The 49 Seconds Hall of Fame
The best of 49 Seconds, all on one page.
By Will Pankey
THE YEAR WAS 2017. As the Obama years steadily receded in America’s rearview mirror, the country hurtled towards an uncertain future. Things were different then. Gas was at an astronomical $3.75 a gallon, a Coke at the local soda shop skyrocketed to an eye-watering $5, and you could walk down the street with your young ones without a care in the world. But vast societal changes were afoot, changes that would leave the world ill-prepared for the next decade, effectively plunging society into chaos and sparking scuffles in Red Lobster parking lots.
Elsewhere in 2017, though, a humble video content series was born: “49 Seconds.” Conceived to satiate a voracious online audience hungry for quick, on-the-go content (beat you by three years, Quibi!) “49 Seconds” did exactly what it says on the tin: It delivered in-depth, rapid-fire interviews in a timeframe that our monkey brains could handle. When “49 Seconds” hit the internet, critics scoffed. Some said you couldn’t squeeze an entire artist interview–the highs, the lows, the knockout quotes, the off-hand comment that gets someone canceled–into a sub-60-second online video. With that challenge in mind and with a mountain to climb in our sights, we ran the numbers, crunched the interview answers, and stuffed each episode with “the good stuff” (internet marketing jargon). Since then, “49 Seconds” has rolled on, bringing fans answers to the questions they want.
This is our archive, where the finest “49 Seconds” live on in perpetuity. With any luck, this page will stick around like the official “Space Jam” website, reminding future internet users of a more benign online environment, where hot takes, clickbait, and stunts for clout weren’t the order of the day, and where plucky content series like “49 Seconds” could live and (moderately) prosper. Enjoy.