As her 1962 song Pretty Little Baby goes viral, singer Connie Francis, 87, joins TikTok

Straits Times

2 days ago

American singer-actress Connie Francis' song Pretty Little Baby, which she has described as "obscure", is a TikTok hit. PHOTO: CONNIE FRANCIS/INSTAGRAM
NEW YORK – Sixty-four years ago, American singer-actress Connie Francis recorded Pretty Little Baby as one of dozens of songs in a marathon recording session that yielded three albums within two weeks.
It did not, at the time, feel like a song that had the makings of a hit, so it landed on the B-side of the 1962 single I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter that was released in Britain. Since then, it was more or less overlooked.
Then came TikTok and its canny ability to resurrect decades-old songs for a new generation.
Over the past few weeks, Pretty Little Baby has been trending on the social media app – it has been featured as the sound in more than 600,000 TikTok posts, and soared to top spots in Spotify's Viral 50 global and US lists – bolstered by celebrities and influencers. These include German model Nara Smith and American reality TV stars Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian, who have posted videos of themselves lip-syncing to it.
Swedish pop group Abba's singer Agnetha Faltskog used the song for a clip on TikTok in which she said Francis had long been her favourite singer.
And Broadway actress Gracie Lawrence, who is playing Francis in Just In Time – a play about American singer-actor Bobby Darin, Francis' one-time romantic partner – also posted a video of herself lip-syncing to it, in her 1960s costume and hair.
Pretty Little Baby's current popularity is an unexpected twist to Francis' long and illustrious career.
In 1960, she became the first female singer to top the Billboard Hot 100. By the time she was 26, she had sold 42 million records and had two more singles top the Billboard charts.
But this particular song, which she recorded in seven languages, remained so obscure that Francis, now 87, told People magazine that she had forgotten ever recording it and 'had to play it to remember it'.
Amid the frenzy of the unexpected attention, she is trying to figure out how to turn this sudden attention into opportunities for herself.
She and her publicist Ron Roberts enlisted Roberts' son to help them set up a TikTok account for her.
And in a recent telephone interview, she said she had been mulling the idea of emerging from retirement to do some kind of show in the next few months.
How does it feel now that this song is having a kind of resurgence?
Well, it's not a resurgence because it never happened in the first place. It's an obscure song on an album that I did – it wasn't even a single record. It went unnoticed. Now, it has 10 billion views.
How do you feel about that?
On top of the world and overwhelmed that a whole new generation of people know me and my music now.
You once mentioned that you had forgotten recording this song. What were your thoughts hearing it again?
It's a cute song. I couldn't imagine that it has the effect that it has worldwide on people – it's hard to believe.
I wanted something for the B-side of a single, and I chose something that wouldn't give my A-side any competition. I don't even know the name of the record that I put it on. But I think it has a ring of innocence in this chaotic time and it connects with people.
You now have a TikTok account. Can we expect posts from you?
Yes, when my publicist said I went viral on TikTok, I said: 'What's that?' That was my reaction. 'What's viral? What's that?' I thought my computer had a virus or something. I didn't know what he was talking about.
Are you using TikTok regularly now?
Yes. I think it's great. I'm going to be putting a lot of different things on my TikTok now. Thank you, TikTok. NYTIMES
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