About

What the Helly is a catchphrase derived from the rap song "WTHelly" by Rob49, released on March 21st, 2025. The song, which repeats the phrase "What the helly?" throughout, was popularized on TikTok that month as the subject of lip dub memes, in which it is paired with a caption about something shocking or confusing happening to the TikToker. The phrase "what the helly" was also popularized on X / Twitter that same month as a general phrase and the subject of memes.

Origin

On March 21st, 2025, rapper Rob49 released the song "WTHelly" along with a music video on YouTube,^[1] garnering over 241,000 views in a week. The song repeats the phrase "What the helly?" throughout, which is a simple play on the phrase "What the hell?" At the end of the song he raps several variations of the phrase using "what the helly" before a celebrity's last name, including, "What the helly, Berry? What the helly, Burton? What the helly, 'Bron James?"

What the helly?
What the hellyanté?
What the helly on?
What the helly, Berry?
What the helly, Burton?
What the helly, 'Bron James?
What the helly Cyrus?

Spread

The song became the subject of memes in the days following its release. For example, on March 25th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @gigiifiji posted a lip dub video to the song featuring the caption, "pov: me pretending to be shocked when someone tells me something i already knew so my friend doesn't get in trouble for telling me first," garnering over 2.6 million views in three days.

Later that day, Rob49 posted a GIF of Halle Berry to X,^[3] writing, "WHAT THE HELLY BERRY," garnering over 6,600 likes in the same span of time.

On March 26th, Rob49 made another post to X^[4] promoting his song, in which he copy-pastes the ending lyrics of the song, garnering over 47,000 likes in two days. That day, X^[5] user @thaboyjozu used the phrase "what the helly" as a reaction to a video posted by Congressman Robert Garcia claiming Elon Musk and Marjorie Taylor Greene want to defund Sesame Street, garnering over 1,800 likes in two days.

That same day, TikToker^[6] @n0t.kian4 posted a lip dub meme to the song featuring the caption, "No," the joke being that they're not sure how to react when they're told "no," garnering over 1.9 million views in two days.

On March 27th, Rob49 made a post on X^[7] encouraging users to post their own "WTHelly spinoffs," garnering over 4,700 likes and 290 comments in a day, many offering spins on the "what the helly" phrase. Later that day, X^[8] user @Kheumani posted a variant on its own, writing, "What the helly rowland?" a play on the name Kelly Rowland, garnering over 7,000 likes in a day.

Later that day, TikToker^[9] @righttwixs posted a lip dub meme to the song captioned, "when ONE missing assignment brung my grade from 98 to 65," garnering over 2.1 million views in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References