KYM Review: Music Memes of 2017

Editor’s Note: This article is part of Know Your Meme’s annual review series looking back at some of the most memorable and popular memes, events and people that defined internet culture in 2017 as we know it.

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his year, music memes followed the K.I.S.S. rule: “Keep it simple, stupid.” Whereas 2016’s crop of music memes were technologically absurd and deconstructive in nature, music memes of 2017 worked best on simple premises, like a song that fits well with videos of people falling, or an app which makes your music meme for you. Meanwhile, Normie-tier memes like “10 Bands I’ve Seen” Facebook statuses and screenshots of playful Spotify playlists also left their imprints on the social media, not to mention your standard fare of trashy pop songs gone viral, but the most exciting memes and remixes of the year in the internet music scene came from a select few creators, some new and some old, who took the craft of music memery to new heights. Here’s a look through a much tamer 2017:

Shooting Stars

The key to any good meme song is it needs to be fun to listen to, and "Shooting Stars" is a goddamn jam. With a driving disco beat and a pleasant synth motif that rises in intensity as the song charges towards its chorus, “Shooting Stars” is the indie-pop archetype of the late 2000s, a tune that wouldn’t sound out of place next to MGMT or Passion Pit in a Spotify playlist.

So how and why did this song become a meme? Well, sometimes these things just happen. The 2009 synthpop song by Australian duo Bag Raiders’ found new life this year when it suddenly became the soundtrack to hundreds of videos of people falling through space and time. It started with a simple premise: a fat guy jumps into a river and “Shooting Stars” plays. And then it was everywhere.

The unexpected breakout of “Shooting Stars” was a bit bewildering--by all accounts a minor song that barely made it out of Australia in the late 2000s would normally have no business becoming a major hit a decade later, but the internet’s perverse sense of democracy and humor made the track one of the biggest of 2017.

Despacito

If you walked into a grocery store in 2017, you've undoubtedly heard Despacito. Luis Fonsi’s hit featuring Daddy Yankee (and a popular remixed version featuring a trying-his-best Justin Bieber) was an absolute juggernaut in this year, racking up over 4.4 billion views on YouTube and playing on pop radio stations what seemed like every half hour.

You know that scene in How I Met Your Mother when Ted and Marshall are driving and the only song they can play is “500 Miles” by The Proclaimers? That’s how it felt with “Despacito” this year. Waves would come where it was the worst song ever and then there would be another wave where it was the best pop song of the year. It’s certainly infectious enough and helped kickstart a craze where pop music was dominated by family friendly, light latin rhythms. Which gave us Ed Sheeran’s “The Shape Of You.” On that count, “Despacito” will never be forgiven.

Mouth Moods

Neil Cicierega rules, man. The elder statesman of all things internet took his wickedly stupid sense of humor and musical talent and made Mouth Moods, the third in his “Mouth” mixtape series, and perhaps the best one yet. Take for example opener “The Starting Line,” which builds an immense tableau over looping memetastic lines from late 90s and early 2000s pop. It just might be the most “zeitgeist-y” song of the year for the internet.

To listen to Mouth Moods is to simultaneously sit mouth agape while laughing your ass off and admiring the impeccable craft that went into this musical meme sugar-rush. By taking the modern memer’s musical lexicon and blending it together in such a way that rewards endless relistens, Cicierega’s wild journey through bad taste and repurposed pop cheese actually turns out to be one of the strongest albums of the year.

Spotify Playlist Messages

Spotify were the big winners of the streaming services in 2017, at least when it came to memes. That’s because one clever teen constructed a Spotify playlist whose songs, when read in order, turned into a rejection message, thus launching Spotify Playlist Messages.

Soon, people used Spotify Playlists to write messages crushes and lovers. With a little ingenuity, one can make a Spotify Playlist say pretty much anything you want, even certain things that should never be forgotten. Spotify Playlist Messages are fun, if only to explore the incredible collection of music Spotify has on its service. Shoutout to the song “and” by EDEN. You the real MVP.

10 Bands I’ve Seen Live

Last spring, a man took to Facebook with a simple game for his followers: 10 bands I’ve seen live, but one is a lie. Guess which one?

