Connie Francis, whose hits dominated the Billboard charts in the early 1960s, was thrilled to learn one of her songs from that era has caught fire on TikTok, or as the kids say, gone viral.
But she had a question.
“What’s that?” Francis, 87, asked the friend who tipped her off to the newfound success of “Pretty Little Baby,” first released in 1962 on an album track.
“Clearly out of touch with present day music statistics terminology,” she wrote on Facebook Saturday, confessing she did not know what “viral” meant.
“Pretty Little Baby” was not released as a single when it was included on the 1962 album “Connie Francis Sings Second Hand Love & Other Hits,” and the album itself did not make it onto Billboard’s Top 100 chart, according to People. But plenty of her music did. Francis pioneered as a woman in pop in the late 1950s and early 1960s to become the first female ever to hit Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which she did with “Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool” in 1960.
Fifteen Top 10 hits followed, including two others that reached Number 1—1960’s “My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own,” and “Don’t Break the Heart That Loves You,” in 1962. She also co-starred in the 1960 movie “Where the Boys Are” and sang the title song, famously performing it live on the “Ed Sullivan Show” for U.S. servicemen in West Berlin.
Now, 63 years after its debut, “Pretty Little Baby” has become an anthem for parents, pet lovers, children and an assortment of other fans. There are 2-year-old crooners, moms with their daughters, entire families, and kids exacting revenge for dad jokes. Cosplayers don 1960s-era garb to fully embrace the vibe. One mom played the song with video of her 5-month-old giggling in a vat of strawberries and milky liquid. Even celebs like Kylie Jenner can’t resist the catchy lyrics.
The verse most captivating the masses is, “You can ask the flowers/ I sit for hours/ Telling all the bluebirds/ The bill and coo birds/ Pretty little baby, I’m so in love with you.”
The TikTok phenom is spilling into the streaming universe, skyrocketing from 17,000 on-demand streams during the week ending April 10 to at least 2.4 million about a month later — a 7,000% gain, Billboard pointed out. It has been streamed more than 20 million times on Spotify this year, People reported.
The pretty little song is also morphing into a global affair, translated into at least six languages on a newly released international EP, according to entertainment website Udiscovermusic.com. It’s apparently all the rage in France, and there’s even an American Sign Language rendition.
“I am thrilled and overwhelmed at the success of ‘Pretty Little Baby,’ ” Francis said Monday, according to People. “I recorded that song 63 years ago, and to know that an entire new generation now knows who I am, and my music, is thrilling for me.”
