YouTube sensation is music appreciation for all ages
Tim Williams busted into laughter when I mentioned the magic behind his newfound YouTube fame. It’s the unexpected reaction of hundreds of thousands of viewers to his unexpected reaction to new music, I said.
“Yep, that’s it,” Williams replied from his Gary home. “It’s a chain reaction of reactions.”
Williams, 22, and his twin brother, Fred Williams, are hosts of the YouTube channel Twinsthe new Trend, which had 430,000 subscribers as I spoke with Tim Williams, who launched the concept last summer.
As I wrote in my previous column, it’s all about the twins’ reactions to popular songs that most viewers have likely heard dozens of times, probably more. Through the twins’ ears, eyes and enthusiasm, we get to hear those songs for what feels like the first time.
“Y’all gonna witness my first time listening to rock in my life, so let’s go,” Williams told viewers in one of his early YouTube videos before listening to “Dream On” by Aerosmith.
Viewers can listen to the classic rock song with Williams while watching his facial contortions and body language, as if he’s playing all the instruments himself. He and his twin brother don’t merely listen to the music, they feel it. In turn, we feel it through them. Even if we’ve heard that song a couple hundred times in our life.
“I know this had to be big back
in the day,” Williams told viewers while watching a music video for “Hey Ya!” by OutKast, a mainstream hip-hop song from 2003.
That song is so mainstream, I’ve had it for years on my digital playlist for running and biking. And I’m about as hip to anything hip-hop as an eighttrack tape machine.
“I’m open to all genres,” Williams told me.
He was raised on mostly rap and gospel music, so anything outside those genres feel new to him. Well, at least they used to feel new to him. Since launching his YouTube channel, he and his brother have listened to a wide swath of music, everything from rock classics to country standards to operatic arias to Japanese ditties.
Before pushing play for a new tune and a fresh listening experience, the Williams twins will sometimes pretend to buckle themselves into their seats from inside the makeshift studio in their bedroom. Or pretend to eat popcorn while watching a new music video. Or rub their hands together in eager anticipation.
It’s this eagerness for fresh sounds that too many of us have lost years ago. This is why our reaction to their reaction is the magic behind their YouTube channel. We’re not only reliving our favorite songs. We’re reliving our youth in a way, one unforgettable tune at a time.
“We know that most of the songs we choose are our subscribers’ favorite songs,” Williams told me.
When I first heard about the twins’ channel, I scrolled through their video reviews for songs that I knew well. I wanted to see their immediate reaction to my favorites. I found a few: “Purple Rain” by Prince; “Hurt” by Johnny Cash; “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana; “Hey Joe” by Jimi Hendrix.
I laughed at their reactions. I sang along with them. I smiled at the connection we had together for those four or five minutes.
“Mmmhmm,” Williams told viewers during one video. “Yeah, OK, I’m feeling it.”
So do viewers.
The concept behind TwinsthenewTrend isn’t such a new trend. The channel’s genius is capturing a musical connection that’s been around since our genus’ first dropped drumbeat.
For me, it was no coincidence that I resonated most with the twins’ expected reaction to the song “In the Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, the former drummer of the band Genesis. Would they get it when Collins pounded out his signature drum solo? Yes, they did. And so are tens of thousands of other viewers from younger generations as digital sales of that 1981 hit have spiked phenomenally since the twins reacted to it.
All of us have always relished sharing our favorite songs with other people for their first listen in our presence. We love watching how they react to it. Do they get it, too?
“I’m an old lady and I love these two young men. They are genuine and adorable,” said reader Andrea Keehn, of Gary.
“I love them. I smile throughout every video,” added Mary Ann Rupp.
“Yea GARY! Something positive about our hometown for a change,” wrote Jo Ann Swigon, of Valparaiso.
“I happened across the twins’ ‘Jolene’ reaction when my daughter shared it a few months ago. I must have watched it four times in a row,” said reader Diana Rudd, who attended the same Gary high school, Lew Wallace, as the twins’ mother, Tiffany King.
These are other commonalities beyond music that also can bind us regardless of our demographic differences. When I mentioned to Williams that I was raised a mile or so from where he was raised, he didn’t expect such a connection.
“For real?” he asked. I probably know Aetna as well as he does, I told him.
“Where we’re from, if you’re not cool, if you’re not doing what other people do, they’re going to say you’re lame and they’re going to talk down to you,” Williams said.
The twins used music to overcome this systemic wall to Black youth, or to any youth for that matter.
“It’s not just the way they listen to and jam to the music. It’s just that they are so likable and respectful, the kind of kids you’d like to say you raised,” said reader Carmen Ware.
The twins’ mother told me that in their younger days, Tim was the quieter of the two brothers. Not since he tapped into his passion. Our reaction to it is the magic here.
“Peace and love, y’all,” Williams tells viewers after some of his videos.
Peace and love — another commonality that’s striking the right chord these days.