Bill Wurtz

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Not to be confused with Bill Wertz or Bill Wirtz.

Bill Wurtz

Wurtz's YouTube icon

Background information

Genres Jazz-pop

 Singer-songwriter
Occupation(s)
 multi-instrumentalist

 animator

 internet personality

Instrument(s)  Vocals
 keyboards

 bass guitar

 drums

Website billwurtz.com

YouTube information

Channel  billwurtz

Years active 2002–present

Genre  Music video

 surreal humour

 comedy
 Subscribers 5.22 million[1]

Total views 674 million[1]

show
Creator Awards

Last updated: July 21, 2022

Bill Wurtz (stylized in lower case as bill wurtz or billwurtz) is an American musician,

singer-songwriter, animator, video editor, and internet personality based in New York
City. He is known for his distinctive musical, comedic, and narrative style which
includes deadpan delivery and singing paired with colorful surrealist, psychedelic,
and non-sequitur graphics.
Wurtz first published material on YouTube in 2013. He set up a website in 2014,
presenting a catalog of music and videos he had created since 2002. Wurtz proceeded
to upload edited versions of his videos on Vine, where he gained his initial popularity.
He experienced breakout success on YouTube with his animated videos, History of
Japan (2016), and History of the Entire World, I Guess (2017). Wurtz released music
videos regularly from 2017 to March 2019. Through the rest of 2019 and all of 2020,
Wurtz was inactive on YouTube, returning to the platform in January 2021 with a new
visual style of 3D animation.

Contents

 1Career
o 1.1Vine videos
o 1.2YouTube
 1.2.1History of Japan
 1.2.2History of the Entire World, I Guess
o 1.3Music
 2Style
o 2.1Music
o 2.2Videos
 3Website
o 3.1Questions page
 4Awards
 5Discography
o 5.1Albums
o 5.2EPs
o 5.3Music videos
o 5.4Other songs
 6Notes
 7References
o 7.1Bill Wurtz's questions page
 o 7.2Other sources
 8External links

Career[edit]
Vine videos[edit]
Wurtz was first known for his presence on the short-form video-sharing website Vine,[2]
[3]
 where he first gained a following in 2014.[4] He began by taking short videos he had
previously published to his website and re-editing them to fit Vine's six-second
restriction.[4] Before transitioning fully to YouTube, Wurtz was uploading a video to Vine
nearly every day.[5] He received early attention in 2015 for the short video "Shaving My
Piano", which was covered briefly in The Verge.[6] On April 11, 2016, Wurtz won
the Shorty Award for "Tech & Innovation: Weird" at the 8th Shorty Awards; during the
awards ceremony, attention was given to one of his Vine uploads "I'm Still a Piece of
Garbage".[7]
YouTube[edit]
History of Japan[edit]
Alongside interest on Vine, Wurtz achieved wider popularity in 2016 with History of
Japan, a nine-minute YouTube video that outlines Japan's history.[8] The video covers
key events of its history: "Buddhism, internal conflict, alliances with Britain, World War
I, World War II, the dropping of atomic bombs and its post-war economic miracle".[9] It
showcases Wurtz's quirky visual and comedic style through a mixture of fast-paced
narration and animation, intercut with short musical jingles. The video was described as
"an entertaining new approach to education". [10] It went viral on social media after its
release on February 2, 2016, and under a week later, received over four million views
by February 8.[9] It particularly received considerable attention on Tumblr[2] and Reddit.
[8]
 As of August 2021, the video has over 68 million views. Writer German Lopez for the
news website Vox called it a "strange", "pretty good – and surprisingly funny" video.
Nevertheless, Lopez noted the poor coverage of Japanese war crimes committed
against Korea and China in the 20th century, particularly the Nanjing Massacre and the
use of Korean sex slaves, and attributed this omission to the video's short runtime.
[11]
 Wurtz has responded to these criticisms on his questions page, suggesting to viewers
to look for other YouTube channels that cover these topics. [q 1]
History of the Entire World, I Guess[edit]

