Billboard Magazine Singles Review – I Am A Gummy Bear

December 8, 2007 Issue

GUMMIBÄR
I Am A Gummy Bear (3:11)

Producers: Tonekind, Papabar, Rene Rennefeld
Writers: CP Schneider, CA Schneider
Publishers: Rennefeld, Ed. Gummibär
Label: Gummybear International

Music without novelty songs is like a cookout sans burgers. The latest confection to totter to US shores is “I Am A Gummy Bear” from Hungary, starring Gummibär, a “yummy, tummy, funny, lucky” green cartoon image of the rubbery candy. At home, a ringtone was No. 1 for eight months, while the accompanying album made the Top 20. The song has since crept virally across the globe as a 30 second animated videoclip that has reportedly garnered more than 30 million plays on social networking sites (myspace.com/funnygummy), leading to versions of “Gummy” in seven languages. The song follows the same template as equally silly “Pretty Donkey Girl” from Finland’s Holly Dolly earlier this year, with sped-up vocals and swirly synth production. The US album, out Nov. 13, features similar goofy originals and goofier covers, including an ode to the king of novelties, “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” from Eiffel 65, the last to actually score in the United States, reaching No. 6 in 1999. – CT