The Times Herobrine was a Pop Star

Finch Cantu | Pulse 

One of the most interesting products of Minecraft has been the sheer magnitude and diversity of fanworks it spawned, and an aspect of fan content that I find particularly fascinating is the variety of ways the community portrays the iconic myth Herobrine.

Ever since the internet was introduced to Herobrine in 2010, the Minecraft community has included the white-eyed Steve lookalike in a multitude of fanworks, elevating what was a simple work of horror fanfiction into one of the game’s most iconic unofficial characters.

On YouTube, it is fairly easy to find Herobrine in animated music videos, more often than not as the villain of the story. Yet over the years, I have taken note of two relatively obscure but highly entertaining Herobrine-related phenomena that sometimes occur.

The more rare of these is a situation I personally refer to as the “Herobrine and the Bard Phenomenon,” in which Herobrine possesses a person to sing. So far, I have only seen this occur twice.

The video “Diamond Heart” on the channel PixelSteve was released first. The singer, who goes by the username Phantaboulous, is represented in the video by his Minecraft skin. He does not appear to be possessed at first, but the lyrics are clearly from Herobrine’s point of view, and it is revealed partway through the song that Phantaboulous is indeed possessed by Herobrine and singing on his behalf.

Roughly three years later came the video “Take Me Down” on the channel Redstone Records. In it, Herobrine is attacking a village while singing about how evil he is, and the animator’s Minecraft skin (currently known by the username Rainimator, formerly known as Radapedaxa) is possessed to serve as a backup singer.

More commonly, Herobrine himself does the singing. It’s not uncommon to find songs that are clearly from the perspective of Herobrine, but it is rather rare for him to sing on screen in animated form. I have personally referred to the latter situation as the “Musical Herobrine Phenomenon.”

So far, the music videos I have seen that include this are as follows.

I mentioned Herobrine is the main singer in the video “Take Me Down” on the channel Redstone Records. The channel has at least three other animated music videos with songs that are from Herobrine’s point of view, but those do not depict him singing on-screen, so they don’t count.

The video “Fight With Me” on the channel FrediSaalAnimations takes place in the middle of the “Fredi & Shine Music Video Series.” In the video, Herobrine introduces his friends to the game Clash of Clans while the group all search for a missing friend. He sings enthusiastically throughout the video.

The video “Look at Me Now” on the channel Skymint has two layers to its portrayal of this phenomenon. The lyrics are from Herobrine’s perspective, and several times throughout the video, adult Herobrine sings directly to the camera. It tells the story of how Herobrine became powerful and turned to evil. At the end of the song, child-aged Herobrine bows with a microphone in hand, as it is revealed the entire song and its events were a fictional performance in-universe that he sang for his friends.

The series “Mr. Herobrine’s Sing-Along Tragedy” on the channel TheDuckCow portrays Herobrine and Notch as brothers who alternate singing separate pieces of the songs and sometimes duet. They tell the tale of Herobrine wreaking havoc to spite Notch for an attempt at good gone awry.

A wide variety in the ways Herobrine is portrayed shows in even just these five examples, and beyond these a far greater variety exists. 

Herobrine as a character is full of potential because nothing is really canon about him. There is nothing that can’t be done, no story that cannot be told. Herobrine can be anything, anyone and any sort of way.

Even a pop star, if only for a few minutes.