When the holidays come around every year in December, many of us come to expect the holiday songs on the radio, the glittery windows in the department stores, and the Salvation Army volunteers ringing their bells for donations. But for many Jews, we have come to expect one more thing: the countless Chanukah musical parodies based on our favorite songs of the year. This year was no different, and with our very own Yeshiva University Maccabeats covering Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” and Six13’s cover of Taylor Swift’s “Shake it Off” I knew I would be humming the catchy tunes all throughout Chanukah.
Interestingly, these two covers were both released on December 11th. Six13’s cover, however, has been viewed over 1.6 million times, while the Maccabeats video has been watched just over 388,000 times. With millions of covers on YouTube, the Maccabeats should be proud of how many times their video has been seen.
But what was it that made Six13’s video more popular than the Maccabeats? Both used catchy songs, stellar vocals, and inspiring messages. What was Six13’s secret?
The Maccabeats’ video starts out with a black screen with the definition of “neis,” miracle, written out—a smart move for the group considering many of their viewers may not be well versed in colloquial Chanukah Hebrew. Unlike many of their other videos where the Maccabeats are singing together throughout the video, we see individual Maccabeats walking down the streets of Manhattan singing and clapping. This is a nice change of pace from previous videos and allows listeners to appreciate each individual vocalist.
With catchy lyrics like, “But Maccabees had faith – they wouldn’t give it up, our holiday is so much more than spinning plastic tops,” not only do the Maccabeats’ lyrics send a clear and inspirational message to Jews and non-Jews alike, they also show how much they’ve grown as a group with their array of words in their songs. The beatboxing is fantastic, and it sometimes seems impossible that there is no hidden drum set somewhere in the background.
Even though Six13 may not be as famous as the Maccabeats, with their lively and humorous cover of “Shake it off” for Chanukah, that soon may change. There is plenty of dancing in the video as well, with many of the members improv-dancing in tutus with menorot in hand.
One key difference that may have caused more people to tune into Six13’s video as opposed to the Maccabeats’ video is that Six13 put the lyrics to their song on the bottom of the screen. After only watching the video a couple of times, I knew the words almost by heart, and that made me want to watch the video over and over again.
As opposed to the Maccabeats’ members singing solo, Six13 had two main members singing lead with the rest backing up with harmony and beat boxing. It would have been nice to hear all of the members’ voices individually, but the two main singers voices’ did not disappoint.
The chorus is the highlight Six13’s song, with lyrics such as, “Cause we’re counting up to eight-eight-eight-eight-eight, we escaped an awful fate-fate-fate-fate-fate,” ensuring that the song gets stuck in the listener’s head. The rhyming works in the song without feeling forced, and the history lesson about the story of Chanukah is helpful for those who may not know about it.
This Chanukah, we were given two great presents of two great covers from two different bands. With the Maccabeats, we expected great music, smart lyrics, and awesome beat boxing—and the group delivered. But Six13 came along and showed that they are a force to be reckoned with in the Jewish music scene. With their boundless energy, catchy lyrics and talent, surely we will see plenty more of their hits in the future.