Stage One: Annie announces the release of a single called "Anthonio." It turns out to be about a summer love affair who loved her and left her--left her pregnant, in fact.
Stage Two: in response to e-mail inquiries in February about the song (before it had been heard), producer Richard X mentions that the song's release was hindered by efforts by Anthonio, the subject of the song, to prevent it from coming out.
Stage Three: "Anthonio" (the guy) has a MySpace and YouTube account on which he interacts with Annie, complaining about the song's release and befriending a number of other hot Norwegian blondes.
Annie leaves a comment on a photo of Anthonio telling him how good he looks but asking who the blonde he's with is...
...having previously left messages trying to get in touch with him.
Fellow blonde Nordic popstar Sally Shapiro leaves a message on Anthonio's MySpace expressing support for Annie...
...and a message on Annie's saying she's willing to babysit if Annie ever does a gig in Sweden.
Anthonio leaves a comment on Sally's MySpace telling her she's crazy but if she's ever in Brazil to come look him up...
...while Annie thanks Sally for her support.
Meanwhile, Anthonio leaves a message on the official YouTube video of the single "Anthonio" complaining about the song.
Stage Four: Popjustice receives the promotional CD for "Anthonio," which comes packaged as a letter from Norway sent to Brazil but returned to sender (as in the lyrics of "Anthonio").
Stage Five: "Anthonio" (the guy) sends an answer-back song to Popjustice titled "Annie."
What will happen next? We can't be sure of the details, but it's sure to keep proving how brilliant a popstar Annie is. As I said over at XO's, while it's true that this Annie vs. Anthonio drama is mainly amusing twenty people on the Internet, it's doing a really good job at amusing those twenty people...and I'm loving it. If Annie has the resources to not truly worry about how she'll chart in the UK and this campaign isn't really intended to make the single massive--mainly to appeal to the Internet world and pop geeks (which I gladly count myself among)--then I'm absolutely fine with it.
"Anthonio" is released May 4 and should be available digitally internationally (as well as available in a physical version).
