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Vizzy Hard Seltzer Remade the Vitamin C Song 'Graduation' as a Kiss-Off to 2020
'We remember times we couldn't have together'
Sure, we’re a dozen days into the New Year, but saying goodbye—and good riddance!—to 2020 never gets old.
And so, we bid adieu to those awful 12 months once more, with a remake of Vitamin C’s 2000 hit “Graduation (Friends Forever),” with its lyrics tweaked to reflect the pandemic reality. (Plus a shout out to murder hornets.)
Vizzy Hard Seltzer—infused with actual vitamin C (ascorbic acid)—created the track with Toronto agency Rethink, tapping VC herself for a vocal refresh and dropping this video:
The Molson Coors-owned seltzer drops its name a few times, too, for a good cause, with Vitamin C donating her appearance fee to the U.S. Bartenders’ Guild and the Covid-19 L.A. County Response Fund. Vizzy will match the singer’s contribution.
“Well we spent our lives inside the house for a year.
Kept the visits to a small number of peers.
And we kept thinking it would never end.
Didn’t know when we could see a concert again.
I want a Vizzy!
And so we texted exes and adopted dogs.
Had immediate regrets about the exes, not the dogs.
When we didn’t think we could take anymore
we got murder hornets and locust swarms
Vizzy hard seltzer!
and this is how it feels…
As we go on we remember times we couldn’t have together.
2020: Worst year ever. Let’s hope next year will be better.”
Fans can download the song for free on Spotify and other music platforms.
“Vizzy is the only hard seltzer with vitamin C, and we are always looking for fun and unique ways to bring this point of difference forward,” brand marketing director Elizabeth Hitch tells Muse. “As 2020 ended, I think there was a collective sense that ‘we got through it.’ So the ‘Graduation’ song just felt right in the moment.”
“We want to push ideas out there that will break into culture and capture a moment with consumers,” adds Rethink executive creative director Mike Dubrick. “This was one of those all-or-nothing ideas.”
The shop took a karaoke/found footage approach with the video because the song has become a singalong staple of nights out with friends (rarities for most of us in recent months, to be sure).
“We considered doing a music video with Colleen [Fitzpatrick, aka Vitamin C],” Dubrick says. “But we needed a way to differentiate our content. With the karaoke approach, we also like that people can actively be part of the campaign.”
That’s one way to see off a miserable year. It’s not quite as satisfying as a big FU, though at least we’re spared the wild-eyed wailing of Nickelback.
“And so we all ate bread and then the gyms shut down.
Failed our fitness goals but this year doesn’t count.
And we’ve had bad luck, enough to go around,
Like launching a seltzer when the bars closed down.
Vizzy with Vitamin C!
It’s not like we could really go anywhere—
We got mask tan lines and shaggy hair.
And now we could all use a drink or two
To get us through another game of charades on Zoom.
Charades on Zoom!
And this is how it feels…
As we go on we remember times we couldn’t have together.
2020: Worst year ever. Let’s hope next year will be better.”
