The TikTok Sea Shanty Craze Has Reached Nickelback’s 2005 Hit ‘Rockstar’ Because Of Course It Did

Are you an adult human who barely understands TikTok like me? Or are you an adult or teen human who is obsessed with TikTok for its powers of endless entertainment and cultural trendsetting? Either way, there’s nothing that has happened before or after this moment in time that can possibly be weirder than the following sentence: The TikTok sea shanty crazy has reached Nickelback’s 2005 hit “Rockstar.” What does that mean? Let me break it down.

A viral trend is currently possessing people to remake popular and/or modern songs in the style of old-fashioned sea shanty songs, a staccato, loosely Irish-influenced musical style that feels nautical only in the way a pirate chant does. But, as everyone is stuck indoors due to the pandemic, and/or underemployed and seeking to avoid the scary reality of COVID-19, this kind of imaginative disassociation makes sense. Combine it, though, with the oft-derided early 2000s rock band Nickelback, and their biggest hit, and the results are pretty much peak 2021. Yes, we’re only a few weeks in, and yes, we’ve already hit that moment. That is, unless someone also finds a way to combine this with the “Buss It” challenge and add the Bernie mittens meme in. Oh no, was that a challenge?

Anyway, apparently it was the group the UK group The Lottery Winners who initially had the idea of doing “Rockstar” in this style, but when Nickelback heard it they liked it and joined in, adding their own vocals for a remixed supergroup version of the sea shanty-styled early 2000s hit. Check it out below, if it’s your thing.