Do you remember Demi Adejuyigbe’s first “September” video?
It was a fateful day on social media in 2016 when the comedian shared the first of happy dance videos that have become an annual tradition of wearing a T-shirt that reads “SEP 21”, where Adejuyigbe pays homage to the date mentioned in the first line of Earth Wind & Fire’s late-summer 1978 song, “September.”
Adejuyigbe posted this year’s video in earnest on Tuesday, and in just a few hours, the video had gotten over 920,000 views. Adejuyigbe’s sixth short video was amazing and incredibly creative.
Dancing through a series of colourful and engaging settings, including the backyard of the iconic pink house owned by the late Allee Willis, who co-wrote “September”. This is a huge upgrade compared to the first video, which showed Adejuyigbe simply dancing to his remixed version of the song in his own apartment.
“When I did the first one, I had made the audio of me remixing ‘September’ and played it for my roommate at the time and he was like, ‘You have to post this,’” Adejuyigbe tells TIME. “So I made a video to go with it and everything kicked off from there. Then once you do it twice, it’s a tradition and you have to do it until you die.”
Over the past four years, Adejuyigbe has taken advantage of the opportunity to raise funds for various charities, an idea that he says originated when he needed the inspiration to continue creating his favourite content on the internet.
“The charity thing came into play a few years ago, when I was starting to think, ‘I don’t have a reason to keep doing this if it’s just like spending a bunch of money and then nothing,’” he says. “But if I’m spending money to raise money for charity, then that’s great.”
This year, Adejuyigbe made a painting on a shirt with a September 21 theme and promised to give it personally to the winner, regardless of their location. He also encouraged viewers to donate to three charities that support causes close to his heart: Imagine Water Works, a Hurricane Ida disaster relief organization; West Fund, a Texas-based nonprofit abortion outreach organization; and Sunrise Movement, a climate advocacy organization.
Five hours after Adejuyigbe released this year’s video, he had already raised almost $500,000 for the charities.
Sadly, some good things must come to an end. After the final scene in this year’s music video, in which Adejuyigbe takes to the sky in a flying car at the end of Grease – he appeared on screen to announce that his 6 years of running “September” had come to an end.
Adejuyigbe confirmed to TIME that he’s done with the series, explaining that not making the videos would allow him more time for other film projects.
“It feels like this sort of albatross around my neck as we get closer and closer to September, where people start being like, ‘The day’s coming.’ And then it’s like, ‘how am I going to top it every year?’” he says.
“It’s a prison I’ve created for myself and it’s a dumb thing to complain about because ultimately, it’s fun and every time I see the first shot of the video I remember that I love doing it. But it just takes so much time and so much money and a lot of effort to keep it going.
“There’s only so much I can do with it and it takes away from the time I have for other projects when I’m tied to this thing that I put my life on pause for every year.”
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Adejuyigbe spent the day taking a bow from the “September” remake by reposting his old videos.
There’s no doubt that his efforts will help more people remember September 21st for many years to come, and maybe do their own dance too.
