NEED TO KNOW
- Connie Francis’ 1962 song “Pretty Little Baby” has become a huge hit on TikTok
- The singer said that upon being told it was a viral hit, her response was, “What’s that?”
- Francis said she is “thrilled and overwhelmed” by the song’s recent success
Connie Francis is having a moment six decades in the making!
Sixty-three years after she recorded the B-side “Pretty Little Baby,” the sweet song is going viral on TikTok — meaning Francis, 87, has had to learn exactly what that means.
“My thanks to TikTok and its members for the wonderful, and oh so unexpected, reception given to my 196[2] recording ‘Pretty Little Baby’,” she wrote on Facebook on Saturday, May 17. “The first I learned of it was when [a friend] called to advise me that I had ‘a viral hit.’ Clearly out of touch with present day music statistics terminology, my initial response was to ask: ‘What’s that?’ Thank you everyone!”
“Pretty Little Baby” recently took off on the social media platform, where creators have been filming videos of themselves wearing retro outfits and singing to their babies and pets, specifically the line, “You can ask the flowers/I sit for hours/Telling all the bluebirds/The bill and coo birds/Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you.”
Stars like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have recorded videos lip-synching with their daughters, and “Pretty Little Baby” has been used in nearly 15 million clips this year, according to a press release. It’s been streamed more than 20 million times on Spotify, and is now at No. 67 on the platform’s Global Top 100 chart.
“I am thrilled and overwhelmed at the success of ‘Pretty Little Baby.’ I recorded that song 63 years ago and to know that an entire new generation now knows who I am, and my music is thrilling for me. Thank you so much everybody, thank you TikTok,” Francis said in a statement on Monday, May 19.
Francis was 23 years old when the song came out as a B-side to the single “I’m Gonna Be Warm This Winter.” It was featured on her 1962 album Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love & Other Hits, but didn’t make much of a splash at the time; the record failed to crack the Top 100 on the Billboard Top LPs chart.
Still, Francis had an immensely successful career in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was the first woman to top the Billboard Hot 100, with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool.”
The New Jersey native dealt with a number of tragedies over the years, including mental health struggles. She is now retired and lives in Florida, where she regularly posts photos of her day-to-day life.
In March, the “Stupid Cupid” singer offered a health update after she was photographed in a wheelchair.
“I would like to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and to advise that the wheelchair is to avoid undue pressure on a troublesome painful hip, and a temporary measure while I await stem cell therapy,” she wrote. “Thank you all again. I shall update in due course.”
In addition to her viral fame, Francis is also having a moment on Broadway, as she is a character in the new musical Just in Time. The show is based on the life of Bobby Darin, with whom Francis had a brief relationship before he married Sandra Dee.
Francis is played by Sex Lives of College Girls star Gracie Lawrence, while Darin is played by Jonathan Groff.
Read the full article here
