• In honor of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” reaching 1 billion YouTube views, the platform created an “infinite” music video that seamlessly brings together thousands of covers of the song.
• YouTube says “watching every combination of covers would take at least 1.46 x 10^100 years, which is longer than the lifespan of the universe.”
• The company considers this a growing experiment, which means fan-generated videos created after the initial launch will eventually be mixed into the video as well.

YouTube’s Announcement

YouTube launched what it calls “the world’s first infinite music video” on Tuesday in celebration of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” surpassing 1 billion views on the platform.

“This unique AI experiment uses machine learning to bring thousands of covers together, seamlessly aligning them in endless combinations, creating a music video that’s different every time you watch it,” YouTube explained in a blog post.

Because of technical requirements, the experience can’t live online as a traditional YouTube video. Instead, the organizers gave it its own site: billie.withyoutube.com 

When fans visit the site, they are automatically placed on the #Everything category, which shows a range of different covers of “Bad Guy.” However, viewers can also hop around specific categories to hear the song with different instruments or in different genres. 

Viewers can even search for dance routines, parodies, animations, tutorials, and more  – all without losing their spot in the song. 

Hitting pause on the infinite video also allows users to scroll down and read stats about their unique viewing experience.

Plus, fans can see their video history and click through to any creator’s channel to subscribe if they find someone they would like to support. 

Could We See More of This?

When asked about the project, Google Creative Lab Producer Jay Chen told Rolling Stone: “This project is a loving monument to YouTube fan culture, in all its diverse and wonderful glory. With billions of combinations, every viewing is unique and we can’t wait for you to play it.”

What’s more interesting about this is that YouTube sees it as a growing experiment, which means fan-generated videos created after the initial launch will eventually be mixed into the video as well.

That just makes the possible combinations even more insane. As is, the experience is not exactly “infinite,” thought it’s definitely impressive. 

In fact, YouTube says “watching every combination of covers would take at least 1.46 x 10^100 years, which is longer than the lifespan of the universe.”

Still, it’s worth noting that YouTube’s global head of artist relations, Vivien Lewit, said this is just a one-off project — at least for now — and won’t necessarily be created for every music video that surpasses 1 billion views from now on.

It could be something the company does again in the future, but as far as why YouTube chose Eilish to pilot the idea, the company said it was because “Bad Guy” was one of the most covered songs on YouTube.  

See what others are saying: (The Verge) (Rolling Stone) (NME)

• Charli and Dixie D’Amelio were slammed as “ungrateful” and “disrespectful” after fans saw a video they filmed with their parents and James Charles for their family’s YouTube channel.
• In it, Charli expressed disappointment in the fact that she had hit 95 million TikTok followers instead of 100 million by the one year anniversary of the day she hit 1 million.
• Meanwhile, Dixie was criticized for appearing disgusted and throwing up after tasting a snail that was in the meal her family’s chef prepared for them.
• The sisters have explained that their comments and behavior were misunderstood and blown out of proportion. James Charles and the chef have also shown them support.
• Still, Charli has lost about 1 million TikTok followers and in a tearful Instagram live, she opened up about the hateful messages she has received. “Seeing how people reacted to this…I don’t even know if I want to do this anymore,” she said.

Charli’s Response

TikTok star Charli D’Amelio got emotional in her Instagram Live on Thursday as she responded to the backlash she has received after her family’s latest YouTube video.

“This is messed up stuff that people are saying, like people telling me to hang myself, people just blatantly disrespecting the fact that I’m still a human being is not okay at all,” the 16-year-old said.

“You can hate on me for whatever I’ve done, but the fact that all of this is happening because [of a] misunderstanding, I just feel like that’s not okay, and if this is the community that I’m in and the community that I’ve put myself in, I don’t know if I want to do that anymore.”

The Snail Incident

The outrage against the young internet star began Monday after her family uploaded a new series to their YouTube channel titled, “Dinner with the D’Amelios.” That video featured beauty influencer James Charles as their first-ever guest.

However, the video caused many to slam Charli and her 19-year-old sister Dixie as “disrespectful” and “ungrateful.”

Some of the criticism stems from how they acted in front of the chef who cooked their meal for the episode. At one point during the dinner, Dixie found a snail in her food and looked disgusted by it. 

The chef, Aaron May, told her snails are common in the dish she was eating and called it an omen of good luck and fortune, but she continued to gag and make faces.

When she finally tried the snail, she spit it back out and began heaving.

“So dramatic,” her mother Heidi said before telling Dixie to excuse herself from the table. Her father Mark echoed the comment about her reaction.

“Is she being real? Or is she being dramatic,” James added. “Oh she actually threw up. Ew.” 

“Classic Dixie,” Heidi said.

“Do we have any Dino Nuggets?” Charli chimed in as Dixie tried to regain her composure.

That, on top of Charli’s comment, had a lot of people upset at not only their behavior but also how their parents handled it. 

Charli’s Comment About 100 Million Followers

Then as the dinner continued, the conversation shifted towards their insanely quick rise to fame.

