The Harlem Shake is an Internet meme in the form of a video in which a group of people dance to a short excerpt from the song "Harlem Shake". The meme became viral in early February 2013, with thousands of "Harlem Shake" videos being made and uploaded to YouTube every day at the height of its popularity.
Despite its name, the meme does not actually involve participants performing the original Harlem Shake dance, a street and hip hop dance that originated in 1980s Harlem, New York City; rather, the meme usually features participants performing flailing or convulsive movements. The meme form was established in a video uploaded on January 30, 2013, by YouTube personality George Miller on his DizastaMusic channel. The video featured the character "Pink Guy" from The Filthy Frank Show entitled "Filthy Compilation #6 - Smell My Fingers", which featured a section where several costumed people danced to the song "Harlem Shake" by Baauer. The video opens with the first use of the Harlem Shake meme, and started a viral trend of people uploading their own "Harlem Shake" videos to YouTube.
Concept
The videos usually last about 30 seconds and feature an excerpt of the 2012 song "Harlem Shake" by American music producer and DJ Baauer. Baauer's song starts with a 15-second intro, a bass drop, then 15 seconds with the bass, and a lion roar at the end of the first 30 seconds. Usually, a video begins with one person (often helmeted or masked) dancing to the song alone for 15 seconds, surrounded by other people not paying attention or seemingly unaware of the dancing individual. When the bass drops, the video cuts to the entire group dancing for the rest of the video. The dancing style should not be confused with the original Harlem Shake dance. Additionally, in the second half of the video, people often wear either a minimum of clothes or outlandish outfits or costumes while wielding strange props. Typically, but not always, the video will end by converting to slow motion on the feline growl.
Success
This success of the videos was in part attributed to the anticipation of the breakout moment and short length, making them very accessible to watch. The Washington Post explained the meme's instant virality by referring to the jump cuts, hypnotic beat, quick setups, and half minute routines.
The Harlem Shake is technically very easy for fans to reproduce, as it consists of a single locked camera shot and one jump cut. Nonetheless, the simplicity of the concept allows fans considerable scope in creating their own distinctive variant and making their mark, while retaining the basic elements. In its simplest form, it could be made with just one person; a more sophisticated version might even involve a crowded stadium. Moreover, there is a level playing field for celebrities and fans alike, with no guarantee of success for either group. There is a strong vein of humour running through each video that is not dependent on language, further increasing its potential to spread virally.
History
Creation
The "Harlem Shake" was first featured as the opening segment in a video by Japanese comedians George Miller and Sonya Fetina, under the moniker of YouTube user "DizastaMusic". Five teenagers from Australia, using the name TheSunnyCoastSkate, replicated this segment in their own video, which quickly gained popularity. As more people replicated the original video and uploaded their own versions to YouTube, Harlem Shake rapidly became an Internet meme.
Viral spread
On February 10, 2013, the upload rate of Harlem Shake videos reached 4,000 per day, or one every 21.6 seconds. As of February 11, about 12,000 versions of the popular Internet meme had been uploaded to YouTube, garnering over 44 million unique views. By February 15, about 40,000 Harlem Shake spinoff videos had been uploaded, generating over 700 million views. On February 26, 2013, the trend created by the YouTube creator TooTurntTony led to the suspension of over a dozen students at Milford High School (Michigan).
Harlem Shake hit the 1 billion view mark on March 24, 2013, just 40 days after its first upload, according to Visible Measures. From the day when the first video was uploaded until it hit 1 billion views, the videos were accumulating an average of more than 20 million views a day. The time it took for Harlem Shake to hit 1 billion views is half the time "Gangnam Style" took to hit 1 billion views and almost a sixth of the time that it took "Call Me Maybe". On April 4, Harlem Shake had 1.21 billion views.
Baauer's single reached #1 on the iTunes America chart and #2 on iTunes in the UK and Australia on February 15, 2013.