No one is safe from a good old-fashioned ‘Rickroll’ – not even the singer himself.
The 1987 billboard topper “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been revitalized to its prime days via the internet trend better known as ‘getting Rickrolled’. Rick Astley, the singer of the song, originally wasn’t happy about his hit being turned into a meme.
Putting a humorous spin on what’s better known as ‘clickbait’, people are tricked into clicking a hyperlink that interests them, but the link leads to the music video of the hit single. Since this trend began, the video has reached more than 1 billion views on YouTube.
Astley’s daughter had to help him warm up to the trend, as he admitted it annoyed him when it first began. In a recent interview with Fox News, he was asked about getting ‘Rickrolled’ himself and whether he’s ever pranked someone else with it. His friend from California was the first to prank him with the video, Astley told Fox, “…before I even knew what it was.”
“I’m just like, ‘Why is he sending me this?’ And my video just suddenly shows up. So I kelp asking myself, ‘What is he doing?’ I remember I was on holiday [with my family] in Italy at the time. I was totally chilled out and I just kept saying to myself, ‘I don’t need this in my life right now,’” he recalled.
“I just thought it was really weird,” Astley continued. “[My friend] works in music…with a lot of guys who are younger than him. So obviously, they’re right on the top of everything all the time. Here’s a friend of mine who lives on a different continent and is sending me a video that then clicks into my song. It was just really weird, and it was something difficult for me to get my head around at first,” he admitted. “Let’s face it, that video is from a long time ago…and I look like I’m 11 years old and wearing my dad’s overcoat. I just didn’t get it at first.”
He then joked that he has “professionally ‘Rickrolled’ people many times.”
“Never Gonna Give You Up” will always hold a special place in Astley’s heart. “It gave me the life I’ve got. It gave me everything. I still travel the world because of it. I’m coming to America next year for gigs and stuff because of it. I can’t complain,” he said.
Astley sought a “totally private life” and quit singing for a while up until 15 years ago, when he started singing again and realized that people still hold the song close to their hearts. “The first time I ever sang that song was in Tokyo. People there still love it. It brings back wonderful memories,” he reflected.
“Thank heavens for that song and what came after it because it was game-changing. It totally changed our lives. And it continues to do so,” Astley said.