What is the popular Tiramisu Cake trend? Popular track takes over the Korean world by storm

Several Korean celebrities, particularly influencers on social media and K-pop artists, shared online videos of themselves dancing to Tiramisu Cake. The dance usually begins with the performer raising one arm in the air and swaying their hips. Then, while continuing to sway their hips in sync with the chorus, they elevate both arms and then drop them back down.

The Tiramisu Cake dance challenge was created by mixing the Tanghulu dance style by SEO's EVE along with MBTI personalities where individuals can add a new twist to match their MBTI type. South Korea's obsession with MBTI further boosted the dance challenge such that even SEVENTEEN's Jeonghan, EXO's Baekhyun, and Lovely Runner Kim Hye-yoon joined the trend too.

Notably, the song offered a nostalgic take on a classic Kim Sung Cheol song, all encapsulated in a smart pun. Tiramisu Cake was written and performed by We Are The Night in 2015. It is an indie pop-rock band from South Korea that debuted in 2013 with the track, Melancholy.

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Tiramisu Cake: Tracing the song's origin and its journey to becoming a popular TikTok Challenge

Tiramisu Cake was originally released in 2015 by the indie pop-rock band We Are The Night, as part of their EP Star, Fire, Night and Such Things. The album was nominated for Best Electronic Album in the 2016 Korean Music Award—the Korean equivalent to the Grammy Awards.

Later, it was featured in the 2018 two-part drama special To. Jenny starring Kim Sung-cheol, Jung Chae-yeon, and Lee San-yi. In this musical drama, a young man uses music to communicate his unfulfilled first love, while a woman endures everything and chases her dreams in the face of adversity.

Kim Sung-cheol from Our Beloved Summer played the lead role as Park Jung-min, a singer crushed by his crippling stage fright. Jung Chae-yeon from The Golden Spoon portrays Kwon Na-ra, a member of a failed idol girl group, who is trying to get back into the spotlight. As part of the K-drama plot, Park Jung-min creates the song in the K-drama, To. Jenny, to express his love for her for Kwon Na-ra.

The song is an allegoric examination of adolescent love and obsession that portrays a boy who meets a female at a friend's birthday celebration and is immediately enthralled by her. The song's recurrent hook is a reflection of an adolescent love's nuanced and multifaceted emotions.

Meanwhile, the dance challenge choreography is derived from the animated music video of the Chinese acting-singing duo Chopstick Brothers' 2014 hit song Little Apple.

On May 28, 2024, a Korean TikTok influencer uploaded an edited 7-second clip on YouTube, featuring Gon Freecss in a green outfit doing the Little Apple dance with Tiramisu Cake as its background score. For the unversed, Gon Freecss is a cartoon character from the popular manga series Hunter × Hunter by Yoshihiro Togashi.

The edited clip became a rage in the Korean online community, turning it into a popular trend. Consequently, K-pop idols, Korean actors, and Korean entertainers joined the TikTok dance challenge trend including Taeyeon, Rei of IVE, Moonbyul of Mamamoo, and Younghoon of The Boyz. Several members of TXT, NCT, ZEROBASEONE, TWS, amongst other groups.

Other well-known Korean celebrities including actor and trot singer Jeong Dong-won as well as comedian and TV personality Park Myung-soo also shared their dance clips doing the Tiramisu Cake dance challenge. Additionally, on July 15, 2024, We Are The Night recorded a live version of Tiramisu Cake as the song's popularity soared, bringing the song's original spirit to a new listenership.

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To. Jenny is available on the Korean streaming platform KOCOWA+.