The simple challenge spread like wildfire through Facebook, as people eagerly copied the format. It was inescapable. For at least a week, the entirety of Facebook was devoted to this game and parodies of the game. The trend (thankfully) didn’t last too long, but at least along the way we learned what bands that kid from high school you don’t talk to anymore had seen and how clever everyone who didn’t care for the trend was, right? See y’all at the next Facebook status trend.

One Thicc Bih

Ditty saw a resurgence in 2017 thanks to teens utilizing the app to declare that Mr. Krabs is one thicc bih. Furthermore, after saying that Krabs is “one thicc bih,” they ask to “see that krussy.” Perhaps it’s easier to see than to explain:

The “One Thicc Bih” trend was a special kind of plague in the summer of 2017 as people took obscure characters and asked to see their various pussies. This included, but was not limited to, The Babadook (“Babussy”), Wario (“Waussy”) Squidward (“Squussy”), and many more. It was groan-inducing but also a lot of fun, particularly thanks to the song “Good Day” by 4Qent100. Can you imagine breaking into the music industry by making a song on which everyone makes “pussy” portmanteaus? The future is wild, y’all.

"It’s Everyday Bro"

At some point, God looked upon humanity’s sins and created the physical embodiment of those sins and now we have Jake Paul. To his critics, Paul is a talentless, shallow jerk with a documented history of terrorizing his neighbors and friends while engaging in some of the most blatant clickbait on YouTube. To his supporters, I guess he’s funny or something?

Okay, so I’m not Jake Paul’s target demographic. Nevertheless I have enjoyed seeing Paul’s various missteps through the year, particularly his forays into music. Many were introduced to Jake Paul via a music video called “It’s Everyday Bro” which features him and his ragtag group of Team 10 lackeys jumping around boasting about how Paul was on the Disney Channel and he gets a lot of YouTube followers. It’s abysmal.

There are lots of reasons this song is awful, most obvious being that Paul has no sense of flow or how to write clever lyrics. Nevertheless, it has over 158 million views, and not everyone can be hate-watching it, right? Oh also, at some point guest rapper Nick Crompton says "England is my city" which suggests that he has grown up very confused as to the size of England, which is a full country. If there’s one thing Jake Paul offers, it’s endless questions.

"Fireflies"

You would not believe this list,
if Fireflies was not on it.
It was a meme in ‘17.

It involved a remix style
That lasted a little while
In which it played over bizarre scenes

I’d like to document a meme
That song that’s by Owl City
It’s hard to say why it came back
In 2017
But sometimes that’s just how it works with memes…

Man’s Not Hot

"Man’s Not Hot" was something of a sleeper hit in the 2017 meme landscape. When it first dropped as “The Ting Goes,” few could have predicted that Michael Dapaah’s comedy rap as Roadman Shaq would grow into one of biggest music memes of the year.

At first, Dapaah’s various onomatopoeias were the meme, The Ting going SKRAT, KAT KAT KAT, PUM PUM, etc. But as the video spread, memers noticed other gems in Big Shaq’s rap, including the opening “quick maths” line and a bit where he talks about people saying he should take off his jacket, but “man’s not hot.” Dapaah’s character really sells the whole thing, as he spouts his rap with such confidence you almost forget it’s total nonsense. The man’s not hot, but the meme is.

Big Enough

Kirin J. Callinan’s absurd disco-pop-country musical-theatre spoof "Big Enough" is an absolutely bonkers track with an insane music video to match, but one moment in the song courtesy of Australian singer Jimmy Barnes transcended it all:

Barnes screaming across the sky like he’s in Gravity’s Rainbow is the kind of punch-you-in-the-face moment most musicians dream about, especially if you aren’t familiar with Barnes’ previous work. Who is this cowboy? Why is he screaming? Oh my god, he’s going higher? And sure enough, after the video began spreading, Barnes scream fell into the hands of remixers and meme makers who added it in all sorts of humorous situations. Barnes’ “Big Enough” performance is an ideal meme: simultaneously absurd and impressive, a screaming cowboy had millions nodding along and thinking “Same, space cowboy. Same.”