Update: Here's the full performance:
Original Story: We've all seen how amazing Labo's piano is, but the sheer brilliance of this setup is going to get a wider audience thanks to NBC's The Tonight Show.
Pop superstar Ariana Grande has recorded a segment along with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots where the entire group performs Grande's single "No Tears Left To Cry" entirely using Labo.
Band members used different Toy-Con from the Variety and Robot kits. Tariq used the Toy-Con Fishing Rod, Kamal and James used the famous Toy-Con Piano, Stro was rocking two Joy-Con to make different drum sounds and Questlove used the Robot Kit to perform the kick-drum and high-hat.
Fallon told IGN:
We made a full-on band using Labo. I love that Nintendo does stuff like this. I mean what is this? Why would you even think of this? Only they could do something like this.
We met with Nintendo and they showed us a bunch of cool cardboard things that you can make. We used the Variety Kit and we made a keyboard. We asked if we could make other cardboard things like guitars and they [Nintendo] said, ‘Of course! We’ll help you do it.
Leveraging nearly every aspect of Toy-Con Garage, the group was able to create custom Toy-Con-like Guitars, as well as reprogram existing ones to emit musical sounds. “We made guitars by putting rubber bands over the Switch tablet so that it actually feels like you’re strumming as your fingers touch the screen.
It was totally bizarre and such a gamble. I didn’t know if it was going to sound good, but Ariana is always down to try something fun and different. Anyone can do what we did really, it just takes time. Whatever you dream of, you can make it.
The full segment airs on the show tonight.
[source uk.ign.com]
Comments 71
Legend
Say what??? Not my song of choice but I need to here this. Love Fallon!
This is so cool! I love the creativity.
I wonder how much Nintendo paid for the influencer marketing stunt. 🤔
Arianna Grande = LABO
Madonna = Dancing Stage Fusion (from Hung Up video clip, watch from 4:37)
Before I click the link on the main page, I thought Ariana and PIKOTARO - PPAP singing together
You mean Big Sean’s ex, the donut-licker.
FINALLY Nintendo figured out how to market to an audience.
@Gloom... Nintendo market the Swith itself with a presentation at this very same show. They showcased TLOZ with Nintendo of America president as guest. This is a cool thing for Labo. Great marketing stunt.
Ah, the last agonised twitches of a dying gimmick.
Cya
Raziel-chan
Another skinny legend on the NL front page, I’m impressed! I appreciate the pandering, Nintendo.
'No Tears Left to Cry' is a sensible song to sing when all your instruments are made of cardboard. Wouldn't want to be playing on a soggy, tear-soaked piano after all.
I'm not a fan of her music, but I'll probably catch this on YouTube at some point after the fact.
Fallon at this point is basically a go to guy for Nintendo's newest toys cause he loves Nintendo so much. I'll have to check this out
Hmm gonna be a fun watch!
The bit is already up on YouTube...just looked it up. Its actually pretty incredible, and shows the genius of Labo and the ToyCon garage. They literally formed a whole band of instruments...without a single instrument...and it sounded pretty great. Nintendo really do have some just purely cool ideas.
Here you go:
She can come round mine and play with my labo anytime she wants!
Very creative!
@Razzy
😢😢😢
@dew12333
Or you could play with her.....nah lets not get banned
@OnBeingHuman
Quite a lot probably. Is that an issue?
Wow she can sing.
this is amazing...
hats off. great marketing and just a great idea and vid.
@JaxonH That is news to you?
@electrolite77 Outrage! Nintendo has a marketing budget?
I guess good job to everyone involved. This was pretty much the only way possible I would ever watch an Ariana Grande music video. So I guess the marketing stunt worked for all parties involved.
@Euler reducing a successful woman who has worked hard to get where she is to some guys ex is gross. The donut thing was stupid but it was a blip.
@Spoony_Tech "I need to here this"
They updated the article to include the vid. Hit reply and you're in.
Good vid, but it's just making the robot set look even more ridiculous, they shouldn't have even bothered with that one, the poor man wearing it has a look on his face like - "What did I do to deserve this?"
Thanks for the update to the article @damo
I watched this today, it was really cool! How did they program the fishing rod to make noises? And there’s a guitar in Labo? Maybe I should get it. I liked the cardboard triangle 😂
@rjejr The robot set has the drums though.
Anyways I saw it last night. Pretty amazing considering what they were playing on.
@King_Johobo It's part of the toycon garage included in each set. You have to construct the guitar on your own for now.
Is this real? Call my mind blown! They must be using outside editing or something, this can't be real. Can it?
@JaxonH
"Wow she can sing."
Well, duh....
@Spoony_Tech
"The robot set has the drums though."
Huh ?
How and where is the drums ?
Ariana is hands down the most vocally talented pop singer under 25. If you doubt that watch any of her live performances on youtube or the wheel of impressions she did on Fallon last year. There is a reason they chose her to do this and not Taylor Swift. She actually sounds good without music or heavy production.
