--- title: Yanni Weighs In on Yanny vs. Laurel Internet Debate description: Music phenomenon Yanni weighs into the viral phenomenon Yanny vs. Laurel debate. canonical: https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/ author: Ashley Hoffman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-17T12:57:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:52:54.654Z og:title: Yanni Picks a Side in the Yanni Vs. Laurel Debate og:description: Because a music phenomenon recognizes an internet phenomenon og:url: https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18af0ac2723e977e/6989309adb298727bc25fadf/gettyimages-956673602.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Yanni In Concert - Virginia Beach, Virginia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Yanni Picks a Side in the Yanni Vs. Laurel Debate twitter:description: Because a music phenomenon recognizes an internet phenomenon twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18af0ac2723e977e/6989309adb298727bc25fadf/gettyimages-956673602.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Thank Goodness Yanni Is Stepping In on the Raging Viral 'Yanny' Vs. 'Laurel' Debate by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 17, 2018 12:57 PM UTC  VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - MAY 09: Yanni performs live at Sandler Center For The Performing Arts on May 9, 2018 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Photo by David A. Beloff/Getty Images) VIRGINIA BEACH, VA - MAY 09: Yanni performs live at Sandler Center For The Performing Arts on May 9, 2018 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. (Photo by David A. Beloff/Getty Images)David A. Beloff—Getty Images by [Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman May 17, 2018 12:57 PM UTC Biased though he is, Greek god of New Age music for moms Yanni has chimed in on the [viral Yanny versus Laurel debate](http://time.com/5279727/yanny-laurel-original-clip/), and you can guess which side he’s on. Yanni, 63, became unexpectedly relevant again when an audio clip [divided the internet](http://time.com/5278817/yanny-or-laurel-audio-clip-debate/) into two camps: those who heard a [vocabulary.com recording](https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/laurel) as “Yanny” and those who heard it as “Laurel.” For the uninitiated, the debate began as all great debates do, when a high school student, Roland Szabo, polled his followers on Instagram with the sound snippet. From there, Cloe Feldman, a YouTube vlogger, spread the question further on Twitter. A phenomenon recognizes a phenomenon, so leave it to a mustachioed Acropolis phenomenon to slide in with an answer. Yanni took to Twitter Wednesday to share a video with his answer – “Yanny” – of course. The maestro is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of his [breakthrough 1993 performance at the Acropolis in Athens](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/16/arts/music/yanni-is-still-chilling-25-years-after-the-acropolis.html). But of course he made time for this important question. > [](https://twitter.com/Yanni/status/996876879922679813) He was doubling down on his stance in a previous tweet. > [](https://twitter.com/Yanni/status/996556285482078208) [Experts say](http://time.com/5279069/yanny-laurel-explanation/) what we hear all depends on the listener’s equipment. And evidently, it’s actually “laurel,” but the guy does know his own name. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/"},"headline":"Thank Goodness Yanni Is Stepping In on the Raging Viral 'Yanny' Vs. 'Laurel' Debate","datePublished":"2018-05-17T12:57:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:52:54.654Z","description":"Because a music phenomenon recognizes an internet phenomenon","url":"https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18af0ac2723e977e/6989309adb298727bc25fadf/gettyimages-956673602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt18af0ac2723e977e/6989309adb298727bc25fadf/gettyimages-956673602.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yanni In Concert - Virginia Beach, Virginia","caption":"Yanni In Concert - Virginia Beach, Virginia","creditText":"David A. Beloff—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5280632/yanni-on-yanny-vs-laurel/","name":"Thank Goodness Yanni Is Stepping In on the Raging Viral 'Yanny' Vs. 'Laurel' Debate"}}]}] ```