It’s been about 17 days since humanity discovered the “Planet of the Bass,” and there is no going back. Comedian Kyle Gordon‘s musical salute to ’90s Eurodance isn’t really even a parody anymore; it’s a bonafide hit, with its 52-second teaser clip racking up 8.5 million listens on TikTok.
The original “Planet of the Bass” clip, captioned “Every European Dance Song in the 1990s,” features DJ Crazy Times (Kyle) and Ms. Biljana Electronica (Audrey Trullinger) bopping around the skeletal Oculus mall, lip syncing to slightly nonsensical lyrics about “danger and dance” over a sick beat. An oft-quoted sampling: “All of the dream/How does it mean/When the rhythm is glad/There is nothing to be sad.” “Boom, hear the bass go zoom/Have a body, feel the groove/Cyber system overload/Everybody movement!”
But the musician of the moment, DJ Crazy Times, heralds not from outer space nor Dance Dance Revolution nor a Yugoslavian dance floor in 1991, but rather, an Ohio a capella group. In seeking out an homage for his comedy album coming out later this fall, Kyle, writer Brooks Allison, and producer Jamie Siegel created a true earworm.
“It’s been amazing, crazy, all the hyperbolic adjectives. But most of all, it’s been extremely fun,” Kyle told Cosmopolitan in an interview last week. “I really am excited for everyone to hear the full song because there’s some very fun, weird elements in the full version that I think people will appreciate.”
The full version of “Planet of the Bass” is out today, and not without fanfare and a little bit of drama. After Kyle and Audrey’s version took over the world, Kyle dropped two subsequent song teasers with Mara Olney and Sabrina Brier…but not with the OG Ms. Electronica.
While the new cameos were fun and almost felt like Avengers: TikTok Version in terms of talent, fans wanted Audrey. Her absence in two follow-up teasers quieted the rhythm from glad to meh while forging lore about what happened to the original Biljiana Electronica, why she was replaced, and when she would return home to the Planet of the Bass where fans felt she rightfully belonged. Where was Audrey? She wasn’t left in the dust at all. In fact, Kyle confirms she was simply on vacation, and swapping leads without acknowledgement was meant to nod to Eurodance acts who did the same. (Another fun fact? The voice on the track is actually Chrissi Poland, not Audrey, Mara, or Sabrina.)
“It’s hilarious. The first clip that I filmed with Audrey in the Oculus, that was released on July 28. But all three videos I had filmed earlier that month,” Kyle said, confirming the rotating co-star was always a planned gag, not a slight. “All three were always planning to come out.”
The choice fits the genre to a tee, but “Planet of the Bass” super-stans will be happy to see Audrey back in the official music video (out today) nonetheless.
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Ultimately, amid reports of multi-decade governmental programs designed to capture actual, real-life UFOs—changing how we view the planets as we know them—the most queried planet-related search on Google last month was Kyle’s TikTok jingle. The “Planet of the Bass” is clearly here to stay.
Below, Kyle takes a break from space to hop on the phone with Cosmopolitan to talk about “Planet of the Bass,” his new comedy album, getting kicked out of the Oculus with Audrey, and learning once and for all how does it mean.
Thanks for dialing into Earth for this call! Before you released “Planet of the Bass,” did you expect this level of response and enthusiasm from fans?
This is the first single on an album coming out in the fall called Kyle Gordon Is Great, and each song on the album is a different genre parody. This is the Eurodance one, and then I have a ’60s Bossa Nova one, I have a pop punk emo one, I have an early 2000s Shania Twain pop-country type song.
I really thought there was something special with this one, which is why I picked it as the first single. But did I think it would get this crazy response? No, definitely not. This completely blew me away.
What was the first indicator this was blowing up differently than other popular videos of yours?
The biggest indication is just how much it blew up on Twitter. It was the biggest surprise of all, because going into this whole thing, I had like 3 million followers on TikTok. I had 400-and-whatever thousand on Instagram. So my thinking going into this was like, people are gonna find it on Instagram and TikTok. But I had 13,000 followers on Twitter, so I just threw it up there. When I realized how massive it was getting on Twitter, that’s when I realized it’s a new ballgame.
