If the words “baby shark” don’t make you automatically sing “doo doo doo doo doo doo”, then think yourself lucky. You probably don’t have a child under the age of five, and you have so far avoided hearing the Baby Shark song.
Don’t go to YouTube and search for it. Just don’t.
That baby shark is an earworm like no other. Learn from these Twitters users.
It’s 4AM and the baby shark song is what keeps me up at night now.
— catsofdooty ???? (@catsofdooty) August 24, 2018
After having the baby shark song be the only thing that kept the toddler moderately happy for the last 20 minutes of our drive, I can say with absolute certainty that I hope baby shark and its family go extinct.
Advertisement— Oh, it’s Kat. (@mama_firefly) August 22, 2018
I’ve had that god forsaken “baby shark” song playing on repeat in my head since I woke up this morning and I want it to stop I don’t know what to do doo do do do do doo do
— Nick Majetich (@NMajetich) August 27, 2018
Okay, if you have gone to YouTube to look for the clip, and you’ve found the most popular version, by Pinkfong, stop. Note that comments on the clip have been disabled, but it has received 1.2 million thumbs down. That’s a lot of people expressing their intense emotions about it in the only way they can.
Pinkfong’s version of the Baby Shark song has had 1.6 billion views on YouTube. Does that mean a quarter of the world’s population have watched the clip? Or does that mean 1000 parents have had to endure their kids playing it 1.6 million times each? It’s hard to tell.
So where did the Baby Shark song come from and how has it managed to achieve world domination?
Pinkfong is a Korean-based YouTube channel producing K-Pop videos for kids. But the Baby Shark song isn’t an original.
“We took a fresh twist and re-created on a traditional singalong chant with our Pinkfong’s Baby Shark,” Jamie Oh, a spokeswoman for Pinkfong, told Quartzy.
“In addition to the upbeat rhythms and fresh melody, Dvorak’s New World Symphony has been added to the beginning of the song to emphasise the tension before the shark family shows up.” Okay then.
The clip itself is nothing special, although the two kids in it are adorable. The animation is pretty basic, as is the story line (a family of sharks go hunting but don’t catch fish). Really, it’s all about the “doo doo doo doo doo doo”, and the dance moves.
Watch the clip for Baby Shark here… but be warned – it’s very catchy.
PinkFong uploaded the Baby Shark clip more than two years ago, but its popularity didn’t really explode till the #BabySharkChallenge dance took off. The craze started in Asia last year, and over the past few months, has spread worldwide.
Who doesn’t love a dance with moves aimed at toddlers?
Everyone’s doing it. Footy players in the UK. A traffic cop. Ordinary parents, like UK mum Ashleigh Waller, who painted herself blue and did the dance alongside a moving car.
It’s so popular that that experts are now warning of the dangers. The dangers of doing the dance alongside a moving car, that is.
But let’s not forget the real danger. Once this song is in your head, it will never leave. Baby shark, doo doo doo doo doo doo. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.