Viral Nostalgia

January 19, 2022

A song came up in the Music League I’m in at work that I hadn’t heard in a while: Marry You. I noticed the artist and thought to myself: Huh, looks like Bruno Mars did a cover of this song?

Reader, a confession. I had no idea that this song was originally by Bruno Mars. The only time I think I’d heard this song before was through a viral video from ages ago, where someone used it as part of an actual marriage proposal.

So I found this to be a fascinating moment: I knew the song through a meme, and not on its own merits. And in fact had no association at all with the original artist, as the song to me just evokes a slowly moving car down a street in suburban Portland.

Thinking more on it, I’m sure that this song has been used a gazillion times by now, flash mob upon flash mob over the years. But this particular performance still stands out to me, after all this time.

It’s been delightful to revisit this video, and I’m surprised that it was posted nearly a decade ago. If you haven’t seen it before, you’re in for a treat.

How strange, to experience nostalgia for a viral Internet video. I feel like need to find some TikTok influencers, and tell them about how we used to do flash mobs back in my day…

// Edit:

Oh, and hey look – thanks to the Internet (again), here’s the happily married couple’s first dance, from their wedding: