Nostalgia for the 1990s has been around pretty much since Jan. 1, 2000. Tapping into this power, actor Ben Giroux and musician Jensen Reed created the uncomfortably catchy music video Back To The 90s, both a parody and love-letter to just about everything from the decade, all made to look like a rejected Backstreet Boys video. 41 million views on Facebook later, and the duo have been invited on stage with the real Backstreet Boys in Las Vegas.
Giroux talked with iDigitalTimes about the viral success he’s had with the video, the two-year process of making it and how he has managed all this while being a prominent live-action and voice actor.
“We want to make badass music videos with really catchy music that should be on the radio that happen to be really funny” Giroux told iDigi. Giroux and Reed had teamed up in the past on a rap video about being a short dude, as well as an anti-Trump song. Two years ago, the ideas for Back to the 90s started forming. The duo began writing the lyrics and music for the track, but knew there was something needed to help turn the humor into a real pop song.
“We realized we needed a catchy hook, which we knew we couldn’t quite get by ourselves, so we brought in Jared Lee who is the songwriter for Jason Derulo and he just wrote the new New Kids on the Block track,” Giroux said. “He’s a very skilled songwriter.”
Then came pre production, which took place about six months before the actual video was shot. “We had sourced all kinds of authentic 90s posters and toys and decorations, which was a lot more effort than I normally put into it for my comedy sets,” said Giroux.
The hardest part for Giroux was getting a location to film at. “It took probably 200 phone calls to find an airplane hangar that wasn’t going to cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars to shoot in,” he said. “Recreating the Backstreet Boys I Want It That Way music video was integral to the video. I’m so happy we found the hangar we did.”
The entire video was filmed across two days, and then there was an additional six months for post production. Thanks to Giroux’s experience working as a voice actor on Nickelodeon cartoons, he was able to get some contacts for animators to help work on the project.
Since the video has released, the overwhelming amount of exposure has been life changing according to Giroux. It’s also led to an opportunity for him to make his sister incredibly jealous. “The two things that have stood out as the craziest things that have happened is we did an interview where AJ from the Backstreet Boys surprised us by inviting us to join them on stage on June 17,” he said.
The second craziest thing for Giroux is that Back to the 90s managed to land at the number 11 spot on the Billboard Comedy Digital Track Sales chart for May 20. This has only provided even more encouragement for the team to keep making more videos.
“Our upcoming projects, we want to do a Back to the 90s Part 2, and a much-requested Back to the 80s video. We’re gonna reference 80s hair bands and Pac-Man and Back to the Future,” Giroux said. “We’re really excited for those two decade music videos. We also have some other ideas about awkward moments and Tinder and things like that.”
Giroux has also lived out his 90s childhood dream of having his own Saturday morning cartoon show. Starring as Mikey Munroe on Bunsen Is a Beast, Giroux is joined by other comedy and voice acting greats like Cheri Oteri, Kari Wahlgren and Jeremy Rowley. Created by Butch Hartman, creator of such shows as Fairly OddParents and Danny Phantom, the show takes a non-traditional approach to voice acting.
Giroux has been a voice actor on many projects where it’s just him and a director along with an audio engineer. He’s even worked on games and shows where he never met his fellow cast members. Bunsen Is a Beast actually has the cast come in and record together, which makes the show even better to work on.
“We all record the show as an ensemble,” said Giroux. “For us to all get to improvise together every week, it’s just a privilege. We’re always howling with laughter when we record each show.”
Be sure to keep an eye, or ear, out for Giroux in all sorts of projects coming up (like Bunsen Is a Beast and Henry Danger on Nickelodeon), and follow along on his Facebook page to see the latest music videos and highlights from performing with the Backstreet Boys later this month.
So what do you think? Does this video have you thinking back to the 90s? Are you looking forward to any of the new music videos? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
