Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season 2: Who is Art Smelly from the show's title card?
The question burning in the minds of so many fans after Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt's second season dropped on Netflix
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Your support makes all the difference.Tina Fey's world is one rich with references and in-jokes; and her newest project Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is no different.
As the show's second season dropped on Netflix, fans may have been left a little bewildered by a particular of its cultural nods; the title card featured at the end of Episode 9 reading, "In Memory of Art Smelly".
Thankfully, Allison Piwowarski at Romper has done the detective work. Turns out, Art Smelly is just a reference connected to the Now That's What Sounds Like Music album that Kimmy introduces to Titus in the episode; featuring an incredibly catchy "MMMbop" parody, Shanson’s "Yumbip". More pertinently, it also features the song "I'm Convinced I Can Swim", as seen in the hit film Earth Jelly.
Namechecked by Titus at the closing of the episode, as he recaps what went down alongside Kimmy, the song is clearly a spoof of R. Kelly's own "I Believe I Can Fly"; with the parody version starting to play as the pair hug and spin in slow-motion, fading into the credits themselves.
Which makes Art Smelly? Merely a parodic take on R. Kelly's own name, and the individual responsible for writing the classic "I'm Convinced I Can Swim"; including those stirring words, "I'm convinced I can swim / I'm pretty sure that I have a fin".
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