Hey, here’s some random-ass shit! Foundational early-’90s boy band New Kids On The Block have a new quarantine-era anthem called “House Party,” a funky R&B-influenced dance-pop track about staying home. The single, released today to raise money for the nonprofit No Kid Hungry, features an utterly baffling array of guests: ’90s R&B leviathans Boyz II Men, New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia, back-in-the-day New Jersey rap group Naughty By Nature, and onetime American Idol winner Jordin Sparks. Sure!
The song is a whole lot sillier and more fun than a chaotic celebrity-pileup video probably deserves to be, but it is also ridiculous and hard to properly contextualize. It comes with a video that features the members of the various groups all singing their parts in their well-appointed houses, sometimes doing choreographed dances with their family members. There’s also a parade of cameo appearances that might make you want to lie down: Ken Jeong, Mark Wahlberg, Nicole Scherzinger, Kid ‘N Play, possibly Carrie Underwood. (Is that Carrie Underwood in the New Kids shirt? Or is it just someone who looks like Carrie Underwood?)
As the song begins, Donnie Wahlberg silently intones that it’s “for those about to lose their minds.” You have to appreciate that he follows this statement up with a video that will likely convince you that you’ve already gone insane. Apparently, celebrities are getting psychedelically bored, too. Watch it below.
The self-released “House Party” is out now on all the streaming platforms.
