- Welcome to Overthinking It, where we subject the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve.
Overthinking It is a Web Video series hosted (primarily) by Matt Wrather, spunoff from overthinkingit.com. The YouTube channel has mainly focused on commenting the Eurovision Song Contest from an American perspective, but also still releases videos about other pop culture topics from time to time.
Tropes seen in this series:
- all lowercase letters: Imitating the style of the title of the song discussed in the video, the review of Estonia's 2024 entry was titled "(these) estonian bros know something (about eurovision)".
- Amusing Injuries: While reviewing Spain's 2016 entry, Barei's "Say Yay!", Matt tries to imitate Barei's signature dance move, only to trip and fall off. Seconds later, Matt resurfaces with his arm in an improvised cast. Two years later, he made a Call-Back claiming that his ankles hadn't completely recovered from that yet.
- F--: With Brexit negotiations in full swing in 2017, Matt claimed that Lucie Jones, the UK entrant that year, was going to find out if it was possible to score negative points at Eurovision. He later admitted he was wrong as Lucie finished 15th, a result that he described as "a goddamn miracle" compared to the United Kingdom's recent mediocre outings.
- Horny Vikings: Briefly referenced at the end of the review for "Higher Ground" (Denmark 2018):Matt: The new Vikings, according to Rasmussen, are the warriors who fight for a 37-hour work week, five weeks a minimum paid vacation a year and longships full of scented candles and knitted wool socks. And if that's all true... well, you can sign me up for a hat with horns on it.
- Hypocritical Humor: During the review of "Occidentali's Karma" (Italy 2017), Matt compares it to "Sound of Silence" (Australia 2016), leading to this:Matt: That song was about the alienating effect of technology, and [Francesco] Gabbani has similar concerns here. He talks about selfie-addicted Internet experts, he describes the web as the cocaine of the masses, and he says that the Internet has them seeking easy answers and pointless dilemmas. Now, that's a great line. [pulls out his phone] One sec, let me tweet that out.
- Literal Metaphor: When discussing "Mama ŠČ!" (Croatia, 2023) and the opening line mentioning a tractor:Matt: Ah, yes! The tractor. An instant meme the band rode all the way to Liverpool. No, seriously, they posted a video of themselves riding off to Liverpool on a tractor.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: During the video on Ireland's 2023 entry, Matt mentions that another entrant in the Irish national final was John Lydon's band Public Image Ltd. and brings up his time as Johnny Rotten, showing a picture of a book titled England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond with the following caption:EDITOR'S NOTE: Actual book I read to research this.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: According to Matt, Armenia's song for 2015 was "totally, completely, not about the Armenian genocide".
- Wall of Text: Starting with the 2024 season, the videos will occasionally have one of these pop up on screen briefly for added explanation that is too long to fit into the episode otherwise. They come preceded with a "Wall of Text Incoming" countdown so you know when you have to pause the video to read them.