@Anti-Matter You don't actually get drums, what I meant is you can change the sounds the arms, legs, and head make to drum sounds.
@Spoony_Tech
Hoooo....
Interesting.
I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand it's great to see Nintendo learning to market and get their products visible. On the other hand the very concept of this "social viral marketing" "paid influencers" etc crosses a line that says "everything about this is wrong." It's one thing to get a celebrity endorsement of a product that's clearly an endorsement of a product. It's another thing when elaborate situations are orchestrated to create a "media" picture of the organic presence of a product where there isn't one. They're selling "hey we just randomly decided to do this because it's the coolest thing ever" rather than "hey we're being paid to show you this." It's overt deceit and is generally insulting. Do the same thing with a "sponsored by Nintendo" banner and it's fine. Have Reggie there showing Labo, and it's fine. Pretending this is just an organic activity because they thought of it all on their own is just a put off.
Quest Love is hilarious. Still remember him from that Chappelle show skit in the barber shop with Jon Meyer. Under the tarp. Classic.
@NEStalgia "Do the same thing with a "sponsored by Nintendo" banner and it's fine."
That's a good point. And now I'm curious if it was in there. Fallon is a huge Nitneod fanboy so he probably talked about it. When the video first starts Fallon is putting a Switch down looking at it like he had just been talking about it which would have been his commercial disclaimer.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2018/05/14/first-look-jimmy-fallon-ariana-grande-sing-with-nintendo-labo
And apparently he has an ongoing segment called Classroom Instruments that this was part of. Which might have explained why they were all dressed like the "Imagination Movers".
@Spoony_Tech Well they would have been better off without the drums then, poor guy, he looks lost.
Thanks for the reminder about the other stuff though. I bought Labo on Saturday for the boys but we're holding off on building stuff until school is over when we can spend the afternoon relaxing sitting outside. But we can try out the garage. Well unless they don't let us. I bought Animal Crossing amiibo Festival b/c some of the minigames looked good but the game won't let me play them. Stupid game.
That was cooler than I thought it was going to be!
that is probably the most people you will ever see using Labo at the same time in the USA. And they were payed to do it 😉
This is how Apple had random artist use the iPad as musical instruments (or DJ mixer) back in the day
@bluedogrulez - One of my favorite skits from the show. The mariachi band slayed me. That was one of the most ahead of its time, ground breaking shows ever on television. I miss it dearly and watch the first two seasons yearly. Chappelle is a genius.
@bimmy-lee You speak the truth!! Chappelle had me at Reggie Warrington (Nutty Professor). Genius is the right term for sure
@NEStalgia
Honestly given that Fallon is a nintendo fan it could be possible that it the idea came from him/his staff and that Nintendo thought it was a good opportunity to get some visibility . On the other hand if you are right i honestly don't see what the big deal is. Every single company on the planet tries to advertise its products in the best way possible it's called marketing. Idk why so many people expect Nintendo to have such high moral standards. There is no deceit here it's just business
Damn, that's over $9000 worth of Nintendo cardboard
Could anyone hear the other instruments? I could only pick out the piano
Not a fan of her music but she sings the way I like singers to sing (on key, dope runs), and this is dope as hell.
@BigKing
It would be closer to about $4800, as there was 12 Switch's/Labo kits.
@Heavyarms55
Yes its real, apparently they only did 2 takes to film it too.
@rjejr Yeah, the whole thing with "putting it down looking like it was all organic"....that's all so scripted. I see something like that where it's pretend real and nobody says otherwise and I feel like sleazy people are trying to manipulate me.
And then I remember Reggie is involved and then I KNOW sleazy people are trying to manipulate me.
Fallon's a huge Ninty fan, but The Tonight Show(TM) also has an ongoing relationship with NOA, and, lets face it, every guest on the Tonight Show is, and always has been there as a promotional sponsored event by film and record labels. Whether it was Carson and Gabor, or Leno and Seinfeld, they're there as a paid for promotion. Labo is no different. They just mixed the Labo promotion with the Grande album promo. And neglected to mention the sponsor status of Labo to make it look like it wasn't a promotion.
@Nico85 No, I'm not putting the blame on Nintendo. Moreso on The Tonight Show and what has become acceptable in marketing in general. Sponsored promotions should be labeled sponsored promotions. Not people doing their best acting to pretend there's no sponsorship going on and it was natural to create a social media feedback effect. Not just here but with most modern "social marketing." There's a reason why paid advertisements have to say paid advertisement if it pretends to be a testimony etc, because there are laws for that because generally the public doesn't want to be manipulated with disguised advertising. Things like this, if sponsored, fly, intentionally, through the cracks in advertising fairness regulations, which is wrong.
Nothing wrong with having a "Nintendo Labo event with stars" on TV as a promotional tool. So long as they're not trying to pretend it's not a promotional tool either through denial or omission.
