Bill Wurtz

Bill Wurtz
Logo as of September 2018
Personal information
Occupation
  • Musician
  • Video blogger
Website billwurtz.com
YouTube information
Channel
Created by Bill Wurtz
Years active 2005 (on YouTube from 2013)–present
Genre
Subscribers 2.70 million+
Total views 263 million+
100,000 subscribers 2016
1,000,000 subscribers 2017
Subscriber and view counts updated as of September 6, 2018.

Bill Wurtz (stylized as bill wurtz) is an online video creator and multi-instrumentalist, believed to reside in New York City.[1] Wurtz is known for his distinctive style of song and video, including dry delivery and singing, paired with colorful surrealist or non-sequitur graphics.[2] Wurtz posts jingles and songs on his website, the majority of them being only seconds long, having stated that he favored short projects as a way to get started creating videos.[3] Most jingles are also featured on his YouTube channel with colorful text and visuals. Wurtz wrote his first song in 2005 and has been actively making music since then.[4]

Popularity

history of japan

Wurtz's history of japan video, a humorous historical documentary film covering Japan's history from 40,000 BCE to the modern era, went viral after its release on February 2, 2016. It received 1.7 million views in two days and more than quadrupled his subscriber count in 1 week.[2][5][6]

history of the entire world, i guess

Wurtz is best known for history of the entire world, i guess, a 19-minute video released on May 10, 2017.[7] The video briefly covers the topics of natural history and human civilization, in a quirky and comedic style, spanning from the Big Bang to the near future (specifically the year 2028). It went viral after its release, receiving 1.1 million views in its first 8 hours, 3.2 million views on its first day, and 13 million views in its first week. It was the top video on the YouTube trending page on the day of its release,[8] and would later be named No. 8 on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of 2017.[9] The Verge compared Wurtz videos to "Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" and "The End of the World".[10]

hi, i'm steve

Thanks to the release of history of japan & history of the entire world, i guess, he has since seen a surge of views in his recent videos. One of those was hi, i'm steve.

On July 6, 2017, nearly two months after "history of the entire world, i guess" was uploaded, a one-minute video titled "hi, i'm steve" was uploaded.[11] The video describes the life of a fictional character; it is not clear whether the character's name is Steve. The video went viral upon being uploaded, gaining over 1 million views within the first day, and peaking at #2 on the YouTube trending page in the same day.[12]

Musical style

Wurtz employs a rich and complicated musical style which blends progressive jazz with pop and easy listening. He frequently makes use of unusual time signatures and chord progressions, the latter often finishing on dissonant or atonal notes and chords. Overall, his music is of an uplifting nature.

Lyrically, Wurtz has an aphoristic, economical, and absurdist style, resembling his website's "notebook".

Music videos

Wurtz has worked on full-length music videos, following the same format of his shorter videos. Since May 2014, ten of these videos have been uploaded to his Youtube channel. After the popularity of history of the entire world, i guess, Wurtz has focused almost completely on these videos.

  • On May 6, 2014, new canaan was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of August 2018, it has received over 565,000 views.
  • On May 8, 2015, i'm crazy / it's raining was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of August 2018, it has received over 1 million views.
  • On August 3, 2017, i wanna be a movie star was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[13] It has since reached more than 3.2 million views as of September 2018.
  • On September 28, 2017, outside was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[14] As of August 2018, it has attained more than 4.3 million views.
  • On January 16, 2018, La de da de da de da de day oh was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[15] It peaked at number 1 on the YouTube trending page upon being released. As of August 2018, it has attained over 7.5 million views.
  • On April 25, 2018, and the day goes on was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[16] Within two weeks of the video’s release, it had already amassed over 2 million views and more than 150,000 likes. It has over 4 million views as of October 8, 2018.
  • On June 21, 2018, hello sexy pants was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of August 2018, it has attained over 1.5 million views.
  • On August 21, 2018, hallelujah was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[17]
  • On September 4, 2018, i'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door was uploaded to Wurtz's channel.[18]
  • On September 18, 2018, Mount St. Helens is about to Blow Up was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. As of September 30, 2018, it has over 2.6 million views.
  • On October 3, 2018, the Moon is made of Cheese (but i can't taste it) was uploaded to Wurtz's channel. It reached #8 on the YouTube trending page within 2 days of its release.

Awards

  • On April 11, 2016, Wurtz won the Shorty Award for Best in Weird at the 8th Shorty Awards for his six-second videos on Vine (history of japan was released after the voting and so was not included in the award consideration) in the Tech and Innovation/Best in "Weird" category.[19] The entirety of his acceptance speech for the award was simply: "Thank you."[20]

References

  1. ↑ Wurtz, Bill. "questions". billwurtz.com. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "History lesson with a difference: Surreal 'History of Japan' video goes viral". RT International. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ Wurtz, Bill. "questions". billwurtz.com. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  4. ↑ stuck in a rut, retrieved September 8, 2018
  5. ↑ "WATCH: Trippy Video Teaches The Entire History Of Japan In Just 9 Minutes". The Huffington Post. February 8, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  6. ↑ Strange, Adario. "Psychedelic history of Japan turns learning into an acid trip". Mashable. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  7. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (May 10, 2017), history of the entire world, i guess, retrieved May 14, 2017
  8. ↑ Gutelle, Sam (May 11, 2017). "Bill Wurtz's "History Of The Entire World" Gets 3.2 Million YouTube Views In Its First Day". Tubefilter. Retrieved May 12, 2017.
  9. ↑ Allocca, Kevin (6 December 2017). "It's time for #YouTubeRewind: Celebrating what you watched, shared, and created in 2017". Official YouTube Blog. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
  10. ↑ Gartenberg, Chaim (May 11, 2017). "History of the Entire World, I Guess could have been the best online video of 2005". The Verge. Retrieved June 24, 2017.
  11. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (July 6, 2017), hi, i'm steve, retrieved August 27, 2017
  12. ↑ "History of Japan's Bill Wurtz Creates 'Steve' and a Viral Video", Memeburn, July 7, 2017, retrieved September 17, 2017
  13. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (August 3, 2017), i wanna be a movie star, retrieved August 3, 2017
  14. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (September 28, 2017), outside, retrieved September 28, 2017
  15. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (January 17, 2018), La de da de da de da de day oh, retrieved January 17, 2018
  16. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (April 25, 2018), and the day goes on, retrieved April 25, 2018
  17. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (August 21, 2018), hallelujah, retrieved August 24, 2018
  18. ↑ Wurtz, Bill (September 4, 2018), i'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door, retrieved September 4, 2018
  19. ↑ "Bill Wurtz – The Shorty Awards". shortyawards.com. Retrieved December 28, 2016.
  20. ↑ "Bill Wurtz accepts the Shorty Award for Best in Weird". youtube.com. Retrieved June 5, 2017.
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