Screen grab from Micah Tyler’s “You’ve Gotta Love Millennials”
It’s time for Antiviral! A new segment where I tear apart and dissect a video, meme or photo that has currently gone viral over the interwebs all the while sharing it and getting it more attention, because us millennials sure do love irony. Am I right?
Today I bring to you singer/songwriter/worship leader/Texan Micah Tyler and his parody of one of the few Beatles songs that people would like to forget about, “Obla Di Obla Da”. Tyler’s version is titled “You’ve Gotta Love Millennials”. Let me start by saying that the dude has a decent voice and even though a capella falls somewhere between Barry Manilow and aggressive inline on the “cool scale,” his one-man attempt at Pentatonix-ness is somewhat admirable.
Moving on though. It probably isn’t hard for you to guess what “You’ve Gotta Love Millennials” is about and if you’re a Gen X-er, please do ask your kid to look it up for you on “The YouTube”, so you aren’t left in the dark. Many people (more than likely your parents) think the song is a real hoot and they are sharing it all over Facebook…somewhere in between the missing person alert from the local news that they shared and the frozen broccoli recall….that they also shared from the local news. I mean it’s, yet another hilarious rip on the crappy generation they raised, how can they resist right?
For starters, Micah Tyler takes on the dude at the coffee shop and, of course, he has a man bun and facial hair (haven’t heard that one before, right?). “Somehow he believes although he has no job, that by his thirties he will be a millionaire,” croons Tyler. Whoa! Burn alert! Calling out millennials for being lazy dreamers with questionable grooming techniques? Hot damn, the originality of the material is killing me!
Let’s be fair though, you may say, “If the shoe fits…” Well, I am not sure about the rest of you, but I am just surrounded by go-getters. Despite more people and less jobs for Millennials, it still seems like a good portion of people my age are actually holding down multiple jobs. They work as many hours as they can get. Doing whatever is available all the while going to school, so that they can pay rent on their studio that they share with two other people.
Next comes the dig at the female Millennial. I will give you three guesses at what Micah Tyler calls her out for. Did you guess selfies and yoga pants? Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! How’d you ever guess that? In this verse it is pointed out that said female hopes to “take over the world” armed with her knowledge of essential oils. God forbid she get a job by building her own business.
When Tyler hits the bridge, this is where he really kicks it into high gear belting, “27 years old trying to make it on their own/Maybe start by leaving your parents’ home.” Followed by, “Criticism isn’t easy for their ears/they feel like they know most everything/See they grew up with undeserved confidence/’cause they got trophies just for participating.”
Aw, yes, the participation trophy joke. Who has Millennial BINGO yet? Which generation was it again who decided we were all special and needed those trophies?
For the grand finale, Micah Tyler horrifies us all with the realization that in a few years, although, let’s be honest, it is likely more than a decade away…but it’s inevitable…one of us entitled brats is going to be President of the United States of America! Just thinking about it gives you chills, right? I mean think about how awesome previous generations have done in the White House. Sure, I’ll wait a minute while you think about that. Okay, times up!
Baby Boomers are the best! William Jefferson Clinton (Bill to his close friends and interns. Yup, I went there) was the the second US President ever to be impeached by the House of Representatives. You go, Bill! He also redefined the word is. Impressive.
Next you had another Baby Boomer right after him, good ol’ George W. Bush. That guy destroyed stuff (mainly our economy) and took names (from a hat and declared war on them for alleged WMDs). He was bad ass! How will the first Millennial President ever live up to that? Impossible, I tell you.
Now I know, if you are a Baby Boomer or a Gen X-er and are still reading this, you are probably yelling stuff at your screen like, “Get a sense of humor!” or “Take a joke!” and I get it! No, really, I do! It’s just that I tend to like jokes and commentary that isn’t tailored toward the simple-minded and hasn’t been exhausted a million times previous. But I suppose if the algorithm works for getting the GOP nomination, it’s worth a try anywhere.
So, yeah, I am sure I will get ripped apart, along with my skinny jeans, for being such a grouch and, to be honest, the sensitive nature that us “special snowflakes” were born with makes me feel a little bad for picking on Tyler. I can’t help it. I am a millennial. But you know what? I can do something about it.
Even though you, Micah Tyler, overused already overused stereotypes and have about as much originality as a Top 40 pop artist (eww…mainstream), you did it all for viral fame and that kind of warms my heart. It’s like you studied what our generation has perfected with social media, Garage Band and iMovie and kind of made it work! In many ways, it’s actually kind of flattering. So for that, hopefully I can make up for all the snarky things I said with this…
It always made me feel better.
Fia
August 24, 2016 at 5:27 amFinally I have found someone on the internet that understands my intense dislike for this video. <3 No sarcasm, I was seriously starting to wonder if I wasn't just being an entitled brat for not finding the humor in it.
brandonenyeart
August 29, 2016 at 3:54 pmHaha! You're not alone! Thanks for the feedback Fia!
Jenn
February 8, 2017 at 7:44 pmIt's worth mentioning, though, that the entire point of this video - which was created for use at a church leadership conference - was to show how ridiculous stereotypes were. It was apparently followed by a speech on how we can't lable each other using stereotypes.
Jeb
February 11, 2017 at 6:00 pmMillenials can be up to 35 years old now. Dude probably is one.
Helima1
July 27, 2017 at 6:28 pmI am a baby boomer and yes I think it is funny. Just like I think most parodies are if presented with humor, as this one was. Many of my grand nieces and nephews are millennials and very are hard workers/students/parents. Some live at home, some live on their own and I love each one of them. Having said all that, only a left wing person would pull a hateful derogatory GOP remark into this conversation. How is your sterotyping any different then what you perceive as Micah Taylor's stereotyping? This is just another example of "it is only wrong when someine else does it."
Chris
August 3, 2017 at 4:26 pm^^^^^^^^ love this comment