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Baby Shark

"Baby Shark" is a children's song associated with a dance involving hand movements dating back to the late 20th century. In 2016, "Baby Shark" became very popular when Pinkfong, a South Korean entertainment company, released a version of the song on June 17, 2016, with a YouTube music video which went viral in social media, online video, and radio. In January 2022, it became the first YouTube video to reach 10 billion views. In November 2020, Pinkfong's version became the most-viewed YouTube video of all time, with over 14 billion views as of March 2024.

History

Origins and early history

The original song dates back to the 20th century. Various entities have tried to copyright original videos and sound recordings of the song, but according to The New York Times, the underlying song and characters are believed to be in the public domain.

A dance version of "Baby Shark" was popularized in the 2007 YouTube video "Kleiner Hai" (German for Little Shark) published by Alexandra Müller, also known by her stage name Alemuel. This version is set to the theme of Jaws and tells the story of a baby shark who grows up and eats a swimmer. The video quickly gained popularity. The single peaked at 25th in the German charts and at 21st in the Austrian charts. The German version of the song remains popular among German youth groups, and multiple variations, also in different dialects of German, have been published.

Jonathan Wright, a children's entertainer from Endwell, New York known as Johnny Only, was a DJ at a kids' summer camp in the 1990s where the counselors regularly performed the song with the campers. He saw how engaged and animated the campers were when "Baby Shark" was performed. When he became a full-time children's entertainer, he released a version of the song aimed at toddlers by removing any violent imagery, instead focusing on the family. The version was released in 2011, five years before the Pinkfong version of "Baby Shark" became a global phenomenon.

Pinkfong version

"Baby Shark" was greatly popularized by a version of the song produced by Pinkfong, an education brand owned by South Korean entertainment company SmartStudy. The original music video for "Baby Shark" (Korean: 아기 상어; RR: Agi sang-eo) without the child actors was uploaded on November 25, 2015. All videos related to Pinkfong's song had gained about 5 billion views by January 2020. The most popular of the videos, "Baby Shark Dance", was uploaded on June 17, 2016; it went viral beginning in 2017. On November 2, 2020, over four years after it was uploaded, it became the most-viewed YouTube video of all time after surpassing Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" with 8.03 billion views. It is the first most-viewed video to mention its status in the title.

The version of the song was performed by then-10-year-old Korean-American singer Hope Segoine. The music video featured two child actors, Korean Park Geon Roung and New Zealander Elaine Kim Johnston.

The song starts with bars from Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9, which sounds similar to music from the film Jaws. "Baby Shark" features a family of sharks that hunt a school of fish which escape to safety. It became a viral video in Indonesia in 2017, and throughout the year it spread to many other Asian countries, particularly those in Southeast Asia. The related mobile app surpassed 150 million downloads and was top ranked in 112 countries in 2017.

"Baby Shark Dance" has received over 14 billion views worldwide and over 42 million likes as of March 2024, making it the most-viewed video on YouTube. Due to a 2013 change that the Billboard Hot 100 music charts made to account for online viewership of YouTube videos, "Baby Shark" broke into the Billboard Hot 100 at number 32 during the week of January 7, 2019.

Due to its popularity, this version of the song has spurred an online dance craze which is sometimes referred to as the Baby Shark Challenge. It has been cited as "the next big thing after the domination of Gangnam Style". K-pop groups including Blackpink and Red Velvet have been credited with further spreading the viral song through their coverage of the song and dance, specifically on their featured TV shows and concerts. The song began to go viral in the Western world in August 2018.

In July 2019, Kellogg's announced that it had entered a partnership with Pinkfong to introduce a new Baby Shark cereal, a berry-flavored variant of Froot Loops with marshmallows added. It was first available at Sam's Club stores on August 17, and at Walmart in late September. In March 2020, Pinkfong released a new interactive version of the song that encourages children to properly wash their hands during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2020, SmartStudy partnered with US cable network Nickelodeon to premiere Baby Shark's Big Show!, which was adapted from Baby Shark and is an animated television series aimed at preschoolers.

In 2024, LG launched the Baby Shark World for Kids app on LG Smart TVs in 184 countries. As of 5 April 2024, the app is ranked at number 67 on the list of highest grossing education apps in South Korea.

Wright v SmartStudy

Wright's English version simply lists the members of the shark family; Pinkfong's version says Mommy Shark is "pretty", Daddy Shark is "strong", Grandma Shark is "kind", and Grandpa Shark is "cool". In January 2018, the South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun published a front-page editorial condemning these lyrics as sexist.

In May 2018, the Liberty Korea Party started using "Baby Shark" to promote its candidates, prompting SmartStudy to threaten legal action over copyright infringement. Prior to this, the Liberty Korea Party had contacted Wright for permission, who admits to having told the political group that the song was in the public domain. He has stated that when he uploaded his YouTube video in 2011, he did not believe his version could be protected under copyright law. Wright's version is not the oldest, nor the only non-violent rendition of the folk song.

