This is how it is. This is life. Somehow The Chainsmokers are huge and somehow they made "Closer" which, depending on your outlook, is:a) the best song ever conceived of;b) hot flaming garbage which is evidential of the slow decline of the human race;c) all of the above.The thing is, "Closer" manages to be the sort of music that you know you should hate but you can't help but listen to over and over again, until you're ten repeats deep on your morning bus or car journey with no desire to hear anything else ever in your life (I mean, so I've heard, wouldn't know about that myself or anything). But I wonder – do you know another song like this? A song so awful and simultaneously wonderful that there are no words for what you feel when you listen to it? Maybe you recall hearing it in a movie, specifically at the start of DreamWorks' animated motion picture and modern classic Shrek?"All Star" by Smash Mouth – music's biggest meme of 2016 for reasons mostly unexplainable – is kind of the spiritual ancestor of "Closer": You hate both songs when you're sober but when you get drunk you're compelled to yell them really loud. In homage, The Chainsmokers mixed the two songs together at a SXSW set on Friday 17 March:
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"Very special" indeed. However, in the interests of proper reverence, we must not forget that these songs have been blended before, by sage and musical genius Jon Sudano, who has made it his life's work to sing "All Star" over literally every song possible. We thank him for his service:So basically, The Chainsmokers covered Jon Sudano. Music meme internet has come full circle. We can all go home.Follow Lauren on Twitter. (Image via Wikimedia Commons)