, having people drive around in crazy vehicles, and this part totally nails that. The guy in the shark costume is a reference to the infamous Left Shark craze from Katy Perry's Super Bowl performance. James Corden and Grace Helbig are there to represent James' series of videos involving singing with celebrities in the car as they drive around, though this could also represent the cop who was lip syncing "Shake it Off." Lastly, the marriage proposal is a reference to Dean Smith, the man who secretly proposed to his girlfriend every day for a year.
We then see a bunch of people in front of a green screen screaming, which is a reference to Shia LaBouf's "Just Do It" video, some in different languages to incorporate YouTubers from around the globe.
As we're jumping to a new bit, some creepy music starts playing, as a nice tribute to arguably the most successful game series of the year, "Five Nights at Freddie's." The scenery around this bit is more just a general reference to the trend of playing popular horror games and reacting to them. You have zombies, a creepy hallway, and an animatronic bear. You also can see a reference to pizza rat in this bit.
Once the two get scared, we hop into what looks like an underground fight club. This bit has three things it references: The "Elastic Heart" music video by Sia, the popularity of Jimmy Fallon's Lip Sync Battle segment, and #thedress, as one team is blue and black, and the other is white and gold.
After the mini dance battle, the scene takes us to a gigantic board, that even someone who watches very little YouTube can recognize as a play on the "Back to the Future" board in the Delorean. This is the part of the video that is reference to older trends or viral videos in honor of YouTube's 10th anniversary. The list goes: Ice Bucket Challenge, Jean-Claude Van Damme doing a split between two trucks, Felix Baumgartner's Jump from Space, "Friday" by Rebecca Black, Double Rainbow, "I'm On A Boat" by The Lonely Island, JK Wedding Dance, Charlie Bit My Finger, Coke and Mentos, and Evolution of Dance.
And lastly, the credits are a reference to the infamous "Hotline Bling" video, since they were unable to use the song in the video because it blew up after they finished filming most of the video.
And those were the biggest trends or videos of the year! I'm surprised "Star Wars" did not make it into the video, but there's always next year's rewind for that. I'm interested to see what else was popular in 2015 as the year winds down!