Eventually, Wright filed suit against SmartStudy in South Korea, with the first hearing taking place in July 2019. On July 23, 2021, the Seoul Central District Court ruled that SmartStudy did not infringe on Wright's rights. The ruling cited the Korea Copyright Commission judgement that Wright's version simply added an instrument to an existing folk song. SmartStudy did not secure ownership either, with the court ruling that the Pinkfong version was based on oral tradition and not under copyright. The case received a write-up in a South Korean law journal in November 2021.

Cultural impact

In media

In October 2019, a 75-minute stage musical based on the Pinkfong song and characters, titled Baby Shark Live, made its debut at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium in Spartanburg, South Carolina. By this time, Pinkfong was also marketing a wide variety of merchandise based on their song and video, including clothing, bedding, toys and fishing tackle.

In 2019 and 2020, the song was featured in The Angry Birds Movie 2 and Rubber and was playable in Just Dance 2020.

In November 2019, an officially licensed children's book based on the Pinkfong characters was being marketed by HarperCollins, while five unlicensed children's books offered by Scholastic Corporation had sold over one million copies.

In 2020, Pinkfong partnered with Bushiroad to include "Baby Shark" as a playable track in the English server of BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! from March 27 to April 17.

In June 2020, Pinkfong announced the television series Baby Shark's Big Show!, which premiered on Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) in South Korea and Nickelodeon in the United States in December 2020. On July 20, 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, and a feature film based on the series will be released on December 8.

In the American comedy-drama television series Ted Lasso, fictional soccer player Jamie Tartt (played by English actor Phil Dunster) uses the tune of the song as his goal celebration anthem, in which the words "Baby Shark" are replaced with his name.

On January 31st, 2024, "Baby Shark" and Pinkfong collaborated with the 2018 Supercell battle royale/3v3 game Brawl Stars, with a new skin for the brawler "El Primo" as "Baby Shark". On April 1st, a challenge with infinite lives was release on the game, with a new Baby Shark pin.

In sports

Professional baseball player Gerardo Parra of the Washington Nationals, having discovered the song through his young daughter, adopted it as his walk-up music to energize the flagging team on June 19, 2019. The theme became popular among both teammates and fans, who used the shark clap whenever the Nationals got a hit, and eventually, at every Parra at-bat; fans also began wearing shark costumes to the stadium. A stuffed baby shark was seen attached to the dugout railing during the 2019 National League Championship Series, which the Nationals won over the St. Louis Cardinals. The craze culminated with the Nationals defeating the Houston Astros in seven games to win the 2019 World Series; the connection was such that the Marine Band performed the song during the team's celebratory visit to the White House.

Darts player Mikuru Suzuki has used the song as her entrance music.

In promotions

On 23 May 2022, it was reported that a promotional video for Singapore's tourism sector in the form of a collaboration between Pinkfong and the Singapore Tourism Board was made and uploaded on YouTube. The video featured characters from Baby Shark and the Merli, a Singaporean mascot.

Ads aired during April 2022 and May 2022 by Shopee used the melody of Baby Shark with modified lyrics in its advertisements in Poland and Singapore. Many Poles considered the advertisements annoying due to a high incidence of broadcasting across television and radio. In Southeast Asia, the song was used with different versions and renditions. It was first spotted in 2018 with Filipina actress Anne Curtis as an endorser. More recently, the jingle to the tune of "Baby Shark" was used when Jackie Chan became international brand ambassador.

In politics

The song has also been performed by anti-government protesters in Lebanon during the 2019–20 Lebanese protests.

In July 2019, officials in West Palm Beach, Florida were criticized for playing a continuous loop of "Baby Shark", alongside "Raining Tacos" throughout the night outside the Waterfront Lake Pavilion as a way of deterring vagrants.

Criminal charges for use

In October 2020, two former detention officers and a supervisor at an Oklahoma County jail were charged with counts of misdemeanor cruelty to a prisoner and conspiracy for forcing inmates to listen to the song on a loop at loud volumes while standing and handcuffed for an extended period.

Other versions

In September 2018, Ellen DeGeneres released her version of the song on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and James Corden performed a version on The Late Late Show with James Corden. The song was performed on The X Factor in early December 2018 because it was requested by Simon Cowell's four-year-old son Eric. Yvie Oddly, a Drag queen and contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race, adapted the song for live lip-syncing performances, including a choreography that draws inspiration from voguing.

Popular Australian children's music band The Wiggles released a version of the song in March 2020.

Pomplamoose released an electro funk version on April 1, 2021.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

"Baby Shark Dance". Pink Fong. YouTube. June 17, 2016.
Baby Shark episode of the Slate podcast Decoder Ring

Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Baby Shark by Wikipedia (Historical)

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