Local woman sings true to life parody

A local woman has become something of a celebrity after a parody she sang and posted to Facebook went viral overnight.

Jenie Borders had had “one of those days” with her kids during this pandemic, and that evening she sat down and sang her own rendition of a Tones and I song, “Dance Monkey.”

In the Tones and I rendition, it repeats a phrase over and over, so Borders took that cue with her kids, ages six, five and nine months, saying “hey mommy, hey mommy, hey mommy can we just go and play with friends today?” over and over all day and added “no babies, no babies, no babies, not today, because we’re stuck inside ‘til corona goes away.”

Her husband, Nick, urged her to download the video that night and when she checked her Facebook account the next morning, it had exploded with 11,000 people watching it and 200 people having shared it.

“I was very surprised and very humbled,” she said. “Since then hundreds of people have reached out. I’ve made them smile or laugh. For me it was comedic stress relief.”

Since then, her incredible voice and true to life parody has been featured on the Today Show’s Parents page and had more than three million views.

“I’ve had people reach out to me from all over the world,” she said. “I’ve had people from Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Germany – all over the place reach out. Really, for me this is an opportunity for us to keep being kind and of course, safe.”

Borders and her husband moved to Thermopolis from Greybull just two years ago.