Tell me about your creation process here. How did “Planet of the Bass” even begin?
The DJ Crazy Times character, funnily enough, is a character I’ve literally been doing since college. I was in a college a capella group, and we made a stupid little CD in like 2013, and I as DJ Crazy Times recorded an intro track to the album.
So this is from literally 10 years ago, and then I started doing it live a little bit toward the end of 2019. I was trying to find a way to do that character live, and then when the pandemic happened, I started doing DJ Crazy Times as a recurring character on social media. I had a bunch of videos as him doing David Guetta style ad-libs.
My live act is like musical comedy, and so this album is really just the culmination of fully produced versions of songs I’ve been doing live for a long time. I was like, ‘Oh, now is the time to do an original DJ Crazy Times song.’ That was the push I needed to actually make this song.
Did you decide to release a full version of “Planet of the Bass” after the 52-second video went viral? It sounds like the intention was always to have a full song as an album track.
Yes, always. All songs on the album were done back in June, so the full version of DJ Crazy Times was finished all the way back then. So then when we were thinking about doing promo because it was gonna be the first single, I just picked that 52-second clip because I thought it gave a good sense of the song. It was a good little teaser clip.
I read another interview you did in which you gave credit to the Barbie movie regarding the timing of this all, given the resurgence of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua after it was sampled by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice. Have Aqua or any other Eurodance performers been in touch?
Oh my God, yeah! Probably one of the best things to come out of all of this was Aqua. Early on when I posted it, they commented on my TikTok. And I’m a huge Aqua fan, I saw them when they played in New York about a month and a half ago. So I am, like, a genuinely huge Aqua fan. But they left a comment on my TikTok, and I couldn’t have scripted it better. They said, ‘Wait, is this play about us?’ It’s best thing.
Tell me more about getting kicked out of the Oculus. How long were you able to film before you were stopped?
It’s a good question. Maybe we got about an hour of filming in the main area of the Oculus, and then we knew it might be a little iffy. Eventually, the security guard came up and was like, ‘Yeah, you absolutely cannot do this.’ And we went to a different part of the Oculus and then a totally separate set of guards—I don’t know if they radioed over—but yeah, a separate set of security guards kicked us out. I just thought of the Oculus as this weird space building to get to the subway, because my brother used to work down there. I walk through the Oculus when I go visit him, so I genuinely forgot that it’s just a mall. The mall cops kicked us out of the mall, and it’s very understandable.
You picked a great location, it’s very otherworldly. Having your visit shortened, was there anything left on the cutting room floor you had hoped to film but couldn’t?
Yeah, I think looking back now, we probably didn’t need what we were planning. My brother Sam Gordon filmed it, and he filmed it just on my iPhone, but we were going to try to get him standing on the main floor looking up at Audrey and I rapping over the balcony. We weren’t able to get that, but looking at the video now, I don’t even know if we would’ve used it.
You mention Audrey, the original Miss Biljana Electronica. She was MIA for your second and third teasers, which got New York Times-levels of attention. What’s the situation today, was her absence in the other teasers intentional?
So it’s hilarious. The first clip that I filmed with Audrey in the Oculus, that was released on July 28. But all three videos I had filmed earlier that month. So all three were always planning to come out, I filmed all of them earlier. So yeah, then it was funny when people were like, ‘Where is Audrey?’ Yeah, I told The New York Times, she’s in Montauk for the week. [laughs]
That’s what fans of the song speculated too, that this was a very ’90s Eurodance thing to have leads swapping in and out while not acknowledging it at all. So that was always the plan?
Always. Yeah, because all three of them were filmed and in the can before I released any of them. And that was always my thinking, I thought it was a funny homage to that genre. It’s such a specific thing to that genre, where especially these European groups, they would get usually an American singer and then in the music video they would hire a random model to lip sync and not acknowledge it.
Sabrina was a really fun model as well. Which did you film first, was Audrey the first?
The order I released them is the order I filmed them, yeah.
