Sir Mashalot Releases 7th Song Based Off of Viral 6-Song Mashup
On November 4th, 2014, a songwriter working under the name Sir Mashalot uploaded a video to YouTube that took six of the current pop country songs and mashed them up to illustrate the similarity between the songs. The mashup didn’t receive a lot of attention at first—maybe about 400 views—until Saving Country Music posted a story about it on January 7th, 2015. Next thing you knew, the mashup was going super-viral, receiving over 4,800,000 views on YouTube alone, not counting Facebook versions of the video. USA Today, Time, NPR, and 60+ more media outlets all covered the mashup in one capacity or another before all was said and done.
“My inspiration started when I heard Parmalee’s ‘Close Your Eyes’ several months ago,” said Sir Mashalot. “During the chorus, I started realizing it had an almost identical melody/music bed as Blake Shelton’s ‘Sure Be Cool If You Did.’ So I imported them into Pro Tools, tweaked the key and tempo to line them up, and wahlah- turned out they really were the same song!….Then, while driving in my car over the next couple of weeks, I started hearing one song after another which I was certain would fit perfectly into the original mashup,” Sir Mashalot continues. “First ‘Chillin’ It,’ then ‘Drunk On You,’ then ‘This is How We Roll,’ and finally ‘Ready, Set, Roll.’ Each time I heard one, I would race home to plug it into the original pro tools session and yep, another perfect fit.”
As part of the original mashup, Sir Mashalot (aka Greg Todd) told us that a new song taking the same mashup formula and imprinting it onto an original song was in the works, thus proving the formula could be implemented on virtually any song idea using the same tempo, same key, and same structure. Now Greg Todd has released the 7th song to the mashup called “Even Better.”
“The video intro basically explains the gist,” he says. “The song structure and chord progression are identical with the exception of the opening chord of the verse 1. Tempo’s the same (150bpm). Key is the same (D#). The only thing that differs is a little lighter of the rock guitars and a lyrical departure in that ‘Even Better’ is about an enduring love between a husband and wife.”
Sir Mashalot got by with a little help from his friends on the new track. The singer is Paul Scott—a singer who has done work on many other demo tracks, Gary Ishee is on guitar, and Dave Francis plays bass. The video was made through iMovie, which Sir Mashalot explains was a fairly excruciating process, and one of the reasons the 7th song took so long to finish.
Who knows, maybe “Even Better” will go super-viral too and turn into a country radio hit. Have a listen for yourself:
SIr Mashalot: 7th Song To Mind-Blowing Six Song Country Mashup: “Even Better”At long last, here it is, folks- my original 7th Song to my Country Mashup. If you dig it, share it. And if you hate it, I still love you anyway. Special thanks to Paul Scott on Vox, Gary Ishee on Guitar, and Dave Francis on Bass. iTunes Download: http://apple.co/1LfQVfA
Posted by Sir Mashalot on Wednesday, June 17, 2015
June 17, 2015 @ 6:16 pm
It’s like stuffing 7 pounds of shit into a sock. Impressive, yet awful.
June 17, 2015 @ 6:45 pm
the furst wuns wun of my faverett songs. an I no its off topict but steev earl shud reely apaulajize to tom wates an all of us for that abomination of a cover of the theme song from the wire tv show. aww well hell I dont no. role tide.
June 17, 2015 @ 8:25 pm
Cum on lil dale u shud no how 2 spel abomanashun u droped owt uv dusch talc haf wa thru thats y ime dokter dume i kan speke dusch talc beter then enibodi sory 2 rane on yer paraid but ime eval lyk that bi lil dale yer funy talc maks me laf n that taks alot
June 17, 2015 @ 6:55 pm
“Key is the same (D#).”
Eb actually…there’s no KEY of D#…just sayin’…
June 17, 2015 @ 8:10 pm
Eb and D# are the same thing, so it doesn’t really matter.
June 17, 2015 @ 8:24 pm
They make the same sound, they are not the same thing. Kinda like Kale or Cale.
Something can’t be chalk full of nuts, and you can’t write with chock.
June 17, 2015 @ 8:34 pm
That’s what I get for playing saxophone before everything else. Sharps are a lot more common than flats on the sax, which is the opposite of most instruments, so I just turned Eb into D# because it was easier to think of. Except I turned A# into Bb because Bb is more common. I know that’s irrelevant, but that’s just why I think of it wrong:)
June 17, 2015 @ 8:40 pm
It’s easy to do. Especially if you’re self-taught. I did it myself when I was younger. Just easier to pick one. Took years to break myself out of the habit. 😀
June 17, 2015 @ 7:03 pm
I think the lyrics on this one are kinda sweet, but the music couldn’t be more watered-down and by-the-numbers.
June 17, 2015 @ 9:38 pm
The new song is better than anything and more country than anything on radio right now. It would be awesome if it weren’t so scary that it is so easy to do. I can make MILLIONS… if I just drop my integrity.
June 17, 2015 @ 10:49 pm
Not sure I get the point . Its a given that there are about eleventy-hundred songs that sound exactly like this musically , have the same lyric content , the same instrumentation , the same weak vocals, etc.. . So now there are eleventy-hundred and one ? We already know that anybody can do this because pretty much everybody HAS done it . If the ultimate point is that labels will be interested and won’t care if its the same as all the others , then I’m not interested in the exercise or the outcome .
June 18, 2015 @ 9:27 am
I think what should be highlighted is the number of songwriters actually getting cuts has dropped so dramatically it is scary. I cant speak for album cuts which may be a bit more diverse, but right now you seem to have 12 or so songwriters who are responsible for pretty much every song on the radio. So instead of having this talented pool to dip from for songs, you have 12 somewhat talented people who are just mailing it in until their formula stops working. It just sucks.
June 18, 2015 @ 1:06 pm
“So instead of having this talented pool to dip from for songs, you have 12 somewhat talented people who are just mailing it in until their formula stops working. It just sucks.”
” Somewhat ” talented people is pretty accurate. More like talented mimics . Up and coming writers will be conditioned to believe that this is how a good song is written because nothing much better hits radio anymore . Hence a far lower standard for writing based on generic music , lyric, arrangement , groove and vocal styling . Garth once said that songs should just be a chorus repeated 5 or 6 times …that’s what cont. country radio sounded like to him . He hated that intros were being cut ( now many solos are cut or shortened ). The man seems to have a point .
June 18, 2015 @ 9:41 pm
This was the #1 country song of 1989, the year that Garth had his first hit as well:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/a-better-man-lyrics-clint-black.html
Note the two thick verses that precede the first chorus. Country music used to be distinguished by the strength of the verses (where the meat of the storytelling used to lie), and now the verses are just filler used for checking off a list of country-isms.
June 18, 2015 @ 11:06 am
shouldn’t the oldest song be considered the original, so technically it didn’t really copy anything right?
June 18, 2015 @ 12:05 pm
Interesting point, but which one was the original? They all sort of grew out of each other and a sort of derivative approach to songwriting that used a formula to fabricate a hit to begin with.
June 18, 2015 @ 8:21 pm
wow that was clever for mixing the 6 bad songs that almost sound a like.
June 18, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
The greatest prank ever pulled will be when Sir Mashalot is revealed to be Cole Swindell.