About

Buy Me Prada Balenciaga are lyrics from the song "Mamma Mia (feat. Amber Van Day)" by HUGEL that became a TikTok trend and meme in 2023, predominantly associated with male TikToker @kirkiimad who used face filters and lip-dubbed the lyrics, "What do you mean my card's been declined? Try it again! Buy me Prada, Balenciaga." The song was used in TikTok content as early as May 2023, additionally starting on TikTok's Chinese alternative Douyin within makeup communities. The meme format predominantly showed creators transitioning from looking ugly (using the "Striking face" filter) to looking beautiful (using the Bold Glamour filter), resembling a Chad Face transition, while being object labeled with text overlay.

Origin

On June 6th, 2019, the YouTube^[1] channel for HUGEL, a German DJ, posted the audio for the extended mix of his song "Mamma Mia," featuring female singer Amber Van Day, gaining over 1 million views in three years. At the song's 0:34-second mark, Van Day says, "What do you mean my card's been declined? Try it again! Buy me Prada, Balenciaga. Love the drama. Let's go Bahamas." (shown below).

Predominantly starting in May 2023, users on TikTok started to use the song as a sound. Currently, the first-known viral usage was a Demon Slayer edit posted by TikToker^[2] @nxzukosluv on May 19th, 2023, gaining roughly 1.6 million plays and 177,500 likes in three months (shown below).

Spread

Going into 2023, users on the app started using the switch-up in the lyrics to transition into their cosplays. For instance, on June 20th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @saggl3 posted a cosplay transition video using the song, gaining roughly 3 million plays and 472,800 likes in two months (shown below, left). Around the same time, users started reposting similar videos from China's Douyin to the app, such as TikToker^[4] @makeuptipsdouyin on June 13th, gaining roughly 30,600 plays and 1,400 likes in two months (shown below, right).

On August 3rd, 2023, Russian TikToker^[5] @soffr7 used the sound, using the "Striking face" filter and "Bold glamour" filter to transition between lyrics, gaining roughly 2.3 million plays and 308,800 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). The format was replicated by TikToker^[6] @ne.nikitylllka on August 4th, gaining roughly 7.1 million plays and 847,200 likes in three weeks (shown below, right).

TikToker @kirkiimad's Videos

On August 9th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @kirkiimad replicated the "Striking face" to "Bold glamour" format in a video, making a joke about dogs, gaining roughly 6.6 million plays and 1.1 million likes in three weeks (shown below, left). @kirkiimad quickly became the most well-known creator a part of the trend, evident in memetic content that referenced him like a video posted by TikToker^[8] @emporiothetrue on August 24th, gaining roughly 3.2 million plays and 508,200 likes in six days (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References