'Chocolate Rain' and its many memes bring sweet success to Tay Zonday

"Chocolate Rain" singer Tay Zonday was in the metro recently working on a Best Buy project.

"A small project with Best Buy's internal production company, Yellow Tag Productions. They have a great team. The details will have to be a surprise," said Zonday, the former University of Minnesota Ph.D. student who moved to California in 2008, where he is enjoying his entertainment career.

We did this interview via e-mail because he's busy.

Q: Did you have an inkling "Chocolate Rain" would go viral?

A: No. I saw YouTube as a place to get feedback on experimental music. I definitely got feedback!

Q: I cannot find anything that explains what the song is about, so enlighten me?

A: I wrote "Chocolate Rain" as a serious social commentary, but people re-sang the song with their own lyrics, often for the sake of comedy. The public created its own various meanings, which is typical of viral content known as "memes."

Q: How hot was it in your dorm/apartment?

A: It was April in Minneapolis at 10 p.m. so the outside air was not that hot. Sometimes electronics can make it hot indoors. I'll guess it was about 80 degrees inside my apartment. I could not run the air conditioner when recording a video because it was too loud.

Q: In retrospect do you wish you'd had a Beyoncé fan blowing on you during the shooting of the "Chocolate Rain" video?

A: A Beyoncé fan might have made me a bit less shiny. Interestingly enough, in 2010 I was in a Super Bowl commercial that was opened by Beyoncé. She does have a fan blowing on her before she gets dropped into a hole symbolizing a Vizio television.

Q: Do you feel comfortable telling me approximately how much money "Chocolate Rain" has put in your bank account since it was released in 2007?

A: I could not break it down that way even if I wanted. Any positive public exposure can contribute to various unrelated income opportunities. I have definitely never been "rich," but then again I've sometimes prioritized art over business.

Q: You received your degree from the U in what?

A: In 2004, I enrolled in the University of Minnesota's Ph.D. program in American studies. I studied the history of theater and social change. I accidentally fell into an entertainment career in 2007 and did not complete the program. I left with a master's degree in 2008.

Q: You were open to an entertainment career?

A: Sure. Entertainment is my dream — although probably more to act on camera or host a game show than to sing in front of a bedsheet. I love playing institutional evil characters — like Warden Norton in "Shawshank Redemption" or Nurse Ratched in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," but I still look a bit young for that on-camera at age 35.

Q: What voice-overs have I heard your voice on lately?

A: I am part of multiple animated franchises on Verizon's Go90 platform, including one for the [R-rated] game "Happy Wheels." I have also voiced promos for Cartoon Network.

Q: At what age did your voice become so distinctive?

A: My voice finished becoming deep by age 17. As I've discussed in other interviews, I was selectively mute and agoraphobic as a teen. I didn't use my voice fully until adulthood.

Q: What other song do you wish you had written?

A: I don't really wish I had written anything. I have a lot of unreleased songs that I hope to finish before I die.

Q: What inspired your stage name?

A: I wanted my entertainment career and academic career to be separate. I googled various catchy names. "Tay Zonday" got zero results on Google. I immediately claimed it everywhere I could.

Q: What is your favorite chocolate confection since we know the Heavens don't make rain in chocolate yet?

A: Brownies are cool. The right cake is cool. Ice cream sandwiches with chocolate wafers are good, too.

C.J. can be reached at cj@startribune.com and seen on Fox 9's "Buzz." E-mailers, please state a subject; "Hello" does not count.