In July 2014, “Weird Al” Yankovic released his #1 — and final — album, Mandatory Fun. So to mark the 10-year anniversary, he’s put out a four-minute polka medley, “Polkamania!,” which incorporates some of the pop hits that have become ubiquitous since he last released music. There are 12 songs in the medley, and Al says there are some interesting reasons why certain songs made it and certain songs didn’t.
The songs are as follows: “bad guy,” “Hello,” “Flowers,” “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” “vampire,” “Old Town Road,” “Despacito,” “Shape of You,” “Uptown Funk,” “WAP,” “thank u, next” and “Shake It Off.”
Al tells Vulture that of all the songs, he “really, really wanted” Megan Thee Stallion and Cardi B‘s filthy hit “WAP” in the medley. But to get permission from Cardi B, he had to go to great lengths. After her people wouldn’t get back to him, he asked Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis for help.
“And she said, ‘Oh, I just did a thing with her husband,’” Al continues. “So she had his phone number, and we texted him a video of me and Jamie Lee Curtis saying, ‘Oh, we’d love for Cardi B to give us permission to use the song.’ And apparently that worked.”
One song he really wanted but didn’t get was “Kill Bill” by SZA.
“SZA never returned our phone calls. She was the only one. I don’t know why she didn’t say yes. She didn’t say no. I just got ghosted,” says Al.
And Al says “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter — with whom he co-starred in the animated show Milo Murphy’s Law — “almost made the cut,” and his daughter wanted it in there, but they just ran out of time.
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