Oh yes she did

March 15, 2010 12:57 PM

The concealed artist behind the quirky videos posted on the iamamiwhoami account on YouTube has uploaded another video, and in the process helped to reveal her identity.

The information at the ONTD community points to Jonna Lee.

posted by cashman (32 comments total)

Is Paul still dead?
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:03 PM on March 15, 2010

I'm still LOLing forever at the persistent rumors that it was Christina Aguilera.
posted by oinopaponton at 1:07 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh weird. I thought the facial proportions in the iamamiwhoami videos was off because of some effects or something, but her actual face is kind of oddly proportioned.
posted by juv3nal at 1:08 PM on March 15, 2010

iamkimiam?

Iamamiparmanparmanami?
posted by parmanparman at 1:09 PM on March 15, 2010

I liked the black cats as an allegorical run-out groove on a vinyl LP.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:10 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

So, not Lykke Li? (from the previous thread)
posted by quin at 1:13 PM on March 15, 2010

The music is interesting; the manufactured mystery is corny, pointless and annoying.
posted by xod at 1:16 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I'm still hoping it's Jandek.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 1:16 PM on March 15, 2010 [3 favorites]

Another internet-based whodunit I missed out on. Drat!
posted by Doug Stewart at 1:19 PM on March 15, 2010

I'm still hoping it's Jandek.

I was actually thinking not too long ago about how the Internet and our ever-present-connectedness has made it impossible to do a project like Jandek. If Jandek was starting out now, it'd be up on some music forum a few weeks after his first album that he's just some weird dude from Houston named Sterling. Is it still possible to be anonymous?
posted by DecemberBoy at 1:26 PM on March 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

Iamscared

noseriously
posted by sswiller at 1:30 PM on March 15, 2010

Nifty!
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 1:37 PM on March 15, 2010

I liked the black cats as an allegorical run-out groove on a vinyl LP.

It was just a glitch in the Matrix.
posted by brain_drain at 1:38 PM on March 15, 2010

Is it still possible to be anonymous?

Burial managed it for two years, despite critical acclaim
posted by memebake at 1:42 PM on March 15, 2010

Okay, so now we know who put this out. But did the videos actually stand for anything on their own? Did they have some internal meaning independent of the marketing? Or is it just weird creepy images in a video? Because Tool has those too.
posted by Pastabagel at 1:45 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I am Ami.

Who?

Ami.
posted by owtytrof at 1:52 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

DecemberBoy: the Internet and our ever-present-connectedness has made it impossible to do a project like Jandek...Is it still possible to be anonymous?

I think it's a matter of scale now as to how much mystery you can pull off in the internet age. Thanks to an endless supply of music blogs and forums, it's easier now to start a whisper campaign in the form of a mystery. If you can plant the seed with a few moderately influential posters/bloggers you can gain enough traction to create some awareness. The odds of creating a micro-phenomena increase greatly if you can also insert a little misdirection in the form of potential bigger artists involved. In this case introducing Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera into the discussion gives more people reason to take notice - sort of like Klaatu/Beatles in the 70s. The mystery has to be only mildly intriguing since there's no shortage of people on the internet looking for something to latch onto and discuss.

As far as mysteries go, this was seemed pretty underground to me. I'd be surprised if I know anyone whose radar this even crossed. I read a lot of music blogs and press and only stumbled upon here at MeFi. But I think if it had gotten a little bigger it would have been "solved" much quicker once a few more people with the identity cracking skills got interested. They mystery seemed to be more about who it isn't than who it is. A good mystery is worth trying to solve, a mediocre mystery is worth being curious about at best.

I agree that the Jandek mystery wouldn't have been as meaningful if it started today. That took a while to build, so by the time many people even knew there was a mystery he had a bunch of albums already out, which made it seem even weirder. Today people would stake out the PO box, maybe even with a web cam, and end it pretty quickly. Even the Residents would have had a harder time hiding their identities as long as they did Although they seem to be much looser with the secret now, but I still don't see much online about who they really are - so either people don't care or they're respecting the secret like it's the surprise ending to a popular movie.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 2:02 PM on March 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

I find the song more interesting than the "hey, I know this serial killer who lives out in the woods, let's eat a fistful of pills and pay him a visit" aesthetic of the video.
posted by The Mouthchew at 2:15 PM on March 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

The ONTD link used to work but now Livejournal tells me I have to log in to see it. What gives?
posted by sveskemus at 2:22 PM on March 15, 2010

The ONTD post has been locked to members only - probably to stop Perez from stealing the content, as he has a habit of doing. Great stuff, although now the mystery is over, my interest has waned.
posted by saturnine at 2:34 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

I found the videos to be a bit painful, forced, and contrived....
posted by HuronBob at 3:15 PM on March 15, 2010 [2 favorites]

If you can get into the ONTD post there's a bunch of visual evidence that is pretty much conclusive.
posted by dead cousin ted at 3:18 PM on March 15, 2010

Is this something I'd need a ... wait. What would I need in order to understand this?
posted by hades at 3:29 PM on March 15, 2010 [4 favorites]

A new bicycle, perhaps?
posted by finite at 5:09 PM on March 15, 2010

I was kind of hopeful about the rumors that it was Poe, but oh well.
posted by aaronetc at 5:24 PM on March 15, 2010

'Iamamiwhoami': Is Swedish Singer Jonna Lee Behind Viral Campaign?
"Her management denies involvement, but some eagle-eyed fans beg to differ."
posted by cashman at 7:04 PM on March 15, 2010

One of the comparison images (piano) from the post.
posted by cashman at 7:38 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

More image comparisons (her and her band).
posted by cashman at 7:40 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]

Like a blend of Björk and Lady Gaga. I'm in love already.

Also, I love those slight video effects. Like, woah, the walls are melting.
posted by synthedelic at 7:40 PM on March 15, 2010

More image comparisons.
posted by ericost at 9:39 AM on March 16, 2010

I was actually thinking not too long ago about how the Internet and our ever-present-connectedness has made it impossible to do a project like Jandek. If Jandek was starting out now, it'd be up on some music forum a few weeks after his first album that he's just some weird dude from Houston named Sterling. Is it still possible to be anonymous?

There was Burial, but it didn't last, and there is still Eleh, but with a feature in The Wire this month and a new release on Touch, that anonymity probably won't last much longer either.
posted by galaksit at 3:18 PM on March 16, 2010

This is the weirdest thing I've seen in a while.
posted by cjorgensen at 6:09 PM on March 24, 2010