Has anyone else found themselves adopting strange obsessions during the coronavirus lockdown? Are you fixating on pantry pasta recipes? Going down Greek mythology rabbit holes? Scouring the internet for discontinued Betsey Johnson prom dresses?
One of my oddest fascinations as of late is with barbershop quartets. I told my partner I wanted to write about this and they jokingly suggested I title the piece “The Erotics of Barbershop,” even though it isn’t an erotic thing, not really. Or is it?
A week or so ago, I woke up with a seemingly random song lodged in my head, as I often do (does this happen to you too?). It was, of all things, “Bananaphone,” the classic goofy kids’ tune penned by legendary Canadian children’s performer Raffi. To satisfy the mental itch brought forth by this fruity earworm, I typed the song’s name into YouTube… and that’s when I discovered the Newfangled Four.
This quartet of lads, I realized as I watched their adorable take on Bananaphone, has all the appeal of a boy band like One Direction – except the group most likely to become enthralled by them isn’t teenage girls, but people like me: music nerds who always swooned over class clowns instead of hot jocks. These boys’ videos have racked up literally millions of views, and I have to wonder: how many of their viewers are reacting to these clips the way I am – as if my blazingly talented high school crush just sauntered out of choir practice, winked at me, and invited me over for a two-person Sondheim listening party after school?