@NEStalgia "And neglected to mention the sponsor status of Labo to make it look like it wasn't a promotion."
But did you see the actual episode to come to that conclusion? I looked online for it but can't find the entire segment. I suspect he started this segment with - "Nintneod gave us this to show you" which to me would qualify as a disclaimer, but this vid only starts after that. It may even continue with "thanks again to Ntinedo for giving us these Labo kits and showing us how to use them". I'll find the full segment eventually.
@bluedogrulez - I saw him perform six or seven years ago in a bizarre coincidence. A group of us were walking around downtown in the city where we lived at the time, and I could hear a large crowd and what sounded like Dave Chappelle on a bullhorn. We followed the noise for a few blocks, and it turned out to be Dave Chappelle on a bullhorn doing a free pop up show for a large crowd in a city park. It was like a rock concert. I was dumbfounded.
Edit - It was probably closer to 10 years ago. The older I get, the more things feel like they just happened a few days ago.
@Anti-Matter Well, being able to sing is not a requirement form being a "Pop Superstar". Have you ever seen a live performance of Madonna?
@electrolite77 I suppose it matters to me because it makes people think this is some sort of organic thing that happens spontaneously. Kind of like how that one Twitch player of Fortnite, Ninja, suddenly is playing with Drake, Travis Scott and JuJu. It was a publicity stunt, and they are all being paid to be a part of it, and aren’t disclosing it to the public... even though, by the FCC regulation (its the law), they are required to. It’s influencing the public, and it’s wrong.
I get that most people don’t care, haha, and it’s REALLY not that important... I truly get that, however, wrong is wrong. Just thought I would call it out for those that don’t know that it happens.
That is super awesome!
@Whalehome I'm not certain what you mean. I can hear 'guitar', 'drums', 'keys', 'percussion' - are you not hearing any of that?
Just going to bed here in the UK and this has made my day. She sounds amazing and what they've done with Labo is incredible. Hooray for Jimmy Fallon. It's on 1.5million views atm on YT, I bet it'll be about 5 by the time I get up lol. GENIUS.
@Samwise7 this will have no impact on the sales success of labo. Unless I'm misinterpreting your use of the word genius
Mr Fallon is quite the pioneer at getting gaming mainstream exposure on his show. I still remember how he had Pierce Brosnan up on stage playing a round of GoldenEye with him, playing Punch Out with Mike Tyson and playing Russell Westbrook in NBA Jam.
I do believe Nintendo gave him and his viewers an exclusive look at the Switch just before it launched too.
@derrin I turned up my volume and used headphones this time. I could hear the other instruments better.
What a random act of corporate synergy and marketing!
@rjejr that LABO segment came on shortly after Jimmy's opening monologue. After he ran down the order of the show at his desk, he started to talk about LABO and pulled the piano kit from underneath his desk.
He then went on to introduce the video and said something to the effect of "...We talked to our friends at Nintendo and asked what if we got this and could make all kinds of instruments..."
I think that sort of classifies as calling out your sponsor honestly. TBH, it wouldn't surprise me if Jimmy did come up with the idea and worked something out with Nintendo.
@NEStalgia FWIW, every TV show and movie in existence disclaims promotional considerations at the end credits, Fallon's show is no exception.
Just WOW!
@gatorboi352 Hmm maybe not a huge impact on sales but culturally yes. It'll be a lot more people seeing what Labo can do. While I've said before that Labo is pretty niche and mainly for parents with kids, this sort of broadens the appeal much like the guy Djing with it did. Either way it shows how relevant Nintendo is at the moment, especially in the US and Japan.
Not a fan of Fallon or Ariana but this should give Labo some major publicity. Whether that leads to sales or not, only time will tell. Labo is fairly niche right now, but I think this is something that will sell over time. Kind of like puzzles, and everybody in the world has bought those at some point in time. Difference is, Labo is just much better.
@Sir_JBizzle Thanks for all of that, never did find it, probably b/c I never looked, but that sounds fair enough to me. It's a show airing 'round midnight, it's not like they are trying to pull one over on kids during Sesame Street or something. Sounds like he said about what I expected him to say, he was basically doing a promo spot for Labo, and his audience knows that.
Not sure how much it was his idea and how much it was Nintnedo's but I believe he's an actual Nintendo fanboi so he had no qualms about doing it either way. A lot of his childlike enthusiasm has to be fake, nobody is that happy, cheerful and enthusiastic all of the time, but I do think he has a soft spot for Ntinedo and was excited to do the skit.
@Samwise7 you do know that Wii U was also heavily promoted on Jimmy Fallon, right? Like, multiple times.
People won't be culturally persuaded towards labo because of something like this. People are smarter than that.
@gatorboi352 Haha so much I could say in response to that. Take a look at today's politics as evidence that that is not the case. It's just a great piece of work whatever way you look at it.
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