‘Weird Al’ Takes on Taylor Swift, Billie Eilish, Cardi B on ‘Polkamania!’ (With Their Blessing), But Gets Ghosted by SZA

Is has been 10 years since “Weird Al” Yankovic released his last album Mandatory Fun and to mark the occasion, the most successful comedy recording artist of all time gives us the gift of Polkamania! His new comedic medley (out today) is a mashup of twelve hits from the last decade that Yankovic has turned into a frenetic oompah explosion.

Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish have joined the chorus of fans that have given their blessing to be lampooned. “Most artists look at it as bit of an homage, a tribute, to get the ‘Weird Al’ parody,” Yankovic tells Los Angeles . “Some are a challenge, and some are easy. Like SZA we never heard back from at all. She just completely ghosted us. Other than that, we got every single thing that I really wanted for the medley so I’m very happy with the way it turned out.”

It took an Oscar-winning powerhouse to help land one artist. “Jamie Lee Curtis is an old friend of the family,” Yankovic says. “I was pulling my hair out because Cardi B’s representatives weren’t returning our phone calls. I just happened to say, ‘Hey Jamie, you wouldn’t happen to know Cardi B would you?’ And she said ‘No, but I just worked with her husband, and I’ve got his phone number.’ I’m like ‘What?!’ So we made a video together and that did the trick! Either it’s really easy or you have to use every connection you’ve got to get to these people and get their approval.”

The Yankovic oeuvre has always been based on us getting the joke because we all know the original song, but what happens when everybody has their own channel and there is less and less of a shared culture? “I’ve talked a lot about this,” Yankovic says. “I think ever since the ’80s, we’ve been slowly getting away from the monoculture and we’re all kind of getting into our own segmented musical scenes and it’s gotten fractured. There are still big hits and still major celebrities, but I don’t think the hits resonate these days as strongly as they did in the ’70s, ’80s or ’90s. It’s more of a challenge now because there are fewer songs that I feel like everybody knows that are just omnipresent.”

The singer’s 21-year-old daughter Nina has been as a conduit to new music. “She kinda keeps me up to date,” he says. “She plays DJ in our car and she’s ‘got the aux’ as the kids say. She plays all the new music for me.”

Lynwood’s favorite son has been making music since the 1970s, submitting a version of DJ Dr. Demento ’s theme song for a high school talent show and soon becoming a regular on the KMET radio program where all his early hits debuted.

The accordion players of his parent’s generation like Frankie Yankovic (no relation), Myron Floren and Dick Contino compelled Yankovic’s mom and dad to have him study the gadget. “By the time the ’60s rolled around it wasn’t quite the sexy instrument that it used to be,” Yankovic says. “I’m just trying to bring sexy back to the accordion. That’s my main goal. I love looking at the old Dick Contino album covers because, with no irony whatsoever, it was like him with the accordion outstretched and there’d be women draped all over him like ‘Oh! Mr. Contino play your squeezebox for us!”

Polkamania! is also a music video, a multimedia compilation of short films by animators and artists (including Bill Plympton and Liam Lynch) who each took on a song within the medley. “A couple of people on the video had done animation for a “Weird Al” tribute video that I had nothing to do with,” Yankovic says. “I thought they’re obviously fans and I love their work so I’m gonna hire them for this official one.”

Yankovic hints at the possibilities of a future tour or album or film (following the success of his Emmy-award winning parody biopic Weird: The Al Yankovic Story ) but when we mentioned internet conspiracy theorists pointing out clues about upcoming appearances, he deadpans “I cannot deny or confirm.” Aluminum is the traditional gift for a tenth anniversary, so fire up Foil from his last album Mandatory Fun , don your tinfoil hat, and buckle up for this new record.

Watch the video below: