PicoBlog

If you’re anything like me, then you too are relieved to have finally restocked your supply of fiber capsules. And perhaps, also like me, you have fallen asleep each night and awoken each morning of the past two weeks with the same song playing in your head - “Sitting” (feat. TJ Mack) [Josh Mac Version] by Brian Jordan Alvarez.

As the old proverb sayeth, “The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” If you haven’t already heard the song, then just stop reading this and go stream it on your favorite platform.

Here are the full lyrics for your reference.

Sitting! Sitting is the opposite of standing, Sitting is the opposite of running around - Sitting is a wonderful thing to do. Because you sitting! Sitting is the opposite of standing on your head, Sitting is the opposite of hanging from a barbell - Sitting is a wonderful thing. I got one thing to say: I think that sitting is something that people say it is bad. But you know that sitting is actually good because you deserve to relax. It’s kinda like a nap, It’s kinda like something else but it is actually Just sitting! Sitting is the opposite of standing, Sitting is the opposite of running around, But you deserve to sit.

Okay, great. Now that you’ve listened (and thank you, by the way, for returning to read on), I’m sure you heard what so many before you have heard - a necessary anthem for our times masquerading as a catchy little offhand jingle.

When you type “Sitting” into the search bar, a number of songs come up. “Sitting in the Park,” “Sittin’ On the Dock of the Bay,” “Sitting, Waiting, Wishing” - all of which are a bit whiny. They frame the act of sitting as an act of despair, something to do when a path you hoped your life would follow is no longer accessible. Mr. Alvarez offers a different reason for plopping your buttocks somewhere comfy: You deserve to relax.

I think one reason the song is so resonant is that this was a lesson many of us learned while the world was shut down during the height of the pandemic. I’m going to completely gloss over the massive human suffering and admit that there were plenty of days during that stretch that I was having a really nice time. I was just…hanging out at home with my wife and cat, talking to my friends about absolutely nothing and everything. Sitting is a wonderful thing to do.

There were many lessons from the pandemic that I fear we didn’t meaningfully learn, and in our eagerness to repress the whole thing and make up for lost time we have forgotten that “sitting is actually good.” Alvarez’s song is a poignant flash card reminding us of that fact.

The power of the song stems from its simplicity but also from its silliness. One commenter noted that it is “pure source energy.” One need only scroll down BJA’s Instagram page to see a host of covers in different styles, from choral to barbershop to heavy metal to indie - regardless of genre, “Sitting” always manages to stand proud. In our hustle hustle hustle world, Mr. Alvarez and his friend Josh Mac have put something into words that we have been longing to say for ourselves: I do not need to run around all the time. I do not need to be standing on my head. I do not need to be hanging from a barbell. I deserve to do the opposite of that. I deserve to sit.

Who is this guy, and how did he manage to create the “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take it anymore!” of the current moment?

In November 2020, BJA went viral with an extremely convincing Aussie accent and wound up on the Australian morning news. I was amused and, wanting to surf the breaking waves of future antics, followed brianjordanalvarez on Instagram. Once again, the proof of the pudding is in the eating - on a deep dive through his archives you will meet a whole cast of characters, each with his or her own signature facial distortion filter, voice, rich backstory, some form of significant other be it wife, husband, sister - and hopes, dreams, and obstacles.

I do not know how he does it, but he is able to infiltrate my social media feed every day with something new without pissing me off. He is far too prolific to be agonizing over these posts. My guess is it takes him about ten minutes from conception to posting - I hypothesize that he cycles through the different filters until it feels like one of his characters has something to say, once he’s figured out how he’s going to begin he hits record, and then whatever comes out comes out, and then he uploads it. That is my legitimate guess for how his process works. And if it is more painstaking than that, well, then that’s impressive in a different way.

Laura and I have a friend named Stefan in Australia who runs an animation studio. One time we were talking about the creative process and Stefan told me that the sometimes frustrating thing about making things and putting them out is that you never know what people are going to like. He could spend months working on something trying to get it just right and when it’s released, no one cares. And then he could think of something while eating breakfast, put it out by lunch, and the crowd goes wild. You can’t know, so you have to focus on and enjoy the process.

Brian’s following has grown and I’ve seen different characters take on lives of their own as meme fodder for other content creators. I know his foreign exchange student character has racked up quite a few impressions but I believe this TJ Mack ditty is the most engaged with creation to date. Brian opens his phone, selects the TJ filter, makes up a song on the spot, posts it, people love it, a guy named Josh Mac tinkers with the tuning and adds background music, and now it’s a smash hit on Spotify and Apple Music and is playing on the freakin’ radio and Brandon Borror-Chappell is writing about on the critically acclaimed BBC Report! This is real power, folks.

I don’t know Brian Jordan Alvarez personally but I thoroughly enjoy his creative output and I encourage you all to hop aboard the BJA Express. We’re all having a great time here. Thank you Brian!

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