Posted by Emily Exton on 01/11/2012 at 5:01 PM News

The Popdust Files: bon iver, Karmin, lana del rey, saturday night live

Saturday Night Live plans to kick off 2012 with a bunch of artists your parents have never hear of. Following Kelly Clarkson’s highly Kelly Clarkson-esque set on Saturday night, the powers that be have extended an invitation to the YouTube stars turned legitimate artists Karmin—a.k.a. the couple whose videos of “6 Foot 7 Foot” or “Look At Me Now” you probably saw at some point last year—to appear February 11 with host Zooey Deschanel. In their defense, the self-described “swag pop” couple has since earned themselves a record deal, releasing their first single “Crash Your Party ” in October. Amy has a face that pleads to be shared to the masses with its highly improbable contortion capabilities, while their humble beginnings make for good water cooler talk come Monday morning. But is there really no (good) new music right now? We’re already imagining the Zooey duet or Karmin sketch. What’s the antithesis of adorkable?

Always attempting to place itself on the pulse of pop culture, this weekend’s SNL boasts the controversy-magnet Lana Del Rey—would a skit about the outrage over her confusing origin story go over the heads of mom and dad in Dubuque?—along with host Daniel Radcliffe, while Bon Iver is scheduled to perform on the Channing Tatum-helmed February 4 episode, a night which will likely serve as a warmup to Grammy Awards, also known as the night when your mom texts you about that shaggy guy who lives in the woods. Karmin has been restrained to the confines of our various browser windows for some time now, so we’re not sure how we’ll feel about seeing them take the stage at studio 8H. Actually yes we are. After seeing what they do in roughly four minutes of their own video, we totally hate it. But unlike most situations in life, at least we have Kristen Wiig to save us all.