"Foil" is a parody of Lorde's 2013 single "Royals".[1] It retains the original song's instrumentation, but is slowed down to match Yankovic's singing voice.[2][failed verification] He mimics Lorde's "sultry croon".[1] At two minutes and 23 seconds, it is the shortest parody on Mandatory Fun due to its omission of the bridge and final chorus from the original track.[3] In an interview with Billboard, Lorde said Yankovic "asked ages ago if he could do it” and she agreed to his offer. Lorde enjoyed Yankovic's music, specifically his parody of "Confessions" (2004) by Usher.[4]
"Foil" received positive reviews from music critics. Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times deemed the song a highlight of Mandatory Fun.[5]Consequence of Sound writer Henry Hauser noted that it could have been included in his 1993 record The Food Album.[10] Kenneth Partridge of Billboard wrote that while both "Tacky" (2014) and "Foil" could have been "one-joke affairs," they were both successful.[11] The song received a nomination for Best Individual Performance at the 2015 Webby Awards, but lost to "If Google Was a Guy" by CollegeHumor.[12] Other critics were less positive. Paste considered "Foil" to be less clever than the other parodies on Mandatory Fun.[13] Ben Kaye, writing for Consequence of Sound, praised the first half of the track, but criticized the "weird switch to Illuminati jokes".[10] Commercially, "Foil" peaked at number three on the Billboard Comedy Digital Tracks.[14]
Music video
The video for "Foil" (pictured bottom) was compared to "Royals" (pictured top) for the artists' similar hair style and background setting.[15]
The music video for "Foil" was released on July 16, 2014, through CollegeHumor's YouTube channel.[1] It was part of an eight video series, released once per day, produced for Mandatory Fun. "Foil" was the most successful video, attracting 11 million views in five days.[16]
The video begins with Yankovic singing straight into the camera as a waiter gives him a doggy bag.[5] Throughout the sequence, he spoofs Lorde's "on-camera intensity"; Breanna Ehrlich of MTV News also observed that the video highlights the similarity between Yankovic and Lorde's hair styles.[15] He then walks out of a restaurant and onto the set of a cooking program titled Now We're Cookin'!. L.V. Anderson of Slate described his role in the video as an "infomercial huckster."[7] During the chorus, three women dressed in foil outfits appear as they ad-lib the song's lyrics.
Yankovic performed "Foil" as part of the Mandatory World Tour (2015–2016).[17] The live version replicates the majority of the music video, with Yankovic behind a Now We're Cookin'! table and accompanied by various props including a roll of aluminum foil, a teapot, and a foil hat.[18] For some international performances, Yankovic changed the pronunciation of "aluminum" to "aluminium" to reflect the different ending being commonplace outside of North America. Orlando Weekly noted that "Foil" was one of two "special moments during a show that was nonstop and insanely memorable mayhem."[19]