External video

 history of japan, YouTube video or download

 history of the entire world, i guess, YouTube video or download

Wurtz released a 20-minute overview of world history, History of the Entire World, I
Guess, on May 10, 2017.[12] The video took over 11 months to produce, including almost
3 months of research[5] – it briefly covers the topics of natural history and
human civilization spanning from the Big Bang to the near future.[13] The video marked
the continued development of Wurtz's cinematic style, with fast-paced, absurdist humor
and jazz-like musical interludes.[14]
History of the Entire World, I Guess was the top video on the YouTube trending page on
the day of its release, receiving 3.2 million views on its first day, and on Reddit it
became the most upvoted YouTube link of all time. [3][15] It became an Internet
meme[16] and was listed at eighth place on YouTube's list of the top 10 trending videos of
the year.[17] As of March 2022, it has over 141 million views.[18] Writer German Lopez for
the news website Vox praised the video for not heavily focusing on western and US
history, and successfully covering other areas in world history which may be neglected
in US schools, such as powers in China, Persia, and India. [19] Because it resists
specialization and assembles history in chronological order starting from the beginning
of the Universe, history of the entire world, i guess can be considered a work of Big
History, and is probably one of the most popular works associated with the discipline. It
has been called a "must-see"[20] and is considered to be Wurtz's magnum opus.[4][12] In
2020, Thrillist ranked the video at number 40 on its list of best YouTube videos of all
time.[21]
Music[edit]
Wurtz's song "Just Did a Bad Thing" and the accompanying video
spawned TikTok videos of people lip-syncing to the opening lines; in the platform,
#ididabadthing became the top hashtag of March 2019. [22][23] Following this, Wurtz would
only post four more videos before his break, ending with "Might Quit". After "Might Quit"
was released, Wurtz would not post any new videos to YouTube for nearly two years.

Style[edit]
Wurtz has developed an absurdist, surreal style on both his music and animation.[24]
[25]
 Eddie Kim wrote for MEL Magazine that Wurtz "refuses to mimic anyone else's
animation or musical style, but it's not weird for weirdness' sake alone", comparing him
to Thundercat and Louis Cole and highlighting Wurtz's pretty pop melodies, unexpected
chords and multi-layered rhythms as commonalities. [4] Geoff Carter of Las Vegas
Weekly stated: "Merge Don Hertzfeldt, Jenny Holzer and Thundercat and you might get
someone a little bit like Bill Wurtz".[20] Nick Douglas of Lifehacker summarized him as
"somewhere between comedy and education and vaporwave."[26]
Music[edit]
Wurtz's music has been classified as jazz-pop, incorporating elements of lo-fi
music, smooth jazz, funk and easy listening.[4][27] Wurtz tends to reject genre
categorization,[q 2][q 3] and does not consider himself to be a jazz musician. [q 4] Overall, his
music evokes malaise, self-deprecation, and a "blurring of the lines between irony,
parody and honesty".[28] This is often paired comedically with dire circumstances or
sobering undertones.[29] In an interview with Genius, Wurtz stated that "it's a good...
songwriting technique to write about something bad with a good sounding melody,
because if you can get people to feel good about something bad, then you're bulletproof
in life."[30]: 0:00:46  Wurtz's voice has been described as "silky tenor with range and energy".
[4]
 Artists who have expressed admiration for Wurtz's music include indie musicians Daði
Freyr[31] and Sidney Gish,[32] fellow YouTube musician Adam Neely,[33]: 1:25:50  DJ and
producer Porter Robinson,[34] as well as Australian singer Sia.[35]
'[Music] theory' may be fun, but it's made of liquid and has a tendency to melt. The music comes first and then you figure out
how to describe what happened, although fully describing it can never be done. One of the classical composers said 'We will
never understand music, but music understands us readily and instantly'.
Bill Wurtz, interview from Bass Guitar magazine[36]

