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"It's weird to have fans from Indonesia" says Norwegian star Vegard Ylvisåker, one of the two men responsible for the biggest viral pop hit of 2013. Fans in the far reaches of the planet are just one of the myriad of ways the duo's lives have changed since 'What Does The Fox Say?' pretty much broke the internet earlier this year.
The global appeal of the song has meant that the pair's lives have changes immeasurably in the last 12 months, so what has this meant for the two brothers? "A lot of travelling, which is nice. We have had our heads deep down in finishing our TV show back home," says Ylvisaker, as he chats to Gigwise. "We have an episode transmitted on Tuesday. We've just got our head up above the water".
Oh. That was quite a serious answer. Is our Ylvis chat not going to be the non-stop lol-fest we hoped for?
Watch: Ylvis - 'What Does The Fox Say?'
Trying to lighten the mood, the conversation moves on to the harrowing noise anyone in Britain has experienced when foxes become amorous in the middle of the night.
Is this finally the answer to the age old question 'What Does the Fox Say?' On home ground now, we're looking forward to seeing what Vegard does with this one. "In Norway the fox is a very secretive animal" he replies "It's really hidden in the woods. We don't have the same problems as England with the urban foxes and the mating season. I've never heard a fox before. That's part of the reason why we made this song."
Oh, well that makes sense. Who'd have thought Ylvis would be so sensible?
There has been a rumour doing the rounds recently that Leona Lewis is keen on recording a cover of Ylvis's viral sensation. What do they make of this?
"No I've not heard of her," he says, but once we explain the cultural phenomenon that is Leona Lewis, he seems keen. "Well that's great, that's just super. I haven't heard about it but if that's true then that's really nice. We wanna spread the fox gospel."
If anyone was to cover the song, hopefully someone they've heard of this time, who would it be? "One of our idols is Jack Black" he reveals. So could we see the Hollywood and Tenacious D big-hitter getting his chops round the hilarious track? "But he's doing comedy already so it wouldn't be so funny if he covered it."
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The cultural phenomenon of 'The Fox' has now outgrown the pop world, and this Christmas, will break into the literature world, when the viral hit will be turned into a Christmas book, one Ylvisaker promises will be 'nice'.
"We actually had this planned from before when the song came out because we thought it would be very funny to have merchandise ready," he says. "The illustrations are really, really nice. I've shown them to my kids and they love it. So that's a good indicator."
But despite the fans in all corners of the globe, the future career in literature, a Saturday Night Live paroday sketch and one of the biggest viral hits of the year, Ylvisaker is still at a loss as to why 'What Does The Fox Say?' has become such a phenomenon.
"It's really hard to say what it is about 'What Does The Fox Say?' that grabbed everyone's attention," he says. "If I knew the answer to that I would be really, really rich. But it's something about the simplicity. The target demographic is wider, both kids and grown-ups both enjoy it."
Thank you very much Vegard Ylvisaker. This interview was not as hilarious as we expected it to be. 'The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)' is out now.
