(CNN) The nearly eight-minute long video begins with Tim Williams and his twin brother, Fred, sitting together.
IN box records and a shot of iconic rapper Tupac adorning the wall behind them. They hit play on Phil Collins’ 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight.”
“It sounds like a rainstorm or something,” says Tim. The two nodded their heads to the kiss.
Then, about halfway through the video, the legendary drum solo hits. Tim and Fred are visibly shocked, but still excited – they start dancing in their chairs, pausing the video to discuss soon.
“I never saw anyone drop a beat in the song in three minutes!” Fred calls out and talks to the camera.
Their fun is delicious. And in the last week, the video has apparently exploded – with more than 1.7 million views.
Tim, pictured in most videos with a durag, did not even know the video was inflated. A friend told him later.
“We do so many videos a day,” he told CNN. The same day she uploaded the no-viral Phil Collins reaction video, she also commented on five other songs, including “Ex-Factor” by Lauryn Hill, “Superstition” by Stevie Wonder and “White America” by Eminem.
“When we do videos, I don’t think about it because I think, ‘Oh, we have to do that next video,'” Tim said.
“We did not think this would happen,” Fred added.
Tim and Fred, 22-year-old twins from Gary, Indiana, have been uploading reaction videos for about a year. At first they stuck to a lot of rap music, they said, but then someone asked Frank Sinatra’s Frank “Sin Got You Under My Skin”.
In the video, uploaded in September 2019, Tim says he had never heard of Sinatra.
“That song GOES,” he says now, recalling the video. It has what they did more older music, he said, typically what people asked for.
The channel has been up for grabs for a while. By January, it already had 20,000 subscribers. By the end of June, they hit 100,000. Now they include 250,000.
Among her fans, none other than Dolly Parton, who tweeted her response video to “Jolene,” has now been viewed more than 2 million times.
“No point in begging,” she wrote. “Jolene stole those two already.”
Part of her success, it seems, is seeing her for the first time listening to a song, allowing viewers to remember her for the first time with songs. The comment sections of her videos, amid the various recommendations, are full of stories of fans’ own experiences with the artist as the song.
“I’m a 58 year old white woman who’s living her life through the music your boys choose to listen to,” said one user, referring to the twins’ response video to “Hey There Delilah” by the Plain White T’s. “I’m so grateful for the walks to memory! Stop yet!”
When asked why they think their videos resonate, Fred is quick to respond.
“Because we’re black,” he says simply. “We’re black, and they do not expect us to listen to that kind of music.”
“We’re young too,” Tim adds. “It’s just rare to see people open these days. People don’t open to step outside their comfort zone and just react to music they don’t know.”
And yes, they have never really heard of these songs – even the so-called classics that have a lot of clues left. Their channel is full of firsts: First time Nina Simone hears. Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” Prince’s “Purple Rain.”
They grew up in a Black neighborhood, they explain. Rap, she knows – the intro track to her videos is Polo G’s “My Story”, which many assume is her own song.
“When I was a kid growing up, everything we listened to was rap,” Tim said.
Now, through their channel, both have been introduced to more music. Tim loves Radiohead’s Creep, and Fred likes to listen to Linkin Park’s “Lying From You” while he works.
Making videos gives them a chance to open up more, Fred says. And they get to learn a lot while doing it too, delve deeply into the discography of artists and learn more about their work.
At the end of the day, amid a public health pandemic and mass protests, their videos bring joy. They know that, and it’s one reason they keep going.
“For those two, three minutes – no matter how long the video is – we just want to have fun, just be together. We just smile, laugh together and all,” Tim said.
“You could have a bad day and watch and watch one of our videos,” Fred adds.
That uplifting, in a year that seems full of bad days, is rare – but at least we have their channel.
