Some playlists are neatly sorted by mood or genre, and others simply invite you to wander. Whatchamacallits, a YouTube playlist from The Shellies, belongs to the second group, with 10 videos of melodies, studio moments, and live performances.
A Name With a Wink
Whatchamacallit is the informal word people reach for when an object slips their mind, when they have no idea what it is called, or when they would rather skip the name. It grew out of the saying “what you may call it”, shortened and spelled the way it sounds. The same word names a popular chocolate candy bar from The Hershey Company, which combines a peanut butter crisp with a chocolate coating. A title like that sets a cheerful tone before anyone presses play.
Across the 10 videos, listeners get songs, informal studio glimpses, and live recordings, with a few wow mixers for the ears while the visuals entertain the eyes. Sweet Nothings catches the fun that followed the recording session for that song. A little bit of Fun is a short clip showing extra bass being added to one of the collective’s songs in Dandelion Studio. Both give a relaxed view of the working days.
Three dandelion videos give the collection a flowery thread. Dandelion Seedlets offers snippets of fun, planted first and then nurtured in the Music Studio, then sent out to bloom in viewers’ days. Dandelion Seeds squeezes three shortened tracks side by side as an attempt to show what life means in the Shire. Dandelion Spores is a mix-and-match of music fun, with three songs for chilling out, concentrating, letting your hair down, or dancing.
What runs through all of these clips is a love of creative fun. The videos show the collective laughing, trying small ideas, and treating the studio as a place to enjoy. Nothing feels rushed, and each upload gives a quick look at another side of a group that likes making music together. That variety makes it easy to come back time after time and find something new to enjoy.
Producers, Piers and Stage Lights
Never Stop Believing finds the group meeting their producer and starting work on a song called Never Never. Backing vocals plus assorted bits of this and that get layered in, and the smiles on screen suggest that everyone had a great time. Such Fun To Sing heads to a pier in the Shire, where the collective film one of their songs as part of an enjoyable day, with music, positive thinking and creativity in the spotlight.
Time We Blew (Larkspell) adds a live moment. Larkspell played the song at one of their last events, and the recording catches the finish, when members of The Shellies stepped up to join the band on stage. In Song offers a calmer pace. Arriving at the studio well ahead of the first note, the collective soak up the feel of the rooms and gear, and they break the ice with a little messing about. Viewers can sing along.
Led By Dreams Show promo rounds out the set with a cheerful invitation. It describes the songs as happy, creative, and feel-good, and it promises an imaginative journey for anyone who lets the music lead. Taken together, the videos show a group that treats every stage of making music, from the first warm-up to the final performance, as a reason to smile and to share the fun with anyone watching.
About the Artists
The Shellies form a collective of singing songwriters. Positivity, imagination and everyday life in their Shire community shape who they are, and they place real value on growing as people and on the small pleasures found in ordinary days. Musicians, producers, animators and visual artists who love storytelling join them on projects, so several viewpoints feed into the work. Larkspell is an all-female band whose musical identity is built around fun, and the band adds energy and cheerful expression to the shared creative space for everyone to enjoy.
A Collection Worth Wandering Through
Whatchamacallits gives listeners a friendly way to meet The Shellies and Larkspell, one video at a time. With 10 videos to explore, there is plenty of music, play, and imagination waiting to be found. Anyone who enjoys feel-good songs and a peek behind the studio door has a good reason to start listening.