About
“We Are Number One” is a song sung by main villain Robbie Rotten in the Icelandic children’s television show LazyTown, which was broadcast on Nickelodeon. Online, the song has gained a spontaneous surge of parodies and mashups through Soundcloud and YouTube.
Origin
On October 3rd, 2014, the 107th episode of the then long-running children’s television show LazyTown, Robbie’s Dream Team, aired. In the episode, Robbie designs his own “dream team” (3 imperfect clones of Robbie) in order to capture the superhero Sportacus. Baffled by the incompetence of his clones, Robbie decides to teach the dream team to be villains through his song.
We’re Number One
Hey!
We’re Number One
Now listen closely
Here’s a little lesson in trickery
This is going down in history
If you wanna be a Villain Number One
You have to chase a superhero on the run
Just follow my moves, and sneak around
Be careful not to make a sound
Shh
No, don’t touch that!
We’re Number One
Hey!
We’re Number One
Ha ha ha
Now look at this net, that I’ve just found
When I say go, be ready to throw
Go!
Throw it on him, not me!
Ugh, let’s try something else
Now watch and learn, here’s the deal
You slip and slide on this banana peel
Ha ha ha, gasp What are you doing!?
ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
We’re Number One
Hey!
ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
We’re Number One
ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
We’re Number One
Hey!
ba-ba-biddly-ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
We’re Number One
Hey!
Hey!
Spread
On September 13th, 2016, the song was picked up by Youtuber SiIvagunner, starting with his uploads “We are Number One – LazyTown: The Video Game” (shown below, left) and “We are Number One (Beta Mix)- LazyTown: The Video Game” (shown below, right), garnering over 900,000 views and over 130,000 views respectively.[1]
The song has also been used as a Soundcloud meme in the form of Soundclown joke mashups (examples shown below).
Since early November, Word Replacement Remixes of the song have risen to prominence on YouTube.[2] Some of these have achieved more than a million views.[3] Due to the quotable nature of the song, memes referencing lines and scenes from “We Are Number One” have become popular on Twitter and Instagram (examples below).
Stefan’s Response
On October 13th, 2016, an Ask Me Anything thread titled “I am Stefan Karl (Robbie Rotten from LazyTown) and I am in the fight of my life against cancer! AMA!” was submitted to the /r/IAmA subreddit by user ClarkStreetGang.[4] Robbie Rotten actor Stefan Karl acknowledged the popularity of the meme, and thanked everyone for their support in Karl’s fight against cancer.
On December 4, the original AMA post was edited, and a Facebook event created, to announce a livestream performance of the song.[5] On December 9, 2016, the official LazyTown YouTube channel uploaded a video titled, “We Are Number One but it’s the original and it’s 1 hour long….”[6] On December 11, 2016, Karl hosted a livestream performance of “We Are Number One” featuring himself, the original cast of Rottens (Bjorn, Bergur, and Snorri), and Máni Svavarsson, who composed the song.[7][8]
On December 12, the stems for the song were released for free download for anyone to use in their own remixes.[9] The stems were also posted to Soundcloud (shown below) as well for listening.[10]
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1]YouTube – We Are Number One – LazyTown: The Video Game / Posted on 9-13-2016
[2]Smosh – LazyTown’s ‘We Are Number One’ Has Become A Crazy Video Meme / Posted on 12-3-2016
[3]YouTube – We Are Number One but the video constantly zooms into various things / Posted on 11-5-2016
[4]Reddit – I am Stefan Karl (Robbie Rotten from LazyTown) and I am in the fight of my life against cancer! AMA! / Posted on 10-13-2016
[5]Facebook – We Are Number One – Facebook Live Event / Posted on 12-4-2016
[6]YouTube – We Are Number One but it’s the original and it’s 1 hour long…. / Posted on 12-9-2016
[7]Facebook – WE ARENUMBERONE– LIVE 12.11.16 / Posted on 12-11-2016
[8]YouTube – We Are Number One live but it’s the live version with a interview 12.11.16 / Posted on 12-11-2016
[9]Facebook – We Are Number One – Live event / Posted on 12-12-2016
[10]Soundcloud – WEARENUMBERONE / Posted on 12-12-2016