마라탕후루

Mah-rah-tang-hoo-roo

The Maratanghuru meme began to rapidly gain popularity in early 2024, particularly on short-form platforms like TikTok and YouTube Shorts, after child creator Seo E-ve released the 'Maratanghuru' song on April 17th. Around May 2024, it surpassed 30 million views on TikTok, sparking a dance challenge craze. Its popularity further spread as various celebrities and content creators participated in parodies.

Maratanghuru is a song created by elementary school student Seo E-ve. It originated from a neologism combining two popular foods among teenagers at the time: Malatang and Tanghulu. It features lyrics like "Sunbae, please buy me Malatang! Maybe Tanghulu too?" and a repetitive, addictive melody "Tang Tang Huru Huru Tang Tang Tang Huru Ruru Ru," along with simple choreography. Rather than having a profound meaning, it's best understood as a cheerful and cute trending song and challenge track that combines two popular foods.

It primarily gained significant popularity among young generations in their teens and early twenties, especially females from elementary school students to university students. However, its recognition expanded across all generations as celebrities and content creators of various ages, such as singer Hwasa, IVE's Jang Won-young, Chimchakman, and Kim Bum-soo, participated in the challenge.

The Maratanghuru meme is primarily used in challenge videos where people dance or lip-sync to the original song. It's also frequently used by changing the lyrics of specific parts of the song to fit different situations or characters, or by creating parodies.

• The cast of Kamen Rider Gotchard uploaded a challenge video.

• Chimchakman uploaded a challenge video to YouTube Shorts.

• The official YouTube account of the Korea Army Academy at Yeongcheon parodied it by matching the 'Tang Tang' part with footage of a K201 grenade launcher firing.

Due to its addictive melody and lyrics, the Maratanghuru meme might cause fatigue for some users. Furthermore, there have been instances where the original creator, Seo E-ve, despite being a minor, suffered from malicious comments and criticism, leading to legal action. Therefore, when participating in parodies or challenges, it's important to be careful not to offend the original creator or other participants, and especially to refrain from criticism or personal attacks against minor creators.