Hello there.
Do you like watching Youtube videos? I would think a lot of people do, and for a lot of people, they like to protect their YT algorithm. For those that might not be familiar, YT uses an algorithm for every account. The videos recommended to you at the end of a video, and the videos shown when you click the YT logo are ones that the YT algorithm think you might like. If you have been watching a lot of NBA highlights, you might see NBA related content, or Food reviews if you've been watching cooking content. Lately, I've been seeing a lot of music videos and reviews, mainly because I've watched KPop Demon Hunters and have been rewatching some of the songs [please help me get Soda Pop out of my head haha].
But a few days before I watched that movie, I keep getting a weird video suggested to me constantly, and even in Shorts. The video was WING's Dopamine. The full title of the video is WING - Dopamine (Official Video) (BEATBOX). Whenever I saw it, I was always perplexed, since I've never heard of this guy or this music, and I'm not into beatboxing. Since I know of the YT algorithm, I have been rather careful with mine. I avoid brainless AI videos and fake news, and I try to view videos that I like. I rarely try videos I'm unfamiliar of, to prevent my algorithm from getting messed up. But after seeing this video constantly, I had to check it out. Here it is below:
After watching the video, my mind was blown! I think the last beatboxing I've heard was almost two decades ago, and it was mostly basic sounds made by beginners. I never knew a lot of the sounds he made was possible. The closest I've heard might have been from acapella singers, but that is still a far cry from what this was. There's like trumpets, digital sounds, static sounds. My favorite were the sounds in 1:58 and 2:01. It's like EDM but all from one's mouth and throat, it's insane. Since I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I even had to look up the Live version, and it was very close to the studio version which is unbelievable.
One of the best description I've read has been "It's like the background music when John Wick enters/fights in a club scene". And I can picture that in my head vividly. I can't even understand how he is doing all those sounds. And that led me to peek down the rabbit hole. I watched his other popular music next, Triviallusion, and was blown away as well:
After that, I just fell into the rabbit hole. I had to find out how he was able to breathe while continuing to make those sounds. So I watched some videos breaking down Dopamine, and some videos teaching the techniques. For the breathing, WING and beatboxers actually purse their lips while they inhale which also creates a sound so they it sounds seamless. To make the other sounds there are throat vibrations involved, and even moving the soft palate, with most of the techniques requiring a lot of practice.
I was so far down that hole that I found myself watching the GBB [Grand Beatbox Battle] and seeing all these great beatboxers with their own specializations. It was all very entertaining and fun. I don't know why the YT algorithm recommended Wing to me, but I think it was able to hit that one out of the park. It's not something I usually watch, but it was up along the alley of what I would want to listen to. I will still continue being careful about my algorithm, but I wouldn't be as stingy with my choices as before. Here is the video of Wing performing both live in the GBB:
I hope you had fun listening to these as I had.