It’s been over a decade since British rapper M.I.A. released “Paper Planes,” the third single off her second studio album, Kala. The song became an immediate hit, landing in the top ten of six Billboard U.S. charts, thanks to its insanely catchy chorus in which M.I.A. sings “all I wanna do is” followed by the sound of four gunshots, a click, and a cash register opening.
The song continues to be popular today, with the video racking up over 137 million views on YouTube since 2009. As further evidence of the lasting popularity of “Paper Planes,” this week the song became a bona fide meme on Twitter.
It’s pretty easy to play along. All you need to do type “all I wanna do is,” add the additional sound effects in writing, and then offer a serious or irreverent conclusion–as you can see in the examples below.
https://twitter.com/NOTVIKING/status/1021576729049980929
all I wanna do is
— bradley anderson (@BellPupper) July 19, 2018
*gunshots*
*gunshots*
*click*
*cash register noise*
dance with somebody
i wanna feel the ʰᵉᵃᵗ with somebody
https://twitter.com/_ches3/status/1021611905453096966
all I wanna do is
— Ethan Smith (@SthanEmith) July 18, 2018
*bang*
*bang*
*bang*
*click*
*cash register noise*
get above the average on my exams this semester
Katherine McPhee used the meme to joke about her television career track record. (R.I.P. Smash, 2012 – 2103)
all i wanna do is
— Kat McPhee (@katharinemcphee) July 25, 2018
*gunshot*
*gunshot*
*gunshot*
*click*
*cash register noise*
star in a tv show that finally makes it to a syndication deal tbh 🤷🏻♀️
The meme also intersected with the popular “bunny holding a sign” meme that’s still ubiquitous on Twitter these days.
all i wanna do is
— jonny sun (@jonnysun) July 22, 2018
*gunshots*
*gunshots*
*click*
| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄|
✹
✸ hi ✹
✸
|_________|
(__/) ||
(•ㅅ•) || ʷʰʸ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ʸᵒᵘ ˢʰᵒᵒᵗ ᵐʸ ˢᶦᵍⁿ
/ づ
All I wanna do is
— sydney (@sydneyrachel) July 22, 2018
*gunshot*
*gunshot*
*cash register noise*
| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄|
Combine meme
formats
|___________|
(__/) ||
(•ㅅ•) ||
/ づ
https://twitter.com/DJYwrites/status/1021963374333112320
And finally, a public service announcement from writer Russ Fischer–because, as I mentioned earlier in the post–the song does indeed have four gunshots in it.
all i wanna do is
— Russ Fischer (@russfischer) July 25, 2018
*gunshot*
*gunshot*
*click*
*cash register noise*
yell about how there should be four gunshots in this meme
If “Paper Planes” hasn’t already become an earworm at this point, you can check out the original video, below: