This morning, YouTube Music debuted new music videos for three of iconic rock band Queen’s top songs — all made with the help of thousands of people from around the world.
More than 10,000 people from 120 countries submitted short video content to YouTube and Queen’s You Are the Champions campaign, which produced new videos for “Don’t Stop Me Now,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “A Kind of Magic.”
For “Don’t Stop Me Now,” YouTube enlisted Polly Bennett, the choreographer who recently worked with actor Rami Malek for his starring role in late Queen lead vocalist Freddie Mercury’s biopic Bohemian Rhapsody. Bennett created a dance routine for fans to learn, and YouTube received more than 1,800 submissions from individual people, groups, ballet companies, and even ice dancers. To create the final product, YouTube strung together clips from the videos so all the fans are performing one seamless dance.
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For “Bohemian Rhapsody,” YouTube asked that singers and musicians send videos of themselves singing and/or playing the song. This call brought in 5,400 submissions from 110 countries, and like the video for “Don’t Stop Me Now,” this video is an amalgamation of all the submissions, weaving fans’ diverse voices and talents together for one performance.
And for “A Kind of Magic,” 2,773 artists from 92 countries submitted animated and still fanart of all makes and mediums to create a visual smorgasbord.
“It’s one of the most rewarding things that can happen to an artist of any kind,” Brian May, Queen’s lead guitarist and vocalist, said in a statement. “To see that our work has inspired folk all around the world to create their own performances and visual art is a thrill. And the diversity of their vision is astonishing. Big thanks to everyone who participated.”
In less than six hours, the three videos have each amassed tens of thousands of views: 54K for “Don’t Stop Me Now,” 60K for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and 28K for “A Kind of Magic.”
