Meme of the Month: Kid Yodels His Way from Walmart to Coachella
It’s no secret that one can find anything at Walmart—after all, Mason Ramsey is a perfect example of this. But instead of finding groceries or office supplies, he found fame and success.
Walmart Yodeling Boy – Photo courtesy of Facebook
May 10, 2018
Just a month ago, Mason Ramsey was a normal 11-year-old boy living in Harrisburg, Illinois who had a passion for country music. He had previously won a few low-entry singing competitions. He would occasionally put on small, local shows. One day, he went to Walmart with his grandparents and put on the performance that changed his life. Ramsey yodeled his heart out to Hank Williams’s “Lovesick Blues” as people gave him money and recorded his singing to put on Facebook.
Fast forward to now; the video has gone viral. With millions of views and likes already, the video is number 1 in the United States, Iraq, Canada, and many more countries. It has been spread all over social media, especially on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook. Thousands of memes were made, as were DJ remixes. Ramsey’s media pages blew up. His followers, likes, and comments skyrocketed. Even promposals were inspired by Ramsey, including one here at THS.
Ramsey, widely referred to as “Walmart yodeling kid,” or “Yodeling boy,” recently took the stage at Coachella on opening night, performing on the same stage as The Weeknd, SZA, Kygo, and other mainstream artists. He just came out with a new single, “Famous,” that already has 2.13 million streams on Spotify and sat in the Top 10 of the U.S. iTunes store Top Songs this week. Thousands of memes were made, as were electronic remixes. People synched the audio to other videos and TV or movie scenes with completely different contexts.
So, was his performance generally liked or disliked? Were people reposting to spread his talent or to amuse and enlighten others? “I can’t say that his presence on the internet is appreciated or welcomed,” said Tomer Witelson (’21). “I personally do not think he deserves fame. People can find humor in anything, especially something as ridiculous as yodeling. Maybe this kid does have talent, but the more probable cause of his fame is the public laughing at his humiliating performance.” Many other students agree with Witelson, including Kate Zgonena (’21), Alessandra Bontia (’19), and Grady O’Brien (’19). Zgonena thinks it’s all ludicrous. “He’s cute but I don’t think he deserves all that fame,” she said. Bontia added, “I honestly feel that it’s ridiculous how something that small could turn into something so big. People are working day and night and this kid just waltzes in and gets all this fame and recognition.” O’Brien summed all these thoughts up, simply stating, “I think the yodeling boy sucks.”
