A nostalgic critique of internet culture: From Numa Numa's spontaneity to TikTok's choreographed performances
By
Jean-Paul R. Soucy
26d ago· 3 min readenOpinion
85/100
Golden Brown
Bagelometer↗
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Score85TypeopinionSentimentnegative
Summary
The article reflects on the evolution of internet culture by comparing the early, joyful, and spontaneous "Numa Numa" meme (Gary Brolsma's lip-syncing video from 2004) with the modern, choreographed, and commercialized lip-syncing culture on TikTok. The author argues that the internet's golden age of authentic, non-commercial creativity is over, using the song "I Don't Wanna Wait" (which samples "Dragostea Din Tei") as a jumping-off point for this nostalgic critique.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIt was pure, joyful, spontaneous, and released with no expectation of fame or commercialization.
It was just some guy in front of a webcam having the time of his life.
Now everyone is lip-syncing all the time on TikTok, except there is no joy, no spontaneity, only endlessly choreographed o
The seed of this post was hearing “I Don’t Wanna Wait” on the radio while shopping for groceries. The song rips off “Dragostea Din Tei” by O-Zone, which anyone …
