About

"E.T.," also known by the lyrics, E.T. Is An Alien and He Is Kinda Spacey, is a bubblegum pop song by Toy-Box released in 1999 on the album FanTastic. In March and April 2024, the song saw a surge in popularity on TikTok and YouTube as the subject of animation memes and lip dubs.

Origin

In May 1999, bubblegum pop group Toy-Box released their album FanTastic, which includes the song "E.T." (shown below). The song's chorus is sung to the tune of "Yankee Doodle." The song was uploaded to the official Toy-Box YouTube^[1] channel on April 9th, 2018, garnering over 800,000 views in six years.

Everybody say "yippie-yo!" and "yippie-yeah!"
E.T. is an alien, and he is kind of spacey
Coming from the universe to party and go crazy
E.T. is an alien, and he is kind of spacey
Coming from the universe to party and go crazy

Spread

In mid-March, 2024, the song saw a resurgence in popularity on TikTok as users began uploading animation memes set to it. The earliest known example was posted by TikToker^[2] @saikiflops on March 13th, 2024, garnering over 1.5 million views in a month (shown below).

The original sound was used over 3,100 times in the next month, often in similarly-formatted animations. For example, on March 24th, TikToker^[3] @fyodorsbloodyarm posted a version that gained over 100,000 views in a month (shown below, left). On March 27th, TikToker^[4] @fahgotnorton posted a version that gained over 260,000 views in a month (shown below, right).

The trend also gained viral spread on YouTube. On March 29th, YouTuber^[5] Lee the dog posted an animation meme using the song that garnered over 350,000 views in a month (shown below). On April 7th, YouTuber^[6] slpeakronpa posted a version that gained over 65,000 views in three weeks.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References