Rick Astley is never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you. Never gonna – OK, you get the idea, especially since Astley’s 1987 Billboard topper has gone on to have a life of its own, being meme-ified in what became known as Rickrolling, an innocent enough prank where you send a link to someone only for them to open it and be hit right in the face with Astley’s most famous song. So, does Rick Astley send them? Turns out maybe he will let you down.
While Rick Astley has reprised “Never Gonna Give You Up” for commercials for Frito-Lay and AAA in 2022 (where he actually asked, “Is this still a thing?”), he confessed that he has never actually Rickrolled anyone. In fact, he feels far removed from most of it. “I’ve never really appreciated what it is, I think, because I’ve just had to sort of shut down that part of my brain. I was lucky enough that it happened when I was a lot older, and I was like, ‘The guy in the video, yes, I know it’s my physicality, but it’s not me.’ I’ve got enough distance.”
Rick Astley added that he sought out his daughter to explain to him just what the hell was going on with the newfound “appreciation” for his song. “She was saying, ‘Don’t sweat it. It has nothing to do with you.’ And I’m like, ‘How can it have nothing to do with me?’ And she said, ‘Just leave it where it is. Don’t try to embrace it and try funny things with it.’” That didn’t quite hold with the aforementioned ads, but a buck is a buck.
The Rickroll has seen its peak and if you find yourself the victim of it now, either the prankster hasn’t found any new memes to pound into the dirt or they’re doing it ironically. According to KnowYourMeme.com, RickRolling popped up in 2007 and – in pitch-perfect internet fashion – took on a life of its own, with videos garnering millions of views. Chances are you either Rickrolled someone or were Rickrolled yourself. Hey, it happens!
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