On the eve of Weird Al Yankovic’s new album release, the comedic singer shared some of the behind-the-scenes happenings of ‘Mandatory Fun’ and how it so hilariously came together.

Weird Al has built a career off of parodying other artists and watching his videos take off to be viral smash hits. (Remember ‘White and Nerdy’? Of course you do!) The parody artist explained to Diffuser.fm that with ‘Mandatory Fun,’ he decided to try out a new viral strategy: Premiere one video per day for eight days total.

“In the internet age, things burn very quickly. Things tend to go viral for a day,” he explained. "And I figured, well, okay, I’ll let each one of my videos go viral for a day. I’ll make release week a special event.”

He added, “There’s really no precedent. I’m trying to see what’s going to work and this seemed like a fun thing to try.”

Weird Al also discussed how he cultivated his track listing and sought approval from the artists he parodies, including Iggy Azalea (her ‘Fancy’ becomes his ‘Handy’), Robin Thicke (‘Blurred Lines’ is now ‘Word Crimes’) and Lorde (‘Royals’ to ‘Foil’).

“Generally, it’s not an artist-to-artist conversation when I’m getting permission," he told Diffuser. "It’s usually my manager talking to their manager, or their representative. So that was the case [with Robin Thicke]… But apparently, at some point or another, he signed off on it.”

Check out what else Weird Al shared in the full interview up above!

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