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PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 14 december 2018

Doo doo doo doo doo doo: ‘Baby Shark’ bites into the culture

By LEANNE ITALIE Claus? Can we do without kids prefer versions of baby, “Also, both the music and why we picked it for her
Associated Press the absolutely cutest home mama, papa, grandma the animation are predict- Halloween costume,” he
NEW YORK (AP) — In the video of them all, the little and grandpa shark from a able, with repeated words, said.
wise words of James Cor- girl begging Alexa to play content provider called Su- phrases, colors and move- “At the end of the Super
den, there comes along her favorite shark jam, frus- per Simple. ments.” Simple version, it says ‘bye
a song every so often that trated by the not-so-smart There are many, many oth- The combinations can bye sharks’ and that be-
defines a generation. device’s inability to under- er offerings to choose from capture and sustain atten- came how we say bye in
Doo doo doo doo doo stand? What about the Tex- and many, many more mil- tion even in children where our family. She now fusses
doo. as family so enamored they lions of views than the jack- attention isn’t a strength, when she hears it.”
The late-night TV host, car- synchronized their blinking, pot scored by Pinkfong for Cunningham said. The But there’s plenty more fish
pool karaoke king and in the “Baby Shark” sea.
father of three young chil- A Montreal-based com-
dren was referring specifi- pany, WowWee, has a
cally, and wryly, to “Baby Pinkfong license for North
Shark,” now the bloodthirst- America to sell the shark
iest of earworms for some family in plush toys that
parents and meme lovers sing when tummies are
everywhere. squeezed, along with soft
Insert shark hands here. song cube versions.
If you don’t know what I’m Available exclusively on
talking about, you’ve been Amazon on pre-order that
living inside a sea anemone guaranteed delivery in
since at least 2015. That’s time for Christmas, they
when an educational con- sold out in two and a half
tent brand in South Korea, days earlier this month, said
Pinkfong , released its first Davin Sufer, WowWee’s
shark video, later break- chief technology officer.
ing the internet with a ver- Sufer would not disclose
sion mixing animation and how many units were gob-
two adorable human kids bled up at $19.99 each.
dancing out the story of a More will be rolled out at
shark family, K-pop style, a broader range of retail-
earning more than 2 billion ers come early 2019, along
views on YouTube . with new offerings. Third-
If you still don’t know what party sellers who nabbed
I’m talking about, you This picture shows the WowWee pinkfong Baby Shark family of singing plush toys. the toys are now offering
haven’t spent enough time Associated Press them for more than $100 on
at summer camp or around Amazon.
a campfire, where sing- blinding holiday yard lights its dance version. song and video also en- The privately-held Wow-
along versions of said story to the snappy tune? Corden, host of “The Late gage most of the senses Wee was already in talks
with said gestures, akin to Some parents of special Late Show with James Cor- simultaneously and com- with Pinkfong as far back
an old nursery rhyme with needs kids think “Baby den,” isn’t the only celeb- bine language with music as nearly a year ago when
the same theme, have Shark” has not only enter- rity to take on baby shark and movement, which can “Baby Shark” truly explod-
rocked on for decades. tained but helped their madness. appeal to kids who struggle ed, said Sufer, who has
Now, thanks to the young ones. He enlisted Sophie Turner with any of those things three kids of his own, includ-
#babysharkchallenge that Holly Anderson is a Utah and Josh Groban to per- when they are presented in ing a 9-year-old daugh-
has us all singing, doing our mother of four, including a form the song on air. isolation. ter who came home from
shark hands and sharing on 3-year-old son with autism Ellen DeGeneres put her For example, the move- camp last summer singing
social media, and thanks and apraxia of speech. His spin on the song on her ment can support less de- the song before she knew
to piles of soft shark heads, autism therapist uses chil- talk show as well and Si- veloped language and his involvement.
toddler attire and other dren’s songs on YouTube to mon Cowell’s 4-year-old the music can offer support “The tune itself has an ad-
swag that includes sing- motivate him to sit still and son popped up on the when movements are diffi- dictive quality to it,” he
ing plush toys and books, was the first to show him “X-Factor UK” as dancing cult, he said. said. “You hear it once or
“Baby Shark” is a full-on “Baby Shark.” cuteness ensued with sing- Clearly, other kid con- twice and you hear yourself
craze, for bite-size fans any- “He’s overstimulated vi- ing kids accompanied by tent can do the same, but singing, doo doo doo doo
way. sually and usually won’t adults in shark suits for the “Baby Shark” ruled at Jason doo doo. I could see may-
“Our toddler’s shark video watch any shows on TV or opening of the grand final Simms’ house, at least for a be parents getting a little
addiction is a huge issue in the iPad,” Anderson said. this year. time. tired of it, but kids aren’t.”q
our household,” said Co- “He has a very difficult time Bob Cunningham, an edu- Simms, who lives in Deep
lumbus, Ohio, mom Kitty staying still, even for a mo- cator and senior adviser for River, Connecticut, said
French. ment, and usually spends the nonprofit consortium his 14-month-old daugh-
“At first it was a cute mel- his time running around in Understood.org, which sup- ter Fionnuala first heard
ody. Now it’s an earworm therapy. I’m honestly not ports parents of kids with the song when she was 8
that literally all of our par- sick of it yet since it’s one learning and attention is- months old but has since
ent friends understand.” of the only ways to get him sues, sees several benefits tired of it, before her par-
Not all grown-ups are wea- calm after a meltdown.” to “Baby Shark.” ents did, once her lan-
ry. The one he likes the most “The song has a catchy guage comprehension skills
If they were, would they is by Pinkfong, she said. rhythm and it uses silly began kicking in.
continue to upload them- The company has put up sounds as well as colorful “It was one of the first things
selves in mashups and more than one version. and cute animation,” he in life she directly expressed
mixes, from R&B to Santa Other parents said their said. a preference for, so that’s