Charli, who has been dubbed the queen of TikTok, actually only joined the platform in June of 2019, and at the time of recording their video with James, Charli had just reached 95 million followers on the app.

“It hasn’t even been a year since I hit 1 million,” she said, which came as a shock to James.

Dixie then noted that her one year anniversary on the platform was just around the corner, saying, “Wait, October 30th…so October 30th, I didn’t have a TikTok. That’s the day I started my TikTok.”

“And this year, we have our collab that comes out the 30th, I have my song with Liam Payne that comes out the 30th, and I’m announcing Trippie Red’s album all on the 30th.”

Charli responded with, “Wait, woah woah woah woah woah. If we’re thinking about it. Okay, how far away? That’s Friday, okay. Ugh. I wish I, I wish I had like more time. Cause imagine if I hit 100 mil a year after hitting a mil.”

“Was the 95 not enough for you?” James jokingly asked.

“Well, I was just like saying, even numbers,” Charli replied.

That comment too caused viewers to call her ungrateful and too focused on the numbers. Some noted that many creators would kill to have as many followers and said the girls are already more famous as teens than most people will ever be in their entire lives.

it’s very obviously a joke on james’s part, but still, she’s more famous at 16-17 than most people will ever be in their lifetimes and being a famous teen can inflate your ego something fierce

— 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐚 💖’𝐬 𝐳𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐮𝐬 (@samlynee3) November 16, 2020

 Eventually, James commented on a TikTok post about her remarks.  

“Charli is soooo grateful for everyone that supports her. I was just joking with her when I said this, I don’t like these comments dragging her,” he wrote.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by tiktokinsiders <3 (@tiktokinsiders)

While Charli didn’t directly address the backlash right away, the day the video was released, she did come out and thank her fans for getting her to 99 million followers. 

Charli Loses 1 Million Followers

Still, the outrage continued to build, prompting Dixie to respond in a TikTok late Wednesday explaining that her family is good friends with the chef and would never want to disrespect him. She also clarified that she is grateful for all the opportunities she has had.

She then explained that the chef and her team were trying to get her to eat the snail because they knew they could get a big reaction out of her. She also suggested that people were unfairly judging her based on a short clip.

However, that video seemed to fuel more backlash.

At first, it didn’t seem like the negative reactions were that bad. Charli had gained over 700,000 TikTok followers in the last three days, according to Social Blade, which put her highest follower count on record at 99.4 million.

But by Thursday afternoon, she had lost around 1 million followers on the app.

That might not seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but all of the hate and attention this has brought is clearly taking a toll on the family, prompting Charli’s tearful Instagram live.

Charli, for her part, explained her comments and the whole snail situation were misunderstood and getting blown out of proportion. As of now, it seems like it has sparked a shift in the responses as more fans come to her defense and remind the public that she is just a child.

After her stream, James took to Twitter to show the family more support.

His comments came one day after Chef May expressed his admiration for Charli and Dixie in an interview with The Hollywood Fix. In that interview, May said that he held no animosity over the video and added that he felt the issue was “overblown” and “fake news.” He also said that it was Dixie’s creative director, Tommy Burns, who put him up to including snails on the menu to get a reaction out of Dixie.

See what others are saying: (Dexerto) (The New York Post) (Heavy)

• “Wonder Woman 1984″ will hit theaters as planned on Christmas Day, but it will also be released on HBO Max at the same time.
• Director Patty Jenkins is a huge proponent of theater releases, but said that the time for her film is now. “At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else,” she wrote.
• WarnerMedia hopes that in addition to giving content to theaters, this strategy will also boost subscriptions to its new streaming service. Experts agree that this could be great for HBO Max, as “Wonder Woman” is a strong franchise and many will bend over backwards to see it.
• Other critics think that for a movie with the potential to gross $1 billion, it might be better to hold for theaters. Others also think that a singular movie is not enough for a new streaming service to retain the subscribers it is seeking.

Wonder Woman Dual Release

“Wonder Woman 1984” will hit HBO Max on Christmas Day, the same day it will go to theaters in the U.S. 

Warner Bros. announced the strategic move on Wednesday, following months of speculation about what the studio’s plans for the massive blockbuster might be. “Wonder Woman 1984” was supposed to be a summer tentpole but its release was delayed several times due to the pandemic. Many thought Warner Bros. would opt to push it again to summer 2021 when more theaters will be open, full, and more money would be made. Others thought the film would cave into pressure and land on streaming. 

The choice to release the film to both simultaneously gives fresh content to struggling movie theaters and also gives a boost to WarnerMedia’s new streaming platform, which falls behind its competitors in terms of subscriptions. Still, it is seen as a big financial risk. Under normal circumstances, “Wonder Woman 1984” was expected to make $1 billion. This weekend at the box office, the highest grossing film was “Freaky” with a gross of $3.7 million. For comparison, the first “Wonder Woman” brought in $100 million during its opening weekend in 2017.  