Have you and Audrey been in touch since she’s been on vacation?
Yes, yes! We’ve been chatting. It’s amazing to see. She’s getting profiled. I mean, I couldn’t have asked for anything more.
You’ve made a true hit! I saw you had the song’s world premiere at Mood Ring, which is very cool. How did you feel performing “Planet of the Bass” for an audience for the first time?
I was really excited. I was a little nervous because it’s a very different sort of environment than what I’m used to. I’m just used to doing, like, comedy shows. But I had literally the best time. People knew the words to the song! It was very cool to debut it there and debut it in front of an audience at a Eurodance party.
They do this every week, that’s the reason why we picked it. I think there were definitely people who were out just to see me and see the song because of all the hype, but it was very cool that a lot of people there were just fans of Eurodance. I read some other articles and someone there was like, ‘Yeah, I was skeptical that he was gonna turn it into a farce. But he kept the party going.’ That was an honor for me.
Can we expect more Eurodance from you? I know your album is multi-genre, but is there more coming along these lines?
Not on this album, but the sky’s the limit!
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Before you go, be sure to listen to “Planet of the Bass” and read its lyrics in full.
[Intro: DJ Crazy Times]
Alert! Alert!
DJ Crazy Times!
If you want parties to be making
Have some noise
Bratislava!
All the women in the world
Let me see your beautiful faces
Oh, I’ve got an idea
World peace!
[Verse 1: Ms. Biljana Electronica]
When the pleasure is a dream on a secret love
And the people wanna make it fun
We are losing control on a floor tonight
Take your heart into a unicorn
If the sky is not green, but the sky is blue
Have a passion in a million way
Touch it, make it twice, beforе I cry
Heaven is a time today
[Pre-Chorus: Ms. Biljana Electronica & DJ Crazy Times]
Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na
Put your hands up in thе air!
[Chorus: Ms. Biljana Electronica & DJ Crazy Times]
All of the dream (C’mon, c’mon!)
How does it mean? (Let’s go! Everybody go!)
When the rhythm is glad (C’mon, c’mon!)
There is nothing to be sad (That’s right! Oh, that’s right!)
Danger and dance (C’mon, c’mon!)
Clapping the hands (Electric, electric!)
When we out in the space
On the planet of the bass!
[Verse 2: DJ Crazy Times]
Life, it never die
Women are my favorite guy
Sex, I’m wanting more
Tell the world, “Stop the war”
Boom, hear the bass go zoom
Have a body, feel the groove
Cyber system overload
Everybody movement!
[Chorus: Ms. Biljana Electronica & DJ Crazy Times]
All of the dream (Let’s go! Everybody go!)
How does it mean? (Put your hands in the air right now!)
When the rhythm is glad (C’mon, c’mon!)
There is nothing to be sad (Yeah! Oh, yeah!)
Danger and dance (Ooh!)
Clapping the hands
When we out in the space
On the planet of the bass!
[Outro: DJ Crazy Times & Ms. Biljana Electronica, spoken]
Hello, are you at phone?
Yes, it’s true, yes, it’s true
Are you the girl of the love?
Yes, I am a girl
I love you and feel groove
I love you too
I want the sex on the phone
I am so alone in the night
Goodbye
Goodbye
And tonight, I will never die
That is good to me as well as that
Oh-oh, oh, la-di-da (Yeah! C-c’mon!)
La-di-da-di-da (Tonight!)
Ah-ah-ah (Yeah!)
Oh-oh-oh-ooh-oh, yeah, yeah, yeah (Fun!)
Deputy Editor
Alexandra Whittaker is the deputy editor of Cosmopolitan magazine, where she helps manage the website and all of Cosmo‘s news and entertainment coverage. With more than a decade of journalism experience, Alexandra oversees multiple teams of stellar writers and editors. She crafts thoughtful editorial coverage plans from start to finish by ideating, assigning, and editing timely, search, and brand-building stories with an eye on strategy, growth, and audience development. She is a mentor with Girls Write Now and the American Society of Magazine Editors, and she is a proud Northwestern and Marquette alumna.
