This Viral Song Is So Bad It Might Be Genius

Please explain what Sarah Brand's 'Red Dress' is, exactly, because we can't
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2021 12:56 PM CDT

It's Friday, so what better time to talk about the video that's sent the internet (and our eardrums) into a tizzy. The viral clip in question is "Red Dress" by Sarah Brand, who describes herself on her site as a "director and writer" from LA, as well as a graduate student studying sociology at Oxford. Notably missing from that descriptor is "singer," which aligns with the reaction to her song and its accompanying video, which Decider deems "cringey" and the AV Club calls "bizarre." Newsweek, meanwhile, is left scratching its head over the "confusion" brought about by Brand's creative efforts, which feature her vamping for the camera in said red dress, in a church, while singing incredibly off-key about the injustices of religion. While the video quality for the Brand-penned song—which she also directed, produced, choreographed, and edited—is ... fine, the singing is so bad that some are wondering if it's all an elaborate joke, or perhaps part of Brand's sociology research.

An earlier video uploaded by Brand is similarly odd, and viewers have taken to social media to try to figure out what's going on. "This young woman is either the next Andy Kaufman or next level delusional. I'm choosing to believe this is performance art," one Facebook commenter wrote. Another asked directly, "Is this a sociology experiment?" To which a fellow Facebook user replied: "It's anything you want it to be." Others say it may simply be form of untraditional "outsider music" that most of us just don't get, per Newsweek. Although it's not clear what Brand's actual intentions were in making the video—which has accrued more than a half million views since it debuted three weeks ago and earned her comparisons to Rebecca Black of "Friday" fame—it's apparent from her responses online that she's aware of the reaction to it and is taking it all in good humor. Which doesn't exactly clear up what her intentions were for the video, but whatever. (More strange stuff stories.)

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