The Dallas-based band There I Ruined It blends music talent with absurd mashups, turning viral parodies into live performances that fans can’t stop talking about.
DALLAS — What started as a music experiment during the COVID-19 pandemic has exploded into one of the internet’s most delightfully bizarre music projects — and, now, it’s become a full-blown live production that was born right here in North Texas.
There I Ruined It, the brainchild of Denton native Dustin Ballard, first made waves online by taking popular songs and mashing them up into unexpected — and often hilariously inappropriate — genres.
Think Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” turned into a country waltz, or “Straight Outta Compton” reimagined as a polka.
“Really, all of this began back during COVID,” Ballard said. “I guess in a moment of musical boredom, I just had this random idea to take a music video and to swap all of the audio and to change the genre of it.”
Ballard, who grew up playing violin in school orchestras and Western swing bands, quickly amassed a large online following by taking the “sacred” parts of pop music and, well, ruining them.
“I think there’s an element of subversion,” he said of his craft. “This idea of taking a song and doing something you’re not supposed to do with it — taking a rap song and making it country, vice versa. There’s just something unexpected that the people really liked.”
The result? Viral videos that have earned the attention — and sometimes even the approval — of artists like Snoop Dogg and Ed Sheeran.
“What we do is parody,” Ballard said. “Which is protected as First Amendment speech these days.”
And, now, what began as a simple creative outlet for Ballard has evolved into a full-on band of DFW musicians who regularly perform live shows to sold-out crowds.
“It’s not a real easy band to find musicians for,” Ballard said with a laugh at a recent rehearsal.
Building the band
Joseph Veazie is a veteran of the North Texas music scene. He joined the There I Ruined It ranks about two years ago.
“If you get Weird Al and Richard Cheese, put them in a blender, add in Postmodern Jukebox and just absurd hilarity, you have us,” Veazie said.
For Veazie, the magic isn’t just in the music; it’s in the comedy.
“I’ve never been part of something that made people laugh like this,” he said. “Music can sometimes feel like a business at times — and this allows us to just be free and be silly.”
Another band member, the classically trained vocalist Anna Pena, grew up in Haslet and was recruited on a recommendation by one of Ballard’s friends. Pena was quick to join in: She said she immediately saw the power of the project, and particularly found herself drawn to how the project’s internet fandom developed into real-life crowds.
“You can see the numbers online, but in person, you’re like, ‘Oh! Those aren’t just likes from bots,'” Pena said. “These are real people that actually connect with this craziness somehow.”
So… how do you describe this?
Trying to explain what There I Ruined It actually is can be a challenge, even for the people in the band.
It’s not just parody. It’s not exactly cover music. It’s part musical theater, part comedy sketch and part technical wizardry.
There’s no single genre to lump it into, either. One minute, the band’s performing a classic country rendition of a 50 Cent song. The next moment, they’re serving up a country take on a boy band hit from the early 2000s. Every performance is a different kind of musical whiplash — but with purpose.
“This is, like, the hardest band to describe,” Pena said. “Every genre. Every decade. Every style of music mashed into one — in a delightfully funny, weird way.”
There’s a method behind the madness, though. It’s all carefully crafted from Ballard’s brain.
“We try to take it above just a cheap laugh and try to put some musical work into it,” Ballard said. “The whole thing, to me, is just a fun, creative expression. But it is [also] about weird stickers and TV shirts and posters and just the whole comedy behind it.”
From the URL to the IRL
There I Ruined It is about as modern a success story as can be imagined. Their popularity is a tangible testament to the power and influence of social media.
Funny, then, that Ballard wasn’t even on TikTok before the project began.
“Being able to create this thing that can instantly, with the snap of a finger, be broadcast to people in every country of the world has been a real leg up,” he said. “We can put a pin on a map, and there’s going to be somebody there that follows the channel.”
As of May 2025, There I Ruined It has 2.5 million followers on Instagram and another 3.8 million followers on TikTok.
“Social media is vital to what we’re doing,” Veazie said.
But while Instagram and TikTok may have built the fanbase, it’s the in-person experience that has made it feel real for the performers behind the tracks.
“To actually meet these people in the flesh at a live concert here in town, and have that kind of back-and-forth connection, is really awesome,” Ballard said.
What next?
Sure, it’s a challenge explaining what they do to the music venues they book their gigs at — and sometimes even to their own families — but the group is finding its footing. Even in the face of copyright takedowns and content flagging battles on platforms like YouTube, the project continues to grow.
“This wouldn’t even be a conceivable idea in another era,” Pena said. “[Ballard] is, like, this genius. This hilarious genius.”
And where will that genius take things next? The real beauty of the project, really, is the boundless possibilities that are laid out ahead of it. There I Ruined It might be hard to define, but it’s easy to enjoy. And for this band of misfits making magic through this Dallas-based band, that’s exactly the point.
Said Ballard said with a smile: “Nothing is sacred.”