Sicko Mode
Part of a series on Travis Scott's "Astroworld". [View Related Entries]
[View Related Sub-entries]
About
"Sicko Mode" is a song by Travis Scott off his album Astroworld that was remixed in numerous videos online.
Origin
On August 3rd, 2018, Travis Scott released his third studio album Astroworld, featuring "Sicko Mode" as the third track. Three weeks later on August 21st, Travis Scott released "Sicko Mode," as a single. The song features Drake, Swae Lee, and posthumous vocals from Big Hawk. The video, posted October 19th, 2018, gained over 89 million views (shown below).
Spread
The song was Scott's highest-charting single to date, hitting number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, with a potential to reach number 1.[1] It was critically well-received, as critics praised both Scott and Drake's flow.[2] Online, the song was the subject of several popular posts. For example, a tweet by @whodafrikisnick showed a Christmas light show set to the song, gaining over 89,000 retweets, while the video itself was viewed over 3.2 million times (shown below).
Sicko Mode light show, “IT’S LIT!” pic.twitter.com/LJ3gnRX9em
— rhymes with dick (@whodafrikisnick) November 26, 2018
Cyranek has made several videos using the track; one called "Tiko Mode" referencing TikTok gained over 137,000 views (shown below, left). Another called "Necko Mode" referencing Charles McDowell's Mugshot gained over 45,000 views (shown below, right).
Other popular YouTube parodies include an edited clip of Spongebob Squarepants posted by Raisean W that gained over 50,000 views (shown below, left) and a video from Muchdank that mocked Drake's "Out like a light lyric," gaining over 800,000 views (shown below, right).
Super Bowl LIII SpongeBob Tease
Prior to the game, rumors circulated that Maroon 5 would play the song "Sweet Victory" from the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Band Geeks"[3] in response to an online petition to have the song performed in tribute to series creator Stephen Hillenburg. Maroon 5 fanned the rumors by including Spongebob in a teaser video for their performance (shown below). Furthermore, the voice actor for the Spongebob character Squidward, Rodger Bumpass, wrote on Facebook: “To all Spongebob fans!!! Tune into the Super Bowl because Squidward gets to introduce the halftime entertainment.”[4]
#SBLIII pic.twitter.com/dWKJQDS9ap
— Maroon 5 (@maroon5) January 13, 2019
However, during the performance, while a clip from the Spongebob episode "Band Geeks" did appear, it did not introduce "Sweet Victory," but rather "Sicko Mode" by Scott. The move disappointed Spongebob fans hoping to hear "Sweet Victory." Twitter user @TheGunshot25 tweeted their disappointment with a Spongebob image macro, gaining over 180 retweets and 700 likes (shown below, left). Twitter user @antwick posted a reaction guys image about the bait-and-switch that gained over 520 retweets and 1,200 likes (shown below, right).
Scott's performance was to many reminiscent of a viral tweet by user @anthonytrucco, who mashed up "Sicko Mode" and "Sweet Victory" in a September 12th, 2018 tweet that gained over 201,000 retweets and 410,000 likes. After the Super Bowl, Trucco stated he was given no credit for the idea and encouraged his followers to share the video until he heard from the NFL.[5]
Somebody please tell me why this works so well pic.twitter.com/mo07SP3ZMz
— Anthony Trucco (@anthonytrucco) September 12, 2018
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Billboard – Maroon 5 and Cardi B Rule Billboard Hot 100 For Sixth Week, Post Malone and Swae Lee Debut in Top 10
[2] Independent – Travis Scott, Astroworld review Lightyears ahead of his peers
[3] Stereogum – Maroon 5 Tease Super Bowl Performance Of SpongeBob Song “Sweet Victory”
[4] Stay Hipp – THE BEST OF SUPER BOWL 53 MEMES
[5] Twitter – Anthony Trucco
