A Canadian childrens’ show from the early 2000s produced this week’s viral TikTok sound, joining many other 1990s and 2000s sounds from obscure sources that have been revived on the app.
Who’s That Wonderful Girl: The sound
The popular sound on TikTok is of someone singing, “Who’s that wonderful girl? Could she be any cuter?”
The use of the sound is a bit fragmented on TikTok. There’s not one clear original source, though a sound posted by Jess (@xcomedown) on Oct. 12 is one of the earlier uses. The caption: “When the clothes you ordered arrive and you treat the family to a fashion show.”
That sound has been used in more than 1,700 TikToks, and the #whosthatwonderfulgirl tag has been viewed more than 89 million times.
The audio has been used to hype up people, pets, or positive situations. It was also employed quite a bit in TikToks about being grumpy or overstimulated, or to take the sting out of doing something you aren’t supposed to.
“Me going to Target immediately after telling myself that I need to save money,” said one popular TikTok from @thenashtronauts.
And yes, the song gets stuck in your head.
Where’s it from?
Though this sound is a little over a month old, at least on TikTok, I feel like I’ve been hearing it longer. And for some reason I initially thought it was from the 2011 Muppets movie featuring Jason Segel.
But it’s from Nanalan’, a kids’ program that debuted on the CBC in 1999 and ran through 2004.
Nanalan’ features puppets and focuses on the life of three-year-old Mona and her grandma Nana. In this particularscene, Nana plays a “song that fits a princess,” as her granddaughter prances around the house in a princess costume. Most of the show is centered around Nana’s house, and Mona’s adventures there.
In a recent interview with the CBC, creators Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon said the sudden virality has been “wild.”
“It’s really easy to get bogged down by the 24-hour news channel of terribleness, right?” Shannon told the CBC. “So to keep yourself joyful by seeing what’s beautiful in the details is what I think resonates.”
While the princess clip was uploaded to YouTube in August, months before it went viral on TikTok, the official Nanalan’ TikTok account, which has more than 141,000 followers, uploaded the full song on Oct. 28, in response to the virality. The video has more than 2.7 million views.
“I’m walking down the isle [sic] at my wedding to this and no one is telling me no,” said one commenter. A few weeks later, the Nanalan’ account leaned into the wedding song idea.
Around Halloween, there was a somewhat terrifying live-action recreation of the scene.
Sound off
Shannon has his own TikTok account, Puppet Island, where he’s been bringing out other characters, like Josh from the series Mr. Meaty. That series ran from 2005 to 2008 on Nickelodeon and the CBC, and was much more adult.
Other Nanalan’ clips have started circulating as well, and people are finding inventive ways to incorporate a kids’ educational puppet show into memes about adulthood.
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