ABOVE: Watch Weird Al Yankovic talk about Beyonce and Pharrell Williams and why Mandatory Fun might be his last album.
TORONTO – “Weird Al” Yankovic released his 14th album, Mandatory Fun, last week, and Billboard predicts it could top its chart of highest-selling albums.
No one’s more surprised than Yankovic himself.
“I’ve been doing roughly the same thing for many, many years, and this is the best week of my life in terms of response from people,” the 54-year-old said. “It’s insane…hard for me to wrap my head around.”
The album features a parody of Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” which Yankovic turned into “Word Crimes” as a way to express his inner “grammar nerd.”
WATCH: Weird Al teaches grammar in ‘Blurred Lines’ spoof ‘Word Crimes’
“There had already been hundreds of parodies on YouTube and a lot of them were basically making fun of how misogynistic or ‘rapey’ the original was, so I knew that I had to go in a much different direction.”
Yankovic’s Mandatory Fun also tackles Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” and has a polka medley that includes “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus, “Best Song Ever” by One Direction, “Gangnam Style” by Psy and “Sexy and I Know It” by LMFAO.
WATCH: Weird Al video for ‘Tacky’ parodies ‘Happy’ with help from celebs
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected, a previous version listed Yankovic’s age as 44. He is 54.
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