About

Genius "Verified" Parodies refer to memes parodying Genius "Verified" YouTube series in which invited musicians explain lyrics of their songs. Mock-ups and remixes of existing videos were circulated on Instagram and Reddit after the series started featuring Vine and YouTube personalities in the second half of 2018.

Origin

On September 13th, 2016, music lyrics explanation website Genius^[1] (formerly Rap Genius) launched "Verified" series on its YouTube channel^[2] (shown below). As of January 22nd, 2019, the channel has posted over 580 videos in which invited artists explained the lyrics of their songs.

Starting in second half of 2018, the channel invited several Vine and YouTube celebrities to explain the lyrics of their songs, including Lele Pons, Gabbie Hanna and the Backpack Kid.

Spread

Gabbie Hanna "Monster" Edits

On November 19th, 2018, American YouTuber and former Vine star Gabbie Hanna appeared in a Genius "Verified"^[3] video in which she explained the lyrics to her song "Monster". The video sparked numerous parodies online, with the many edits exploiting the segment in which Hanna performed "So What if I'm a Monster" line from the song.

@TheGabbieShow So what if I’m the mondjebjebriebekebosbwjdbjeowpebxjenh!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/eD9kJvSv46

— Christopherized (@Xtopherized) December 8, 2018

One popular example utilized Big Mouth Screech type edit originating from an earlier I Love to Get in Sparkly Dresses edit.

Online Reaction

On January 6th, 2018, YouTuber PewDiePie ^[4] posted a video titled "Genius needs to be stopped", in which he called Genius out on undeservingly providing the spotlight to internet celebrities.

Now instead of having respectable artists that deserve recognition they decided "Let's add viners!"

Following the video, posts parodying Genius "Verified" videos, often based on PewDiePie's Bitch Lasagna video, gained popularity on /r/PewdiepieSubmissions subreddit.

On January 20th, 2019, YouTube^[5] channel h3h3productions posted a video reviewing Backpack Kid's "I Be Flossin" interview.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References