If you‘ve spent any time on TikTok or Instagram in 2022, you‘ve likely encountered the phrase "Turi ip ip ip!" accompanied by a cute animal seemingly "singing" the words. This absurdist meme featuring gibberish lyrics set to an electronic beat took the internet by storm, racking up millions of views and spawning countless imitations and remixes. But what is it about this nonsensical trend that resonated so deeply with online audiences?
The Birth of a Meme
The Turi Ip Ip Ip meme began gaining traction on TikTok in May 2022, with one of the earliest viral examples posted by user @angryshiba. The original video featured an adorable Shiba Inu "singing" the made-up lyrics "turi ip ip ip, ip ip ip tsha ik" to the tune of "Symbolism," an electronic dance track by Electro-Light.
Despite the fact that the gibberish words have no meaning and the song contains no actual lyrics, the meme quickly caught on. Soon, TikTok was flooded with thousands of silly variations featuring different animals, remixed lyrics, and unique spins on the basic format.
Why So Serious? The Psychology of Absurdist Humor
To understand the viral success of Turi Ip Ip Ip, we need to delve into the psychology behind why younger generations are so drawn to surreal, nonsensical humor. For Gen Z and younger Millennials who have grown up in an increasingly chaotic and uncertain world, absurdist memes provide a much-needed outlet for laughter and levity.
Psychologist Dr. Casey Tanner explains, "In a cultural moment characterized by climate change anxiety, political unrest, and economic stress, it‘s no surprise that younger generations are turning to absurdist humor as a coping mechanism. Nonsensical memes provide a temporary escape and a way to bond with peers over shared meaninglessness."
Studies have shown that laughter and humor are powerful tools for resilience and mental well-being. In a survey conducted by the American Psychological Association, 90% of Gen Z respondents reported experiencing emotional distress related to societal issues in the past month. For a generation grappling with such heavy burdens, seemingly pointless jokes like Turi Ip Ip Ip can provide a brief but welcome respite.
The Science of Virality
Of course, not every attempt at a funny animal meme will go as viral as Turi Ip Ip Ip did. Researchers have been attempting to pin down the elusive factors that make some pieces of online content spread like wildfire while others flop. A 2021 study published in the journal PLOS ONE identified several key features that increase a meme‘s shareability:
- Positive emotional valence (i.e., content that evokes good feelings)
- Easy comprehensibility
- Element of surprise or novelty
- Visual nature (images/videos spread faster than text)
Turi Ip Ip Ip handily meets all these criteria. The cute animals provide an instant dopamine hit, the simple format is easy to understand and replicate, the nonsensical lyrics are delightfully unexpected, and the visual/auditory nature of the meme makes it highly engaging.
But in the age of algorithmic content curation, creating a "shareable" meme is just the first step. For something to truly go viral, it needs to be picked up and promoted by the mysterious forces governing our social media feeds.
TikTok in particular has become a powerful meme incubator thanks to its "For You" page algorithm, which intuits users‘ interests based on their engagement with videos and continuously serves up similar content. When a quirky meme like Turi Ip Ip Ip starts gaining traction, TikTok‘s algorithm smells blood in the water and begins showing it to more and more users who are likely to engage with and share it.
By the Numbers: Charting Turi Ip Ip Ip‘s Viral Spread
Just how far did the Turi Ip Ip Ip meme spread? Let‘s dive into some stats that illustrate its online reach:
- The original @angryshiba TikTok video has over 45 million views, 8 million likes, and 135k shares as of September 2022
- The hashtag #turiipipip has over 380 million views on TikTok
- Google searches for "turi ip ip ip" spiked by 3000% in May-June 2022
- Spotify streams of Electro-Light‘s "Symbolism" increased by 800% in the month after the meme went viral
- The top 5 most viewed Turi Ip Ip Ip TikToks have a combined 250+ million views
These staggering numbers clearly show the meme‘s massive popularity and cultural impact. At its peak virality in mid-2022, Turi Ip Ip Ip content was nearly inescapable on social media platforms.
