Billie Eilish ‘Bad Guy’ Gets an Infinite Fan-Cover Video Mashup From YouTube
YouTube is letting Billie Elish fans remix her chart-topper “Bad Guy” — using thousands of users’ cover versions — in a virtually infinite number of permutations.
On Monday, the video platform debuted “Infinite Bad Guy,” available at this link: billie.withyoutube.com. YouTube says the interactive experience (which will carry no ads) is meant to celebrate Eilish (and her fans) after the song crested 1 billion views earlier this month, her first music video to hit the milestone.
“Infinite Bad Guy” uses machine learning to bring together more than 15,000 “Bad Guy” covers, lip syncs, dances and more from across the globe, representing numerous musical styles and languages. YouTube says you’ll see a different mosaic of music videos every time you watch it.
“Billie Eilish is an exceptional artist, and it’s clear her fans on YouTube agree,” said Vivien Lewit, YouTube global head of artist relations. “This is a thank-you to Billie and all her friends.” In 2016, the video giant hosted Eilish at YouTube Space LA and helped her create one of her first videos.
YouTube worked with Google Creative Lab to develop and launch “Infinite Bad Guy.” The team at Google Creative Lab used AI to align the audio from the thousands of videos with different tempos, instruments, keys and styles. For videos that deviated from the original track (such as acoustic or a capella versions), Google Creative Lab built a neural network that could predict matches between covers and the original.
Each “Infinite Bad Guy” experience starts with Eilish’s original music video. Within a few seconds, you’re presented with two random cover versions to start exploring (or you can just press the autoplay button and then sit back to watch). The site includes scrolling hashtags to let you find “Bad Guy” covers using different instruments or in different genres. At any point, you can hit pause to see all the videos you’ve watched and get stats about your unique viewing experience. You can also click through from the covers to any creator’s YouTube channel.
“This project is a loving monument to YouTube fan culture, in all its diverse and wonderful glory,” Google Creative Lab producer Jay Chen said. “With billions of combinations, every viewing is unique, and we can’t wait for you to play it.”
At launch, “Infinite Bad Guy” pulls from approximately 10.5 million seconds of source video. Mathematically, according to YouTube, that means the current set would yield 1.46 x 10100 years of video combinations.
In 2020 alone, Eilish’s videos have garnered more than 4 billion global views on her official YouTube channel. She has over 35 million YouTube subscribers, putting her in the top 15 of most-subscribed music artists on the platform. Eilish is signed to Interscope Records. She co-wrote “Bad Guy” with her brother Finneas O’Connell, who also produced the track.