Wurtz started playing music at a very early age.[q 5] He has claimed to be "wholly self-
taught" as a musician, and regularly downplays the importance of music theory in
songwriting and composition, insisting that the sound and feel of music should be
prioritized over attempts to conform to theory.[36] In fact, one of the defining
characteristics of Wurtz's style is a subversion to conventional approaches to
composition. One example is "I Wanna Be a Movie Star", highlighted in an article for the
student newspaper The Harbinger, where the author praised Wurtz's skill in
incorporating complex time signatures[note 1] without causing the music to feel "either
incomplete or too long", instead achieving a sound that "feel[s] completely natural" and
"pop-ish".[29]
Wurtz has used different programs to edit his music, including GarageBand from 2009
to 2010,[q 7] and long-discontinued Logic Express 9 until at least 2016.[38]
Videos[edit]
Wurtz's videos are typically in a lo-fi,[39] neon[2] aesthetic, and have been described
as surreal[25] and psychedelic.[5][10] They range from "nonsensical" shorts to animated
music videos,[39] and often involve deadpan humor, dancing stick figures, vaporwave-like
transitions[4] and neon, sans-serif text on-screen.[24] Wurtz often follows similar patterns in
his videos such as multi-layering,[5] and clip art images.[39] He has stated the low-budget
quality arose out of a necessity to publish videos regularly and evolved naturally. [5]: 0:35:27 
At Vidcon 2018, Wurtz was asked why his style is so different from other YouTube
musicians. He stated that he chooses to "live under a rock" and produce his music in
isolation rather than take inspiration from other creators on the platform. [40] Wurtz publicly
struggles with perfectionism, making use of schedules and deadlines to overcome it. [5] In
response to a fan question he explained that in the process of doing this he has "been
forced to become an expert on carelessness".[q 8]
Wurtz is decidedly against running advertising on or accepting sponsorships for his
videos, despite admitting an "enormous" pressure to do so. [4][39] He has explained that
advertisements make him "uncomfortable"[5] and that he thinks they "suck".[39] As a result,
all of Wurtz's videos and music are available for free on his website. [citation needed] Wurtz does
receive direct fan support, which includes crowdfunding on Patreon,[3] streams on music
streaming services, and merchandise sales,[39][5]: 0:44:15  but does not heavily promote any of
these revenue streams.[5]
From his first video up until early 2019, Wurtz used Final Cut Express 4, a program that
was discontinued as far back as in 2011. [5][41] In 2019, he switched to Final Cut Pro X.[q 9][q
10]
 Wurtz also taught himself the 3D animation software Blender, which enabled him to
create significantly more complex and realistic graphics for his videos. [q 11]

Website[edit]
While Wurtz has a larger audience on external platforms like YouTube, he is the most
active on his own website, billwurtz.com.[citation needed] Despite being launched in 2014, it has
been compared to a late 1990s website due to its simple design. [39] Apart from containing
all of his released songs and most of his videos dating back since 2002, [4] the website
also features many other types of content not available elsewhere. This includes a
questions page, as well as an anagram page, where Wurtz allows fans to request words
or phrases out of which he creates anagrams.[42] Additionally, Wurtz vlog-style 'reality'
videos depicting his creative process.[4]
Questions page[edit]
Bill Wurtz maintains a section on his website to answer anonymously submitted
questions. Wurtz used to have an Ask.fm page,[43] but he discontinued it and created his
own questions page to allow for complete anonymous questions and to avoid ads. [q 12] His
answers to questions are considered an aspect of Wurtz's creative output; the style of
his answers have been described as "verging on the poetic" [39] and "earnest, if somewhat
loopy-sounding".[4] One such answer, highlighted in by the website Ok Whatever,
addresses a question concerning Wurtz's personality: [39]
10.9.18  7:48 pm how the heck are you so gosh darn wacky?
i'm just trying to be reasonable[q 13][39]

Awards[edit]
Nomine
Year Award Category Result Ref.
e

2016 Shorty Awards Tech & Innovation: Best in Weird Bill Wurtz Won [7]

Discography[edit]
From 2009 to 2014, Wurtz self-released his music on Bandcamp. Since then, he has
eschewed the album format.[44][45]
Albums[edit]
 What the Fuck (2010)
 Church Sessions (2010)
 The Summertime (2010)
  Fun Music (2011)
EPs[edit]
 Yikes (2009)
 The Song Song (2009)
 Guerilla Myspace Project (2009)
 Bach Garageband (2010)
 Burger King Spring (2010)
 April Flowers (2010)
 It's All About the Ladies (2010)
 Fly July (2010)
 Short Butt Suites (2010)
 Fall Sprawl (2010)
 Murder Your Demon (2011)
 When is it Time to Come Home Again? (2011)
 Soap Boat (2011)
 Love (2011)
 Pain (2011)
 Hi-Bye (New Shorts) (2013)
 New School (2014)
 We Could Just Get Right (2014)
 Eat Dirt Shorts (2014)
 My Next Album (2014)
 High Enough (2014)
Music videos[edit]
Since March 2014, Wurtz has published numerous full-length music videos, following
the same format as his shorter videos. He has made them available on his YouTube
channel:

Views
Year Name (millions)[note
2]

2014 "I'm Sad" 0.3

"I'm a Diamond" 1.7

"Barf On Me" 0.1

 Views
Year Name (millions)[note
2]