But the pandemic has changed the box office game, and studios just don’t know when they will be able to make that much money again, which is why 2020 has put an emphasis on streaming. 

“I can’t tell you how excited I am for all of you to see this movie. It wasn’t an easy decision and we never thought we’d have to hold onto the release for such a long time but Covid rocked all of our worlds,” said lead actress Gal Gadot. “We feel the movie has never been so relevant and we hope it’ll bring you some joy, hope and love to your hearts.”

The film’s director, Patty Jenkins, has been a strong advocate for putting movies in theaters to save and preserve the moviegoing experience, but she said that “the time has come” for audiences to finally see the long awaited sequel.

“At some point you have to choose to share any love and joy you have to give, over everything else,” Jenkins wrote.

On Twitter, Jenkins said that she plans to hold the movie in theaters for “quite a long time.”  She hopes it will still be there by the time theaters open their doors globally. However, it could be a very long time before that happens, as coronavirus cases are on a steep rise in many parts of the world. In fact, in the U.S., it is far more likely that more theaters will be forced to shut down before the Christmas Day release, than that more will open up in the near future. 

Jenkins said they are working on a plan for fans to be able to rent out a theater so they can watch the film just with their family or pod as opposed to a room of strangers. Major theater chains like AMC are already offering a program like this in some capacity, and it appears that Warner Bros. might be teaming with theaters to make one of their own.

AMC Supports the Decision

AMC’s CEO and President, Adam Aron, released a statement supporting Warner Bros.’ decision.

“For many months, AMC has been in active and deep dialogue with Warner Brothers to figure out how best this cinematic blockbuster could be seen at AMC Theatres in these unprecedented times,” Aron said. “Given that atypical circumstances call for atypical economic relationships between studios and theatres, and atypical windows and releasing strategies, AMC is fully onboard for Warner Brothers’ announcement today.”

The circumstances of the pandemic have forced AMC to make a swift 180 from its original feelings on dual theatrical and digital releases at the start of the pandemic. When Universal promised in April to start putting their films on video on demand the same day they hit theaters, AMC initially shot back and said they would not play the studio’s movies. The two eventually patched things up by forging an agreement allowing for digital release.

Many believe that this release method will be a strong subscriber boost for HBO Max. The six-month-old service currently boasts 8.6 million subscribers, or 57 million when combined with HBO subscriptions worldwide. This is nothing on Netflix’s 195 million or even Disney+’s 73 million. Because “Wonder Woman” is a big enough franchise to make people go to large lengths to see it, many believe it will drive their numbers up. Some also think it could be on track to be the most streamed movie of the year. 

Emphasis on Choice

Especially with the lackluster performance of “Tenet,” which was Warner Bros.’ big theater gamble, moving to streaming seems like the best way to actually get a movie in front of audiences. While fans have the option to do either, it seems far more likely that a family might choose to splurge on a subscription service and watch a movie at home for the holidays than venture out to a theater, which might feel less safe. 

WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar thinks the best part of this release strategy is the choice it gives to fans.

“We believe this decision will bring several benefits,” he wrote in a blog post. “The first and most important benefit is to the fans in the form of unprecedented choice from day one. The second benefit is to the exhibitors, providing an eagerly anticipated movie at a much-needed time while they take precautions in their operations.”

Kilar hopes that superfans will see the movie both in theaters and via streaming. He is thrilled by the opportunity to measure the performance of a major movie in a new way. 

“A little over four million fans in the U.S. enjoyed the first Wonder Woman movie on its opening day in 2017,” he wrote. “Is it possible for that to happen again this Christmas with Wonder Woman 1984 between theaters and HBO Max? We are so excited to find out, doing everything in our power to provide the power of choice to fans.”

What’s at Stake for HBO Max

Still, some think that WarnerMedia may not reap the rewards this model claims to offer, arguing that one big blockbuster is not what builds a subscription service. While it could be a huge draw, it does not guarantee retention the way television does. 

“Movies don’t make streaming services if you haven’t noticed,” wrote Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro. “It’s binge-able series like House of Cards, The Queen’s Gambit, Stranger Things, Mandalorian and Tiger King that keep people addicted to Netflix, Disney+, etc. Didn’t anyone over at HBO Max ever think about launching the service with a Harry Potter TV series?”

HBO Max does have its “Perry Mason” reboot, which was received well by critics but did not generate the same online buzz that a Netflix, Hulu, or Disney+ series might. Starring Tatiana Maslany, John Lithgow and Matthew Rhys as the titular detective, it has decent star power behind it, but did not seem to break through the cracks either because it was underpromoted or because the service just did not have enough subscribers to generate a talkative audience. 

“Wonder Woman 1984” could give the platform the attention that it needs to generate buzz for the service’s catalogue of content. Or, it could result in people paying for the service for a month or so then canceling because exclusive binge-able content is not in abundance on HBO Max.

See what others are saying: (Deadline) (Variety) (The Hollywood Reporter)