This is not Saturday Night Live. This is not The Onion or Babylon Bee. A Dutch animation artist put together a boy band to encourage the United Kingdom to stay in the European Union. From NME:

“I cannot believe this is the end,” they pine on the song’s opening lines. “I still feel your love inside me. I still sing your words. I make a wish as your star falls.” They continue: “Oh your voice paints my heart, your mirage fades away. Your choice turns my spine grey. There’s always been a sea between us, we used to sail it together – but you’re leaving, now we’re falling apart. Britain come back to us, it’s not too late to turn around.” The band concludes: “Britain you’re great, but together we’re greater.”

Of course they have a video, and it’s everything you expect it to be!

Julia Veldman, the mastermind behind this boy band, claimed she literally cried her “heart out” when Britain voted to leave the EU. The vote made her “feel powerless,” and she wanted to do something to stop it.

So of course a boy band is the way to go, and the members of the band agreed:

“I thought, what else will work better than the voice of Take That, or a boy band — the best thing Britain ever gave to us — to convince them to take us back?” Band member Joshua Alagbe added: “Look how angry many Brits are towards the EU and how many Europeans are angry towards Britain for leaving. “I think this emotion should be answered. We are kind of an answer to the emotion.”

On their website, the band wrote that Brexit left them “heartbroken.” They told Britain that they “have a plan” to bring the country back “through the power of music.”

The music industry in Britain apparently agrees that leaving the EU would jeopardize the industry:

UK Music CEO Michael Dugher has now responded by warning the Government not to jeopardise the UK’s world-leading music industry. “The UK music industry contributes £4.5bn to the economy, with live music alone contributing around £1bn,” Dugher says. “As we’ve made repeatedly clear, a crude salaries and skills approach to freedom to work post-Brexit just doesn’t work for so many artists and musicians. We risk limiting the ability for European musicians to play in our world-leading festivals, venues and studios.” Dugher argues that “if this approach is reciprocated by the EU and there is no visa waiver in place, we risk making it very hard, if not impossible, for so many UK artists to tour in EU. “This is how they build an audience and frankly make any kind of living from music.” He adds: “It is frustrating in the extreme that there are still some people in government who have their fingers in their ears. This is utterly clueless. It’s vital that we don’t pull the rug from under Britain’s world-leading music industry.”

Um, last time I checked, I didn’t see anything in a Brexit deal that put an end to musicians from other European countries performing in the UK. Hyperbole much?

I mean, how many American bands and musicians have performed in the UK and across Europe? They get their visas and can perform just fine.



