Twin brothers Tim and Fred Williams have been attracting attention with their YouTube videos, “First Time Hearing: Twins the New Trend”, and the latest from the 21-year-old siblings has gone viral with more than 4 million views.
The premise is deceptively simple: the brothers listen to a classic song that they’ve never heard before, capturing their unvarnished reactions as they hear it for the first time,
Past selections have featured artists ranging from Queen to Tom Jones to Dolly Parton, but this new video finds them checking out Phil Collins’ 1981 hit “In the Air Tonight”.
The song’s mysterious lyrics have them asking questions while grooving along to the song’s slow build until Collins’ iconic drum fill comes in — unexpectedly for the pair, who register their delight.
“I ain’t never heard somebody drop the beat three minutes into the song,” one of them marvels.
The success of the brothers’ video has sent “In the Air Tonight” back on the charts for the first time in nearly four decades. As CNN reports, the track shot up to No. 2 on iTunes, second only to the new Cardi B-Megan Thee Stallion collab “WAP”.
Among the artists they’ve been discovering are Freddie Mercury and Queen, Luther Vandross, Tom Jones, opera star Luciano Pavarotti, and Aerosmith — but that’s just the start.
As the twins explained in a recent interview with People, the videos mark their efforts to broaden their musical horizons and discover songs they may not have otherwise heard.
“There’s more than just rap out there,” said Fred. “There’s so much more than I ever thought.”
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Added Tim: “My grandfather always used to say to me, ‘Listen to Frank Sinatra.’ You’ve got to listen to it before you judge.”
Meanwhile, their videos have earned some famous fans, including director Ava DuVernay, country music stars Dolly Parton and Blake Shelton, and actress Piper Perabo.
This has gone viral, but I’m posting anyway ‘cause it makes me smile. And if you haven’t seen it yet, maybe it’ll make you smile. And Phil has jumped to the top of iTunes ‘cause new folks are discovering and old folk are remembering how dope this song is. pic.twitter.com/fVBnedJP91
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 8, 2020
No point in begging…Jolene already stole these two 😂 @Twinsthenewtren – Team Dolly 🦋 https://t.co/T7Bt6ULlw2
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) August 7, 2020
HA! Love this.. Thanks for listening y’all!!!! @Twinsthenewtren https://t.co/Aa3n8WsD4B
— Blake Shelton (@blakeshelton) August 3, 2020
.@netflix can you make a show with @Twinsthenewtren? Short episodes like 3 songs each. I mean I love this, they are so great.
Here’s their YouTube channel til then https://t.co/qs5jYZP6Jo https://t.co/i1ezw6gX0Y
— Piper Perabo #StayHome (@PiperPerabo) August 7, 2020