Phil Collins has made some new friends in YouTube sensations Tim and Fred Williams.
Digital sales of the singer’s 1981 song “In the Air Tonight” have been phenomenally spiked since a video of the 22-year-old twin responding last week.
On Friday and Saturday after the video’s viral tears, 4,600 digital copies of the song were sold, compared to a few hundred the previous weekend, according to Rolling Stone, which received its information from music box office firm Alpha Data. Compared to the previous two days, it was an increase of 1,100%.
Streams of tune spike not much, if at all. But sales, yes. Maybe it was a bunch of Boomers and Gen Xers who introduced the blanks from back when they sold their apple boxes full of vinyl? Because everyone at least needs a nod to Collins’ Face to Face debut solo album.
The Williams brothers saw the popularity of their YouTube channel go viral in recent days due to the virality of that “In the Air Tonight” video. Viewers were really pleased with their reactions to the first timer on the song’s legendary, unexpected drum solo, which comes in handy in the vocal cut.
Musician Phil Collins in 2016.
(Drew Gurian / Associated Press)
As Collins ‘drum solo hits, about five minutes into the twins’ video, Tim and Fred look blown away. The two hits pause on the Genesis drummer’s song and share their (confused) thoughts with big smiles on their faces.
‘That was cold, that was cold how he did that. I will not lie, Phil, you have attacked me with it, “said Tim.
“I never saw anyone drop a beat in a song for three minutes,” Fred chimed in. ‘He killed it! … That’s unique. ”
Many viewers noticed on social media that the video sent them into a rabbit hole of the brothers’ YouTube channel, TwinsthenewTrend, where many videos were to be viewed.
The twin’s routine is to twin to take a song suggested by subscribers and give it a first time listening to it on camera. They dig about almost every ton, but the joy comes from seeing the reaction of a new generation to classic songs from all genres.
As of Tuesday, its YouTube channel had 385,000 subscribers and was growing, up from not quite 40,000 in early June. The channel hit 100,000 subscribers in late July, prompting a celebratory tweet from Tim Williams, who has been the channel’s primary anchor of the channel’s videos since July 2019.
“I remember not eating a year ago … Now that I wake up, I’m feeling like a dream come true … I’ll reach this milestone with hard work, perseverance and a drive to a better life,” he wrote.
The reaction video ‘In the Air Tonight’, released on July 27, had more than 4 million views on Tuesday. That comes from top viewership that was generally in the five-digit range on previous videos.
Among the twins’ admirers was Ava DuVernay, who on Friday commented on “In the Air Tonight” jumping to the top of the iTunes chart.
‘This has become viral,’ wrote the 47-year-old filmmaker, ‘but I post it anyway because it makes me smile. And if you have not seen it yet, it might make you smile. ‘
Dolly Parton’s team, while learning about the twins, also had a reaction video – now viewed more than 3 million times – after their ‘Jolene,’ also came into action.
Needless to say, Tim Williams is probably the only music critic to offer this kind of opinion on a song that was in time no. 1 hit:
“This is definitely a cookout song,” he said in a June 1 video. ‘Sure, Fourth of July, grab your uncle with the tone-out sandals cookout song. … Sounds like your aunt-with-the-‘Black Panther ‘poster-back-in-her-house-song. ‘
The tone? “More than a woman,” of the Bee Gees.
