Dylanna Fisher
Guest Written by Editha Ripoyla
Featured photograph taken by Simon Smiler
What’s a quick way to understand the Stages of Our New Corona Life?
Answer: Memes.
Well, Memes and Parodies.
Coronavirus Disease 2019… or COVID-19 for short. It’s affected us all worldwide in so many different areas of our lives. Just to name a few…
The Financial Impacts, the Mental Health Declines, Outrage, Riots, Protests, and so much more. COVID-19 has drastically contributed to a lot of the unrest and mental stress globally, directly and indirectly.
While there are many people that like to focus on the negative side, gluing their eyes to the death tolls, or decide that the lock down or face masks are nothing but an outrageous form of slavery (google at your own risk)…
We’re not one of them!
We appreciate the dark humor, the funny, the lisa simpson memes…?
Okay that might just be my personal preference… (you’ll understand the secret to the image in a bit, hold tight for the ride!)
But most of all, here on Switching Styles we like…
… Music Parodies!
It’s a fun way to spend your time indoors! And it even helps to uplifts the negative fog bogging you down, either from the people around you or your environment…
Spend it with Laughter… And terribly timed singing trying to follow the Sing-A-Long Lyrics.
Well, It’s kind of been a while since COVID-19 first shut the world down so you may not remember…
So, to refresh your memory… let’s start Stage 1:
Here, Chris Mann shares with us a hilarious, but vocally on point parody of Adele’s Song “Hello”. Since then he’s gone viral and officiated his Instagram Account to @officialchrismann, feel free to check him out!
He soulfully describes the woes of the people as COVID-19 first begins the Shelter At Home, or “Stay Home” Order.
We began with panic, anxiety, and sadness over loss of a freedom we once had…
But what came after that?
Stage 2: Acceptance.
We were trying to understand our situation… wrapping our heads around what our new lifestyle must be like to stay safe.
And for that, I’ve chosen this fun “Under the Sea” Parody called “In Quarantine” by Mark O’dea.
We’ve struggled in this stage for the longest, since it’s timeline consists of nearly the entire duration of the lock down.
It’s the acceptance of our new situation… Then the sadness of a future still far in the horizon, as we continue reacting to the dates for reopening being pushed back another two weeks… again.
Okay, there’s kind of two parts with this stage…
The first part, sung by Mark O’dea aka Sebastian, talks about how isolation can still be fun.
Keeping us healthy, not needing to wear clothes or put on makeup, and bingeing Netflix all day. All parts of our own inner dialogue as we try to accept our current state of affairs.
The second part of the acceptance stage, is…
Well… reverting to melancholy.
This part of acceptance is conveyed by the Little Mermaid Parody from the song “Part of Your World“. This song called “Part of Outside” sung by Ariel aka @rapunzelrules on Instagram. She sings about a life without restrictions, a life without “Corona”.
In this long stage we tend to switch back and forth between these two sides of the acceptance stage. Reacting to the news we see and hear. It’s a fun stage that has heavily contributed to our new bipolar tendencies.
So, what comes after the long months of the Bipolar Stage?
The Shelter in Place Order, or Stay Home Order, was lifted for a good chunk of the USA. Lots of industries and many businesses both big and small were required to study hygienic procedures and safety precautions in order to reopen.
With that, many people were back to work in no time!
For this stage I decided to indulge a little of my childhood favorite, the Backstreet Boys. This Backstreet Boys Parody, features a comical remix of the songs “I Want It That Way” and “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)“. You might recognize the singers of this parody.
This funny 5 minute parody, Chris Mann (yes, from the first video) now walks us through the stages of relief with more states opening up their doors as we move from Stage 2 to Stage 3. Chris Mann lightly goes over some of the concerns on what this newfound freedom actually means.
Can we leave our homes? In some states… Can we jog around the neighborhood? As long as you wear a mask! Are restaurants open?
… Kind of.
What do I mean by that?
Well, most restaurants are switching to Outdoors Dining. Some have switched entirely to Take Out Only if they don’t have the space required to maintain safe distances while eating… (since you know… we can’t wear a mask and eat at the same time…)
Yeah, that’s a little scary… But if you like scary, go ahead and click the source link above.
Here in the United States, specifically California (where Chris, AJ and I are from), we were in Stage 2 of the Resilience Roadmap. This is what we call our “Stages of Re-Opening”. There are 4 levels of Reopening, with the fourth stage being the End Of Stay Home Order.
So this video marks the move from Stage 2 to Stage 3… the last stage before true freedom.
Stage 3 meant that all High-Risk Businesses had to be trained for proper hygienic control, or take infection prevention courses, as well as be properly equipped by infection prevention standards to resume work.
As you can see from the video, everyone was excited! Everyone was happy to go back to work, and stop the suffocating accumulation of debt from unpaid bills crushing them from the comfort of their homes.
And finally… Our Last Stage…
Immediate shut down of high risk businesses, and a reversion back to the Stage 2 Stay Home Order…
That’s right folks, moving to Stage 3 was a bad move. We were seeing a plateau of COVID-19 cases, instead of a spike of new cases, which is usually the sign that a disease is reaching is peak before it dies off. But with a plateau… and no real change happening, this meant that there was more to come if we were to open back up the country.
But the people were angry and protesting, the words of the people and businesses could not be ignored for much longer. Seeing no changes in new cases, people were becoming outraged at the government believing the Virus to “Not Be That Bad.”
Many Doctors and Researchers with the World Health Organization, argued with each other and the people constantly asking for their opinions on the matter. They revealed time and time again, that we would only see a massive spike in deaths if we were to reopen hastily…
Well… No one really watches the news anymore (and if they do its part of the conspiracy maaaan…), so their voices were nothing but mumbling under the screams of protests.
So without further delay…
For this reversion back to Stage 2, where we are currently at here in late July 2020…
I chose this hilarious Outkast Parody of the song, “Hey Ya!” and if you haven’t see the original video, it makes it just a little more funny.
Quick Warning: This is a little more on the Satire Side.
Don’t forget to wear a mask everyone!
And stay safe!
Discover more from Switching Styles Music Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.