Barbie dancing dogs meme on TikTok: Two dogs from Barbie & the Diamond Castle are "living rent free" on people's For You Pages
Lots of TikTok users have been bumping into funny memes made with cutouts of two dancing dogs, as well as dance videos by people recreating their moves in real life – and trying to work out what it's all about.
The original clip of the animated dogs – a Cocker Spaniel called Sparkles and a West Highland White Terrier called Lily – comes from a scene in the Barbie & the Diamond Castle film which was released in 2008.
Most of the big memes and dance videos are soundtracked with a version of the song In Ha Mood by rapper Ice Spice which was first uploaded to TikTok by @1.love.maryjane on January 19 and, as of February 6, has been used as a sound in more than 140k videos, boosted by this new Barbie trend.
A common take on the Barbie dancing dogs meme is to show something you're getting up to with your best friend. It could be something as simple as going shopping – like this video by @untasteful_ (7 million views) where the dogs are dancing at Westfield Shopping Centre.
Another take on the meme is two best friends being a little mischievous and causing trouble – such as this meme by @jakefresca (4 million views) about "My bestie and I on our way to hell after saying the most terrible outrageous things to mankind".
Video creator Jake Fresca is known for jumping on popular TikTok memes, with millions of views in the past on memes of influencers like Hasbulla and American rapper Saweetie.
Brands including The Ordinary beauty company are starting to join in – joking in their video about two best friends walking into one of their shops "after saying we don't need any more new skincare". Other brand videos include Scrub Daddy and haircare brand Gisou.
TikTokers are teaming up with their friends and relatives to have go at the dance routine from the film – @itsyaboyaustin4 (1.1m followers) is leading the way with 9.5m views and 1.5m likes in just two days on this video.
Some pet owners are even filming videos with their own dogs, like @maggie_luv0 who's been praised in the comments of her video for managing to do a "mad accurate" interpretation of the dance.
With all the memes and dance videos doing the rounds, lots of TikTokers are saying the dogs are all over their For You Pages right now – influencer Alix Earle (4.4m followers) is among the people saying they're "living in my head rent free".
TikTok is known for having quite an aggressive algorithm – so once you've watched one video on a trend, it's hard to escape from it. Sounds especially often become earworms. This guy jokes about struggling to concentrate on his work "with these dogs running around in my head".
To top it all off, some people are already getting ideas for this year's Halloween costumes! @steyeuh says "me and my bestie already agreed on being the Barbie dolls for Halloween so y'all better pick something else".
Spotting TikTok Trends
The Barbie dancing dogs trend is just one of the new trends quickly picked up and tracked by our Buzz service, which highlights some of the big talking points emerging on TikTok and social media every day.
Buzz from Shooglebox is used by journalists, creators and brand teams who need to spot and stay on top of the latest trends.
It includes a constantly updated box of cards showing at a glance and linking to viral videos, TikTok trends and other things going big on social media. Buzz customers also get regular updates alerting them to some of the things they might otherwise miss or discover late.
This stack of cards of TikTok videos on the Barbie trend gives you an idea of how Shooglebox works – and how it could help you go from spotting a trend right at the start to tracking its development over time.
If you're interested in signing up or finding out more about Buzz get in touch here.
