Rick Astley describes how confused he was being Rickrolled for the first time
80s pop star Rick Astley has no plans to give anything up in 2022.
In time for 2022, Astley teamed up with Frito-Lay for the brand’s “New Year New You” campaign that’s celebrating the single. The festivities, which kicked off on digital media platforms on Christmas, also include an opportunity for 18 people to win $1,000 each. Plus, there’s also a “RickTok” challenge on TikTok where fans can duet with Astley himself.
He sportingly looked back at the Rickroll phenomenon, which he still finds hard to explain. The 55-year-old singer told Fox News that he was first Rickrolled – an online prank where the music video for his 1987 hit “Never Gonna Give You Up” pops up unexpectedly in an email link – when a friend from Los Angeles sent him an email around the time the trend began 15 years ago.
Astley told Fox News “a friend of mine ‘Rickrolled’ me before I even knew what it was. He had to do it a couple of times because I didn’t know what he was doing. I’m just like, “Why is he sending me this?” And my video just suddenly shows up.”
He added “I kept asking myself, ‘What is he doing?’ I remember I was on holiday [with my family] in Italy at the time. I was totally chilled out and I just kept saying to myself, “I don’t need this in my life right now.” I know the video, I’ve seen it a few times. So in the end, we had an actual telephone conversation. We went old school and he explained it to me. He lives in California and works in music as well. And he works with a lot of guys who are younger than him. So obviously, they’re right on the tip of everything all the time.”
How could he not be completely confused by a friend just sending him his own music video without any explanation?
Rick added that “those guys were very into “Rickrolling.” But I just thought it was really weird. You know, here’s a friend of mine who lives on a different continent and is sending me a video that then clicks into my song. It was just really weird and it was something difficult for me to get my head around at first. Let’s face it, that video is from a long time ago. I look like I’m 11 years old and wearing my dad’s overcoat. I just didn’t get it at first.”