"Feel Okay" 0.2

"Dance The" 0.2

"Tape Deck" 0.1

"New Canaan" 0.7

"Still Silly" 0.1

"I Like" 0.3

"Tuesday" 0.3

"Icy James" 0.1

"I'm Confused (I Love You)" 1.1

"Blind (To no Avail)" 0.2

"Hey Jodie Foster" 0.1

"I'm Crazy / It's Raining" 1.3

2015 "You're Free to Do Whatever You Want to" 1.8

"School" 11.4
 Views
Year Name (millions)[note
2]

2016 "Alphabet Shuffle" 7.6

"I Wanna Be A Movie Star" 3.9

2017
"Outside" 6.1

2018 "La De Da De Da De Da De Day Oh" 13.0

"And the Day Goes On" 7.5

"Hello Sexy Pants" 3.3

"Hallelujah" 1.8

"I'm Best Friends with my Own Front Door" 3.0

"Mount St. Helens Is About to Blow Up" 8.0

"The Moon Is Made of Cheese (But I Can't Taste It)" 3.7

"When I Get Older" 2.5

"Long Long Long Journey" 3.1

"Slow Down" 2.3

"Christmas Isn't Real" 2.2

 Views
Year Name (millions)[note
2]

"Just Did a Bad Thing" 8.8

"At the Airport Terminal" 2.9

2019
"Might Quit" 13.4

"Here Comes the Sun" 8.8

"I'm a Princess" 3.6

2021
"Got Some Money" 4.4

"More Than a Dream" 1.8

2022 "I'm Scared" 2.0

"Fly Around" 1.0

"9 8 7" 0.9

"At the Corner Store" 0.8

"If the World Doesn't End" 0.7

"I'm a Huge Gamer Most of the Time" 1.0

"The Ground Plane" 0.5

 Views
Year Name (millions)[note
2]

"Meet Me in September" 0.4

"I Like to Wear Soft Clothing" 0.2

Other songs[edit]
Wurtz has published many other full-length songs not accompanied by music videos.
They are all available on his website, [46] and some are also available on streaming
services. Songs include:
2009

 "The Song Song" (August 10, 2009)

 "15 Minutes" (November 28, 2009)
2010

 "Be Free and Don't Sell Records" (July 8, 2010)

 "Desk and Chair" (July 15, 2010)
 "Song 41" (August 26, 2010)
 "2010" (September 7, 2010)
 "Eat Bread (Feel Sure)" (September 13, 2010)
 "The Trees" (October 14, 2010)
 "I'm About to Graduate from School" (November 7, 2010)
 "Fever" (November 11, 2010)
 "Dream of Evil" (November 24, 2010)
2011

 "Murder Your Demon" (January 14, 2011)

 "Dumpies" (January 25, 2011)
 "Blue Boy" (May 22, 2011)
 "How Am I Spost" (May 22, 2011)
 "Home Again" (May 23, 2011)
 "The Stupid Song" (June 1, 2011)
 "No Place like Home" (June 16, 2011)
 "Do the Thing" (June 20, 2011)
 "I Love You" (June 20, 2011)
 "Go to the Store" (June 24, 2011)
 "(What) Love Is" (July 11, 2011)
  "Do What You Want to Do" (July 15, 2011)
 "All U Need Is Love" (August 2, 2011)
 "The World" (September 2, 2011)
 "Home" (September 9, 2011)
 "I Guess I've Got to Listen to Bob Marley" (September 23, 2011)
 "Stupid Song" (September 26, 2011)
2014

 "Textin on my iPhone" (February 12, 2014)

 "Rabbit Snakes" (February 26, 2014)
 "The Future Song" (March 5, 2014)
 "We Could Just Get High" (March 19, 2014)
 "I'm in Bryant Park" (March 26, 2014)
 "It's Gonna Be Alright" (April 23, 2014)
 "Write a Song on the Count of 3" (May 28, 2014)
 "This Is a Song for my Next Album" (June 11, 2014)
 "Goo Soup" (July 9, 2014)
 "I Wanna Sail You Away" (July 23, 2014)
 "I Can Play" (September 3, 2014)
 "The Road" (September 17, 2014)
2017

 "In California" (May 30, 2017)

 "I Love You" (June 6, 2017)
 "Got to Know What's Going On" (June 20, 2017)
Furthermore, Wurtz has published a myriad of shorter songs or jingles on his website
ranging from a couple of seconds to up to a minute in length. [46]