Forget

Album: Black Sheep (2020)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this pop anthem, Nikki Yanofsky is rising above the people who tried to keep her down. The jazz-turned-pop singer first gained acclaim when she sang at the Montreal International Jazz Festival at just 12 years old in 2006. Four years later, she topped the Canadian Hot 100 with "I Believe," the theme song to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. For the haters who thought she couldn't succeed, Nikki sings: "You would only see what I couldn't be, Now, you're never gon' forget about me."
  • The music video finds Yanofsky transforming into popular memes, including the Ermahgerd Girl, the Confused Math Lady, the Distracted Boyfriend, and the Rickroll. The singer told Songfacts how she came up with the idea for a meme-themed video: "Throughout my career, I have faced people who didn't get me. I felt overlooked, and doubted. My voice was always an instrument for someone else to play. Telling me what I should look and sound like. That had me feeling like a caricature of myself. No matter how hard I tried to be seen, I couldn't get through. I came up with the concept to use memes as a parallel. Images of people we simply can't unsee, impressions of people we can't ignore."
  • One meme that didn't make the video was Side Eyeing Chloe, which features a little girl who shoots a skeptical glance at the camera. "I felt like that would have been too hard to get across," the singer laughed.
  • Yanofsky on the album title: "The goal of the album was to ignore all the labels that have been stuck on me and the boxes I've been put into to make something from the heart. Sometimes all it takes for you to become the 'black sheep' is for people to believe that you are one, and once someone has their mind made up about you, whether it's merited or not, everything you do fuels that idea."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real Group

Modern A Cappella with Peder Karlsson of The Real GroupSong Writing

The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

David Sancious

David SanciousSongwriter Interviews

Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.

Don Dokken

Don DokkenSongwriter Interviews

Dokken frontman Don Dokken explains what broke up the band at the height of their success in the late '80s, and talks about the botched surgery that paralyzed his right arm.

Female Singers Of The 90s

Female Singers Of The 90sMusic Quiz

The ladies who ruled the '90s in this quiz.

Brandi Carlile

Brandi CarlileSongwriter Interviews

As a 5-year-old, Brandi was writing lyrics to instrumental versions lullabies. She still puts her heart into her songs, including the one Elton John sings on.