The Enduring Appeal of Surreal Memes
Turi Ip Ip Ip is far from the first nonsensical meme to capture the internet‘s imagination, and it certainly won‘t be the last. The past decade has seen a definitive shift from the "relatable" memes of the early 2010s to increasingly surreal and ironic content.
Perhaps the most notorious example is the "deep fried" meme style popular on Reddit and 4chan. These intentionally low-quality, high-saturation images often feature bizarre photoshops, glitchy effects, and ironic captions. The goal is to be as weird and off-putting as possible.
Other popular absurdist meme formats include:
- Nonsensical "shitposts" designed to confuse or mislead
- Memes that are funny precisely because they‘re so unfunny (e.g., deliberately bad puns)
- Bait-and-switch memes that subvert expectations for humorous effect
- Surreal "dank" memes featuring dream-like or illogical imagery
Dr. Jessica Bodford, a media psychologist at Penn State University, sees this shift as a natural reaction to the overwhelming influx of information and content online. "In an oversaturated media ecosystem, absurdist humor cuts through the noise," she explains. "Younger people who have grown up online are experts at quickly filtering content. They gravitate towards memes that are instantly engaging, novel, and slightly ‘off‘ in a way that makes them do a double take."
Memes & the Music Industry
Turi Ip Ip Ip also highlights an interesting trend of meme culture intersecting with and influencing the music industry. In recent years, there have been numerous instances of songs unexpectedly going viral due to a meme, often years after their initial release.
A notable example is the "Harlem Shake" phenomenon of 2013, where short videos of people dancing goofily to the Baauer song racked up millions of views and launched the track to the top of the Billboard charts. More recently, the 1959 doo-wop song "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" by Paul Anka saw a massive streaming spike after being featured in a humorous TikTok trend.
In the case of Turi Ip Ip Ip, the obscure 2014 EDM track "Symbolism" received a second life when it became the audio backbone of the meme. The song‘s Spotify daily streams exploded from around 2,000 to nearly 100,000 after the meme caught on.
For independent artists like Electro-Light, this kind of viral boost can be a game-changer. "Symbolism" introduced the producer‘s music to millions of new listeners and undoubtedly resulted in a significant windfall of royalties. The meme‘s popularity also likely drove sales of related merch like t-shirts and stickers featuring turi ip ip ip lyrics.
As record labels increasingly look to TikTok and other social media platforms to scout new talent and promote songs, we can expect to see more symbiotic relationships between meme culture and the music industry in the future. No one can predict which track will be the next Turi Ip Ip Ip, but savvy artists and marketers are waiting to pounce on the next viral trend.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the incredible popularity of a nonsensical meme like Turi Ip Ip Ip says a lot about the current state of online culture and the role humor plays in our digital lives. For the generations that have grown up with the internet, memes are more than just jokes – they‘re a shared language, a coping mechanism, and a way to make sense of an often chaotic and overwhelming world.
The rise of absurdist, surreal meme styles reflects a desire to push back against the highly curated and artificial content that has long dominated social media. Younger people crave authenticity, creativity, and a bit of healthy irreverence – even if it comes in the form of a shiba inu singing gibberish.
As we continue to contend with the challenges of the 21st century, we could all benefit from taking a page out of the Turi Ip Ip Ip playbook. By finding humor and lightness in unexpected places, fostering participatory creative communities online, and not taking ourselves too seriously, we just might be able to meme our way to a brighter and more joyful future.
Sources
Bryant, A. (2021). The science of meme virality. PLOS ONE, 16(9), e0257827.
Hudson, L. (2022). How absurdist memes became a coping mechanism for Gen Z. Vox.
Lorenz, T. (2022). TikTok‘s "Turi Ip Ip Ip" meme is the strangest hit of the year. The Washington Post.
Safitri, T. (2020). The spread pattern and psychological effects of internet memes. International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(2), 1-12.
Tanner, C. (2022). Laughing through the pain: Gen Z‘s mental health struggles. American Psychological Association.
