At the beginning a small clarification. “Freestyler” saw the light of day in October 1999, when it was released as another single from the album in the Stereo of the Finnish group Bomfunk MC’s. However, its European premiere is on February 14, 2000. The Old Continent immediately loved this song.
A handful of numbers:
– “Freestyler” was the best -selling single in Europe in 2000. It spread to 1.5 million copies, and we are talking only about legal, official copies.
– For comparison: in 2000, the population of Finland was 5 million 176 thousand. persons (data from the World Bank). This means one thing – the homeland itself would not provide musicians from Bomfunk MC’s such sales success. The whole continent – yes.
– The song conquered the top of the charts in 10 countries (except for Europe also in Australia and New Zealand).
– And one more curiosity: in Finland he did not repeat this success, because he reached the fourth place at most and stayed there only a week. And also: the whole stay of “Freestyler” on the Finnish charts lasted 5 weeks. For comparison, in Switzerland he stayed for 32 weeks, in Italy 30, and in Germany for 29 weeks. However, the whole album in Stereo covered double platinum in Finland. This great success meant that it sold in over 130 thousand. copies. Compare up to 1.5 million “freestyler”, sold in Europe.
In 2000, we were all rocking in the Helsinki subway
Whoever had a cable twenty -five years ago and did not sit under the stone, he had no chance not to see the music video for the song. This one was shot mainly at the Hakaniemi metro station in Helsinki. It cannot be said that there is a lot happens there. Well, the main character – in this role 15 -year -old Marlo Snellman – goes by subway, listens to music and discovers that with his mp3 player (whoever has, he knows) can control other passengers. So he controls, scrolls, accelerates, slows down and freezes other passengers to the rhythm of music in their headphones. Everyone is dancing and rocking to the tact, normally, as in the subway. Somewhere in the background there are musicians Bomfunk Mc’s. In 2000, there was no chance to escape this clip. One could get the impression that music stations give it without a break.
Every now and then information “boy from Freestyler” appears in the media in the media. Well, no wonder it has changed a bit. He was 15 years old, now he was 40. In his youth he tried as a model, he got to the music video thanks to his mother, creator of the first Finnish model agency. He also created music, tried as a DJ, and currently lives in Paris, where he runs a pub, and on Instagram throws a lot of appetizing photos of food.
But let’s get back to music.
What happens to Bomfunk Mc’s?
The team used their five minutes. He quickly released in stereo, containing new versions of songs from the album. Later, the group released two studio albums. In 2002, the hit was a single “(Crack IT) Something Going on” from the album Burnin ‘Sneakers. It was a cover of Frida’s great hit from ABBA – brunettes. Although he did not repeat the success of “Freestyler”, he still hit the charts in eight countries.
The group has already recorded the third album in the new composition. And actually her European career ended.
And at the end of the chronicle duty: although everyone in the song hear “Maka’s tender”, it really is “Rock the Microphone”.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
