Twenty-five years after it first dominated the global pop charts, Kiwi classic How Bizarre is back and winning a new generation of fans, with Pauly Fuemana's widow labelling the success a "validation" of her late husband's hard work and talent.
Ōtara Millionaires Club's massive smash hit number one in 1995,in New Zealand and around the world, propelling Pauly Fuemana, a young man from South Auckland, into the global spotlight.
Now the perfect power pop of How Bizarre is trending on video app TikTok, with videos featuring the sound racking up a whopping two billion views.
Tik Tok users are sharing the song alongside videos that show scenes where one party is seen to be more knowledgeable about a seeming coincidence than someone else, usually ending with the protagonist giving the camera a cheeky look and delivering the song's classic line.
Fuemana's widow Kirstine told the New Zealand Herald that her 10-year-old son Santos , who was born shortly after his father's death in 2010, was a huge fan of TikTok and it was a "bit weird" that he was now seeing the song trending.
The song's renewed success comes in the same week as its 25-year-anniversary and Fuemana said her late husband would be "rapt" to see a new generation of fans embrace his music.
She said the industry had undergone massive change since his whirlwind success in the 90s, noting that when he hit big he had to travel the world to promote the song, spending long hours away from his family.
Kirstine said her husband was thrown out as a "lamb to the slaughter" by some in the music industry in the wake of his success because the industry in New Zealand wasn't prepared for dealing with that level of fame and popularity, crediting Universal/Polygram at the time for always doing right by him, but noting that others were "looking for their own success off it, sadly".
"He was the pioneer that had to learn the hard way," she said.
Pauly Fuemana from OMC won worldwide acclaim for his 1995 mega-hit. Photo / File
TikTok has been a boon to other Kiwi artists in 2020, with Benee and Jawsh685 both rocketed to the top of the charts after their music appeared on the app, and Kirstine said she had been encouraged by Jawsh's success in particular.
"I'm glad to see Jawsh is another young Polynesian male, it's really nice to see that because I think it's so much harder when you're a young Polynesian male because our industry still does not recognise that. I still don't think we look after them enough.
"Lorde and Benee are amazing and they have done phenomenally well, but it's a very different climate for a young white woman with good family backing to a young Polynesian male, with or without good family backing. Jawsh has got the family backing, obviously, Paul was in a slightly different boat".
She said she had spoken with Jawsh at the recent Aotearoa Music Awards and congratulated him on his success, saying it was "good to see" another Southside success story.
Kirstene said her family had been "really blessed" by the ongoing popularity of the song and they weren't obsessing over the details of its fresh explosion but were taking it as validation of her husband's hard work and talent.
"Paul worked so hard," she said. "He never wanted that fame, he wanted to be just with family, that was probably more important to him.
She said that after he stepped out of the limelight, the family had to deal with "trash" rumours about his health before his tragic death in 2010 aged just 40, after a long battle with ill health.
Kirstine Fuemana with her children Imogen, Santos and Salvador in 2014. Photo / Doug Sherring
"I've got six incredible children he gave me and I had a good marriage so I'm just happy for him.
"It's felt different this time. Back in the past, you were always thinking about numbers but now I just feel happy for him.
"It's more the validation," Fuemana said, adding that she felt he still didn't receive his due respect from some sectors of the industry despite being so well-loved by the public.
"He was always the scapegoat, he was always the bad brown boy, it was always his fault. So I'm just so proud for him that 25 years on it is still connecting with kids."
"Damnit, he did it. He did it on his own. He was the one who travelled. He was the one who had to be out of his kids' lives for their very early years. It's sad he's not here to see it."
Kirstene revealed to the Herald earlier this year that she had handed over her family's share of royalty rights to the hit song.
Several years after his death in January 2010 his wife and six children were still receiving annual royalties of about $50,000 based on radio and TV airplay of the song.
But royalties and control of the use of the song have since been handed to Universal Music to protect their children from the possibility of any future family feud.
