Mikey Wax is returning the favour.
Two years after his song “You Lift Me Up” went viral — thanks largely to it being featured in promos for Keeping Up With The Kardashians — the singer-songwriter is soaring again with “Helium.”
“When it’s late at night / When you’re all alone / I’ll lift you up / I could be your helium,” he sings.
Wax said he’s thrilled that “Helium” is resonating with people.
“I’m always very humbled and excited every time I get a positive reaction from a fan to the song,” he told iHeartRadio.ca. “It’s like a bond that that person gets me and in turn I understand them.
“Truly rewarding.”
Wax explained the song is “about being there for those you care about when they’re going through a rough patch.”
While that can be many different things to different people, Wax drew from a personal situation.
“I wrote it when someone close to me was diagnosed with a rare kind of cancer and it just took us all by shock,” he said.
The lyric video for “Helium” has been viewed more than 100,000 times since September and Wax recently invited fans to submit clips that could be used in the song’s official video.
“The song was written from something real that happened to me,” he said, “and I wanted to include everyone in that ‘real’ and ‘authentic’ sort of way.”
“Helium” has also inspired a number of people to record their own renditions for YouTube. Wax said he is “thrilled” at the covers.
“I love seeing them,” he said. “The fact that fans are taking the time out of their day to cover or even just share my song is a real statement that the song means something to them.”
Wax has effectively used social media to build his fanbase. He boasts of nearly 15 million loops on Vine, the six-second video tool that Twitter just announced is being shut down.
“I’m upset about it,” Wax said of Vine’s demise. “I have a great community of fans on that platform and we will certainly miss it.
“Hopefully those fans will continue to support me and we can transfer it over to something else.”
Check out the video for “Helium” by clicking here.