My most vivid memory involving "Chandelier," Sia's 2014 power ballad to end all power ballads, occurred during my first semester of college.
I was in a friend's dorm room, standing on their couch as I belted the hit so loudly that the RA had to come by to tell us to pipe down. I probably sounded fairly similar to this cursed video I found on Twitter last night, in which Toad, everyone's favorite mushroom from the Mario universe, gives an incredibly passionate karaoke rendition of "Chandelier." Take a listen for yourself.
Those raised among the Nintendo 64 generation are likely familiar with Toad's voice: it's high-pitched and gravelly, which lends itself to very cute exclamations while zooming around Rainbow Road, but his pipes can't quite compare Sia's. The result is a ridiculous amount of hardly-intelligible screeching that had me laughing so hard I had to pause the video just to catch my breath.
The owner of Toad's hysterical singing voice is Melancholiaah, a Houston-based musician who is probably doing extreme vocal cord damage by creating these absurd covers. "toad sings chandelier," originally posted in October 2018, has racked up over 200,000 views and counting, thanks to its recent resurface on Twitter. And there's more where that came from; if you've ever wondered what Toad would sound like singing "Bohemian Rhapsody," "Let it Go" from Frozen, or "Shallow" from A Star is Born, you're in luck.
But "Chandelier" is truly Toad's magnum opus. With its bombastic chorus, the song is primed for plenty of comedic opportunities, as it's inherently hilarious when sung by anyone less adept than Sia herself.
Though, when my laughing fit finally subsided, my brain flooded with questions: how did this unlikely pairing of a cartoon mushroom and a 2014 hit come around? Was Melancholiaah already known for their Toad impressions? Are they seeing an ENT regularly to make sure their throat is still healthy? Can the general public make song requests?
Bewilderment aside, I support Toad's pop star dreams. Keep swinging.