Zendaya just reminded the world how to actually pronounce her name…yet again
A hilarious viral music video making the rounds on Twitter has accomplished two impressive feats: It’s free advertising for the new animated movie Smallfoot, and it reveals the actual pronunciation of Zendaya’s name. Zendaya has noted that the world constantly mispronounces her name on multiple occasions, but this slow jam just might help it finally stick.
In the video, internet personality Gabriel Gundacker sings a song he wrote, called “Zendaya Is Meechee” while walking past a Smallfoot poster.
“Zendaya is Meechee, and LeBron James is Gwangi, Danny DeVito is Dorgle,” Gabriel croons, with background singers and piano playing in the background. “Common is Stonekeeper, and Zendaya is Meechee, Gina Rodriguez is Kolka, and Zendaya is Meechee…ooh Zendaya is Meechee!” (And those lyrics are just from the one-minute version he shared on Twitter. Check out the SoundCloud version for an extra 10 seconds of Gabriel’s smooth tune.)
zendaya is meechee pic.twitter.com/zE6rXniAnQ
— Gabriel Gundacker (@gabegundacker) September 23, 2018
But what’s perhaps most notable here is Gabriel’s pronunciation of Zendaya. No, not Zen-DIE-uh, but Zen-DAY-uh. And Zendaya herself came across the video (which has racked up more than 100,000 likes in a mere three days) and tweeted her approval. “Sang my name right and everything ???,” she tweeted alongside the video.
Sang my name right and everything 😂😂😂 https://t.co/1rKNc2eff9
— Zendaya (@Zendaya) September 23, 2018
Zendaya has attempted to school the public on her name in the past.
In February 2016, Zendaya filmed a video for Allure‘s Snapchat, teaching followers the correct pronunciation.
In case you were wondering how to pronounce @Zendaya, she's here to tell you! See more on our Snapchat at AllureMag. pic.twitter.com/2cLbjSBG23
— Allure (@Allure_magazine) February 23, 2016
And in a March 2017 video for her YouTube channel, Zendaya answered the internet’s most-searched questions about her. Unsurprisingly, the first matter she addressed was…her name.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=071yf2R-Jt8?feature=oembed
Zendaya isn’t the only woman we love whose name constantly gets mispronounced. Earlier this month, Chrissy Teigen revealed that her last name is pronounced TIE-gen, not TEE-gen. And in August, Ariana Grande discussed her last name on Apple Music’s Beats, noting thathergrandpa pronounced their last name as “GRAN-dee,” but her older brother Frankie Grande “kind of changed it to GRAHN-day.”
However, “Zendaya Is Meechee” is so dang catchy that people might finally start pronouncing Zendaya correctly. Hey Gabriel, if you’re not too busy, we’re sure Chrissy and Ariana would love you to write songs featuring their names, too.
