The kind of music you listen to can say a lot about you. With that in mind, you might guess a few things about American figure skater Adam Rippon's selected song for the Olympic short program in PyeongChang, South Korea. While his rivals may be waltzing to dramatic violins or twisting and turning to electro-swing on the ice, Rippon has gone in a different direction with a fast-paced song some of you might already know.
Here are a few hints before you get to know what Rippon danced to during the 2018 Winter Olympics men's short program: The music video for this slightly old beat is full of rich purple shades, mauve eyeshadow, Afros, trumpets, and oversized shield sunglasses. Still don't know? Here's another hint: It was created in 2009 by Danish singer Ida Corr and Dutch DJ Fedde Le Grand.
If you're still wondering, the title of the song is "Let Me Think About It." Around three minutes long, this retro-visual song harkens to the aesthetics of the 1980s and pretty nicely encapsulates Rippon's bright, zesty, and fun personality with its fast club beat, a good dash of synth in the background, and catchy lyrics.
It's no random decision, either. Rippon has deliberately thought his music choice out. "You want your music to be competitive, to have a specific rhythm that goes with elements of what you’re doing," Rippon said in a Variety magazine report.
As the crowd went wild with cheering for Rippon, the stunning figure skater delivered powerful camel spins, twists, and turns for the judges while his song played in the background. It seemed hard to imagine anyone skating to such a strong track but Rippon delivered an impressive range of physical stunts. Plus, Rippon made sure to make a sassy gesture during his turn. Index finger up in the air, the young figure skater continued to wow his audience while "Let Me Think About It" blasted in the background.
While speaking with NBC Olympics, Rippon made sure his viewers knew what he planned to do on his trip: support the United States team and have fun. The past few days in PyeongChang, Rippon said had been "awesome." He added,
Coming here, my most important event was that team event. To skate so well, I knew my job was to go and help Team USA get a medal. Now I'm heading into the individual event. And I know I might not be the medal favorite. And you know what, I might not be the best, but I'm the most fun. ... I'm going to skate my heart out.
Rippon, who is the first openly gay American figure skater to compete in the Olympics, is known for his outspoken personality and great choice in music. During the Grand Prix of Figure Skating in Japan in December, Rippon made another great selection and sang Rihanna's "Diamonds" for the crowd. He told Deadspin that he knew he couldn't sing but he did it anyway. For fun. "My own experience of singing in front of people was like I had none," he said. Rippon added that he loved to sing in his own car which, according to the figure skater, is a sign that someone is "awful" at singing.
Rippon added, "The first time I ever sang in front of a crowd of people was like 10,000 people in Japan at a skating exhibition." And this, he said, was his "boy band moment." Whether he can sing or not, it's clear that Rippon knows how to skate without a worry in the world to a great song, have a whole lot of fun, and win a lot of people's love.
