YOLO You Only Live Once

Description Yolo is an acronym for the phrase “you only live once.” According to Wikipedia, the usage of the term YOLO is “similar to carpe diem, it implies that one should enjoy life, even if that entails taking risks.” The youth of America use YOLO as an excuse to do stupid stuff. Wikipedia states “Similar phrases have been in use for more than a century,[1] including these: the English translation of "one lives but once in the world" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe from his 1774 German play Clavigo; the title of an 1855 waltz, "Man lebt nur einmal!" ("You Only Live Once!") by Johann Strauss II; and the Latin phrases memento mori ("remember (that you have) to die") and carpe diem ("seize the day"). In the 20th century, the phrase "you only live once" was commonly attributed to comedian and actor Mae West.”

YOLO Defined Jimmy Kimmel explains YOLO: https://youtu.be/UKqDStuh4fM Kimmel turns YOLO into a verb, “yolo-ing.” Instagram has over 23 million uses of #YOLO And over 469,000 uses of #yoloswag Yolo-ing has become a verb and a mantra for young people to do many crazy and dangerous things

YOLO Music Video Drake came out with this music video in 2011, which popularized the phrase YOLO. https://youtu.be/0V2VVEH6AX4 Drake released The Motto on November 29, 2011 on his album TAKE CARE. The Explicit Version Music Video currently has almost 48 million views The YMCMB song-only version has over 20 million views The Forbes article says that Drake tweeted pictures of YOLO merchandise to Macy’s and Wallgreens and said “You gotta either chill, or cut the cheque.” (He was referring to wanting money for his popularization of the phrase.

Drake Demands Money According to an article in Forbes magazine, “Does Drake Own Yolo?” Drake thinks he should be paid money for every piece of YOLO merchandise, even though he did not invent the phrase. He only made it popular. http://www.forbes.com/sites/leorgalil/2012/12/29/does-drake-own-yolo/print/

Origins of YOLO There was a Vanity Fair article from February 5, 2013 titled “An Oral History of YOLO, the Word That Lived Too Long” http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2013/02/oral-history-yolo-mickey-hart The origins of YOLO Katherine Martin, Head of U.S. Dictionaries at Oxford University Press says that the phrase “You only live once” goes back to the 19th Century. According to Martin, “there’s a steady increase [in usage] from 1940-2000s. YOLO (as an acronym) was used as early as 1996. The drummer of The Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart, has a ranch called YOLO (he named it that in 1991). Adam Mesh (Average Joe reality TV show contestant) is credited with creating and spreading YOLO merchandise in Ben Zimmer, lexicographer: The Average Joe thing is probably the first national exposure for YOLO, but he can’t claim to be the first. The earliest I found was 1993. There was a trademark filed for YOLO gear, and you can even see on the logo it says, YOLO, and then, “You only live once,” in small letters. I found online examples from 1998 in a jet-ski forum. Average Joe was 2004. It’s easy to see how it could spread among athletic types, people who are involved in extreme sports, because it might be a way to encourage people to live on the edge and that sort of thing. The Strokes came out with the single “You Only Live Once” in 2006, but it wasn’t very popular When Drake came out with “The Motto” in 2011 the phrase caught on, and everyone hip was using #YOLO from that point on

YOLO Parody Videos Saturday Night Live, Adam Levine, Kendrick Lamar and The Lonely Island’s Parody of the YOLO craze: https://youtu.be/z5Otla5157c Yolo The Musical: https://youtu.be/eEepwEvSVCw Best quote from the video, “I’m losing faith in all humanity.” The SNL music video has over 71 million views The YOLO Musical has almost 2.5 million views

YOLO (Are they serious?) Next we will explore YOLO trends: YOLO tattoos YOLO merchandise YOLO memes

YOLO Memes

YOLO Merchandise

YOLO Tattoos

Disney YOLO A tween music video: Froyo Yolo By Liv and Maddie (Disney Channel) https://youtu.be/eEepwEvSVCw This music video was played as part of The Disney Channel Show Liv and Maddie It was released June 2014 and currently has over 14 million views on YouTube

Connecting to Readings If platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube did not exist, YOLO would not have been able to spread like it has. According to Dijck’s Culture of Connectivity, “A platform is a mediator rather than an intermediary: it shapes the performance of social acts instead of merely facilitating them (2013).” Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter all encourage you to “Share” the media you are viewing with you friends. This encourages users to redistribute media to other users.

Connecting to Readings Cont. From the music that Drake (and other artists) produced, to the social media users spreading #YOLO and wearing the clothing (and tattoos) of YOLO, etc. All of these various platforms are intersecting and contributing to the success and popularity of YOLO. The relationship between users and usage that Dijck refers to in the conclusion of The Culture of Connectivity is clearly present in the YOLO craze. Users listen to Drake’s song The Motto and share it on YouTube, then they post a pic of themselves to Facebook with #YOLO, someone else “likes” it and shares it… it is a cycle of dependency, as Dijck says. If users stopped saying and tweeting YOLO, it would die out.

Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YOLO_%28motto%29 https://youtu.be/UKqDStuh4fM https://youtu.be/0V2VVEH6AX4 https://youtu.be/z5Otla5157c https://youtu.be/eEepwEvSVCw http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/lonelyisland/yolo.html Dijck, Jose Van. “The Eco-system of Connective Media” The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford University Press. 2013.

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