Lest my contributions to this website become ‘Brendan talks about a band he missed the first time around but has now jumped on the bandwagon’, but we simply have to talk about the band that my friend sent me this week, Russian ravers Little Big.
With a sound reminiscent of Die Antwoord by way of your favourite KPop group, Little Big have made a name for themselves with their thumping beats, brash sound effects and infectious enthusiasm. As Russia’s entry for the 2020 Eurovision contest, their track ‘UNO’ became one of the most liked Eurovision songs on Youtube ever. Check the video out below, and good luck getting it out of your head, and attempting the liquid-jelly legs dance move.
Due to Covid-19, Eurovision 2020 was cancelled, with the competitors and songs presented for that year’s competition ineligible to participate in the 2021 competition, which was a real shame. Catchy enough to sing long with and dance to, slightly crazy enough to be memorable, and camp enough to fully represent the whole competition, ‘Uno’ would have been a big contender to take home the title had it been allowed to compete.
Every one of their music videos has a unique dance or camp take on a well known trope, almost positing the question whether or not they could be considered performance art. Their music is very unpretentious and approachable with a satirical edge – they aren’t taking themselves seriously, and neither should you watching them. It’s also refreshing to see a number of different body shapes featured in every video – they aren’t ones to just fill the frame with skinny backup dancers or models – just real people having a great time acting out some pretty absurd scenarios.
The video for ‘Hyperdancer‘ involves frontman Ilya Prusikin gyrating on tables to steal money from poker games, ‘Tacos’ features the group jumping about dressed in various different food based outfits, and their recent cover of the Backstreet Boy’s Hit ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ features the best use of a goat since it was cut into Taylor Swift’s song ‘Trouble’.
Eagle-eyed viewers of the video above will notice that a Little Big branded pair of Crocs were used as the ‘magic slippers’. Released just this week, this was in partnership with the brand, indicating the scope of their influence on pop culture (the shoes were completely sold out within 24 hours, which is a pity – those black ones looked awesome).
But the video that shot them to worldwide internet fame a few years ago, and I believe is the best representation of the band, is for their track Skidibi.
A Prodigy-esque driving beat, a healthy dose of animal sound effects and a chorus line that will embed in your brain like a parasite, Skibidi is pure jump around your living room fun. Complete with a dance challenge that made it’s way on to TikTok and as far as being used as a celebration in the Russian Super League, this is Little Big at the height of their powers.
If they ever announce international tours, grab a ticket – if their videos are this much fun, just think of what they’re live shows would be like!
