Caramelldansen

2006

Date: October 2006 · Place: Futaba Channel and YTMND, song from Caramell's 2001 Supergott album · Figures: Caramell, Swedish Eurodance duo · anonymous editor, Popotan loop · Tags: Loop, Anime, Eurodance 01. A 2001 Eurodance Song Meets a 2002 Visual Novel In October 2006 an anonymous editor loops a four-second sequence from the 2002 visual-novel anime Popotan in which characters Mai and Mii bounce side to side, hands flapping above their heads. The audio underneath is a sped-up version of Caramelldansen by the Swedish duo Caramell, recorded in 2001. The chorus is in Swedish and is also nonsense. The loop posts to Futaba Channel and crosses to YTMND within weeks. 02. The Caramelldansen Dance Floor By 2007 every anime fandom has produced a Caramelldansen loop with its own characters performing the hand-bounce. Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Touhou, Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings cosplayers, real people at conventions. Caramell, retired since 2002, re-form briefly to perform the song at a Stockholm festival in 2008. Caramelldansen is the moment Western internet culture acknowledges that a single rigid bodily template can be reapplied indefinitely. Every later TikTok dance challenge, every Gangnam Style line, every Renegade routes through the Caramell hand-bounce. Sources • Caramell, Supergott (Remixed Records, 2001) • KnowYourMeme, Caramelldansen • Aftonbladet, 'Caramell ater pa scenen' (June 2008)