Harder, Better, Faster, Whopper meme on TikTok has cursed me

It can be like peeling back layers and references to a meme, or looking right at corporate bullshit. And sometimes, if we’re in hell, it’s both.

Such is the case with the awful but catchy viral TikTok audio clip: “Harder, Better, Faster, Whopper.” The song, which combines Daft Punk’s “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” with sound bites from Burger King ads, has become an absolute force on the app. Since it was published on Jan. 22, it’s been used in over 74,000 posts. It’s a bona fide earworm that somehow incorporates every part of the internet, from the UntertaleFandom led to the viral YouTube video of hand-dancing in 2007.

Which is harder, faster, better, or more satisfying?

The “Harder, Better, Faster, Whopper” mashup is relatively simple: It just takes an audio clip from a recent Burger King ad and replaces the chorus of Daft Punk’s song with names of burgers. The lyrics go, “Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Whopper, Junior, Double, Triple Whopper, flame-grilled taste with perfect toppers, I rule, I rule, I rule this day.” The bisyllabic rhythm of “Whopper” folds into the beat of the original song perfectly.

Unlike other recent viral hits, the mashup doesn’t tease a Burger King Super Bowl ad. An 18-year old named DiamondBrickZ created it online. On Twitter, he said that he was inspired by his teacher from government.

“I’ll be honest, at any time of day, I’ll have five or six songs just bouncing around in my head, so while listening, I heard that the commercial had nearly the same rhythm as Daft Punk’s ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,’ so the two just clicked together mentally.” The following weekend, he spent a few hours working on it, and boom, the mashup was born.

Why is ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Whopper’ popular on TikTok?

We can’t really predict when a post will go viral. TikTok’s algorithm largely focuses on how users interact with a video and other details like language and location, though more recent reporting also shows employees can “heat” anything into a viral post. However it happened, we’re not surprised the audio clip took off, thanks to the way it pulled together various pockets of internet culture.

Even before the TikTok remix, the Daft Punk tune was an established pop cultural icon. It was released in 2001, and then became part of a meme in the YouTube video “Daft Hands – Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” In 2007, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) sampled the Daft Punk track for his song “Stronger.” Given the song’s storied history, absurdly remixing it with a mainstream brand like Burger King sounds like the makings of a hit.

This audio clip can be used in a variety of posts. There’s not a consistent trend. Fans are dancing to it (1.9 million views), making fake ads (3.9 million views), making edits of the YouTuber Markiplier (1.2 million views), and my personal favorite, an editing an animation of the Pokémon Wooper dancing to it.

How do mashups work on TikTok?

Online mashups have become a language of their own, where users can add layer upon layer of references and shitposts to the some of history’s catchiest tunes. TikTok is a social network that largely draws its trends from audio clips or songs. It has created these groups of people who remix and revamp popular music and made it absolutely cursed.

DiamondBrickZ started his career in mashups by listening to music via SoundCloud. He told Polygon the website gave him access to an “absolute treasure trove of legitimately great mashups and equally hilarious shitposts.” Additionally, being a fan of Untertale His interest in special remixes further fueled his enthusiasm.

“I was a massive Untertale fan at its peak, inhaling as much content as I could since I saw (I think) Jacksepticeye’s playthroughs of them. My start in making mashups is partly due to Jacksepticeye. UntertaleIts fandom. Mixes like BotanicSage’s ‘Waters of Megalovania’ and especially a lot of rips on Silvagunner were what really introduced me to the remix culture of the internet, and are what inspired me to pick up a DAW.”

Burger King has not yet made an official request to the company for permission to use the audio. A TikTok published on Thursday from the burger brand’s official account cracked a joke about asking legal for the rights to the song and said, “we hear you. You are our friend. we’re trying. (we also can’t stop listening).”

DiamondBrickZ, for now, is simply enjoying the hundreds of thousands upon hundreds of thousands of notifications.

“I think one of the biggest surprises was it blowing up like this in the first place. I did experience something like this before on my YouTube and TikTok channels, but this surge was even, well, harder, better, faster, and stronger.”