LadBaby’s ‘joke’ of a song tops charts

“It was the maddest, craziest week of my life.”This is how YouTube video blogger Mark Hoyle described the build up to his achieving the coveted UK Christmas week chart-topping single with a song about sausage rolls.“It all started as a joke,” smiled 31-year-old Mark, better known under his YouTube moniker of LadBaby. “Anyone who follows my YouTube blog is well aware of how much I enjoy eating sausage rolls. One of my followers suggested I loved sausage rolls so much that I should do a song about them.”Mark’s culinary taste is only a byproduct of his blog. His LadBaby persona was developed to share the experiences of being a first time father.“My basic idea was to maybe find some new mates who were in a similar situation. The blog name came about from my always being ‘one of the lads’ but now having a baby son so I combined lad and baby.“I thought some videos about being a new dad and interacting with my son might get me a few followers. I had no idea that it would take off in the way that it has.”The official LadBaby YouTube channel boasts nearly half a million subscribers while Mark’s videos have racked up almost 55 million views. His blog invites viewers to follow the journey of Mark and his wife Roxanne into responsible parenthood as he tries to transition from lad to dad.“As I say on the blog, the road to responsible parenting is never easy, especially when you haven’t really got a clue about what you’re doing. The videos are an honest approach to first time fatherhood.”The videos combine humour with practicality. The one in which he replaced his son’s lunchbox with a much cheaper toolbox went viral.“I’d lost my little lad’s lunchbox. My wife wasn’t too happy about this and sent me out to get a replacement. There were all these things in the shop with the cheapest being about ten GBP.“I wasn’t prepared to pay that much so I got the idea of buying a small, plastic toolbox for four GBP and using the little compartments in this for food rather than nails, screws and small tools. The other side even doubles up as a box for his little toys.”This is just one of the money saving tips in LadBaby videos. They proved so popular that Mark and Roxanne published a book, LadBaby: Parenting for £1...and other Baby Budget Hacks.Mark’s chart success with his reworked version of Starship’s 1985 hit, We Built This City, is just the latest in an ever growing list of accomplishments. His LadBaby blog was a finalist in the Fresh Voice category at the 2017 Brilliance in Blogging Awards. He then overcame the likes of Prince William, Liam Payne and Simon Cowell to be named as the Clas Ohlson Celebrity Dad of the Year for 2018.“The Celebrity Dad thing was an online poll so I give full credit to my awesome army of followers who all made it their mission to help me take home the award. I thought it would take a miracle but they did it. The boxer Anthony Joshua was also one of the candidates so I became the first person to beat him.”Promoting We Built This City came naturally to Mark. He and Roxanne have made several appearances on television. In addition to those which arose from his LadBaby videos, other social media posts and Celebrity Dad award, the couple took part in Channel 4’s Hidden Talent series.“That was back in 2012. Rox was very much the star that time. We went along to the day of testing in London and they discovered she could hold her breath for a long time.“She ended up doing free diving. That’s diving under water for an incredible length of time without breathing apparatus. She went to Egypt for training and ended up diving down 35 metres and holding her breath for nearly four and a half minutes.”At that time an art director for an advertising agency, Roxanne gave up work after giving birth to Phoenix Forest in 2016. The couple’s much reduced income saw them fall on hard times. So much so that they considered using a food bank.The development of LadBaby transformed their financial situation. But their previous predicament is why all proceeds from We Built This City will be donated to The Trussell Trust, a charity which operates 420 food banks across Britain and provides emergency food to people who are referred for support.“I can’t thank everyone enough. Not just for buying the song but for raising so much money for such an incredible charity.”Although it topped Billboard’s Hot 100 and was a big hit throughout much of the world, Starship’s original version of We Built This City stalled at number 12 on the UK chart.Despite all the chart success and a Grammy nomination, Rolling Stone named We Built This City as the worst song of the 1980s. The margin was so wide that the magazine suggested it was “the biggest blow-out victory in the history of the Rolling Stone Readers Poll.”Gentlemen’s Quarterly magazine went even further. They claimed We Built This City was “the most detested song in human history” and declared it the worst of all time.Much of this criticism stemmed from the original lyrics. One wonders what those critics would make of Mark’s new lyrics in praise of sausage rolls.“They might think my lyrics are better! The song has a great tune though. It’s perfect to dance around to at any Christmas party.”Will Mark be releasing a follow-up single or even an album?“I think people will probably have heard enough of my singing voice. I won’t say I’ll never do another song because you don’t know what might happen in the future. But we had another baby a few months ago, Kobe Notts, so I think he and his brother will probably keep me fully occupied and supply much more material for my LadBaby blog.”Nick Jonas / Priyanka Chopra / Miley Cyrus / Meghan TrainorThere must have been something about the approach of Christmas which persuaded some pop star couples to add permanence to their relationships.Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra got the ball rolling. They exchanged vows during a pair of wedding ceremonies both staged at the Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. The first was a Christian ceremony on December 1 followed by a Hindu service one day later.Miley Cyrus and actor Liam Hemsworth have also tied the knot. The couple lost their Malibu home during the California wildfires in November and are now living in Franklin, Tennessee. But, their displacement did not prevent the staging of an unpublicised, low-key marriage ceremony attended by family and close friends.The couple began dating as long ago as 2009. They have had an on-off relationship becoming engaged in 2012 and splitting up the following year. 2015 saw them get back together but the path to true love has not been smooth with further reported break-ups and reconciliations.There have been no such dramas in the relationship of singer / songwriter Meghan Trainor and actor Daryl Sabara. The couple were introduced by mutual friend Chloe Grace Moretz and became engaged in December, 2017. One year later, they were married at their Los Angeles home before 100 family members and friends.Meghan enjoyed a big hit single in 2015 with her song, Dear Future Husband. Daryl referenced the lyrics when he said; “I’m no longer the ‘future hubby.’ I now get to just be the hubby, which I’m excited about.”Mariah CareyMariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You has set yet another record.After becoming the highest-charting seasonal single for 60 years on Billboard’s Hot 100, the song set a new one-day mark for streams on Spotify. Mariah’s classic track, which is now 24 years old, was streamed 10,819,009 times on Christmas Eve.This figure easily surpassed the previous one-day record of 10.4 million streams which was held by rap star XXXTentacion with his track, SAD. This mark was set on June 19, 2018, the day after he was murdered.Mariah’s All I Want For Christmas Is You video has now registered more than 530 million views on YouTube. It is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXQViqx6GMYRemy MaThere is relieving news of American rapper Remy Ma. Real name Reminisce Mackie, she suffered medical complications after giving birth to her first child with husband MC Papoose. Remy, 38, required a blood transfusion and had to undergo a surgical procedure after what Papoose described as “a tough labour.”But Remy is now out of hospital, resting and recovering at home with her family. She is also able to respond to the thousands of her social media followers who made contact to express their concern and send best wishes.Remy and Papoose, real name Shamele Mackie, starred in the reality TV show, Meet The Mackies last October. The three episodes basically covered how the couple were preparing for the birth of their baby. The positive ratings should ensure a second series charting recent events and the first few months of their new daughter’s life.