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SALT LAKE CITY — Just in time for “Frozen Fever” and the recently announced “Frozen” sequel, two local YouTubers released a video featuring their unique “Frozen” mashup.
The viral video depicts a typical sibling rivalry, featuring a brother and sister fighting over their piano.
The video begins with Sara Arkell, 12, playing “Love is an Open Door.” At first, her pesky “older brother”, Jason Lyle Black, 27, joins her for a duet, but soon kicks her off and begins playing “For the First Time in Forever.”
Black and Arkell aren’t real siblings, but they both play the piano backward, something Black believes they may have in common in their make up.
“There’s not many backward piano players in the world, so I kinda feel like we probably have some sort of genes in common since we both do that,” Black said.
The video continues with Arkell convincing her little brother to shoot Black with a Nerf gun so she can then take reign over the piano. The two eventually join together to play “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Let it Go.”
Black first heard about Arkell when one of his friends sent him one of her videos when she was 9 years old and informed him he had competition.
The two wanted to do a video together with a “dueling piano set up,” and they thought it would be really fun to make it a sibling rivalry between a high-school aged brother and his little sister.
“It’s kind of fun for me because I’m actually the youngest in my family, so I don't have any younger siblings,” Black said. “It’s kind of fun to imagine having a younger sister and what we would do.”
It just took off like a rocket; I think both of us are kind of like 'wow.'
–Jason Lyle Black
Black and Arkell were “heavily inspired” by The Piano Guys, Black said.
Black, who teaches piano composition lessons to youths, composed the medley. Rosewood Recording Studio did the audio and Celadora Studios did the video, Black said.
“It just took off like a rocket; I think both of us are kind of like ‘wow,’” Black said.
Arkell said she has been keeping track of the video’s views “like every hour.”
“Everyone loves it,” she said.
As of Thursday evening, the video has more than 101,000 views.
“It’s been almost, like, overwhelming in an awesome way,” Black said. “I’ve seen a lot of other people’s videos go viral and had a few videos get a lot of views, but I’ve never seen a video that I’ve made that actually had so many people connect to it personally.”
To hear more of Arkell's work, visit her YouTube channel. To hear more from Black, visit his YouTube channel or website.
