You may have noticed an unusual German rap song in the background of an increasing number of videos in your TikTok feed.
But what is it and how did it spread so quickly?
What is Barbara Rhubarb Bar?
What sounds like a rap is actually a German tongue twister written by musical comedian Bodo Wartke and his content creator friend Marti Fischer.
The couple posted a two-part video reciting the rhyme, titled ‘Barbaras Rhubarbbar’, in December last year.
It begins: “In a small town there once lived a girl named Barbara. Barbara was known in the area for her excellent rhubarb pie.
“Because everyone loved eating Barbara’s rhubarb pie so much, they named her Rhubarb Barbara.”
The rhyme goes on to explain that Barbara realized she could monetize her famous rhubarb pie and created the “Barbara Rhubarb Bar” to sell it to customers.
As the tongue twister becomes more complex, it mentions “three barbarians” who had “beards” and “went to the barber.”
With a final alliteration, the bearded barbarians who went to the barber liked to drink beer when they were at Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar to eat Barbara’s rhubarb pie.
Where did the dance come from?
In late March, two young Australian theater artists named Stephanie and Christina uploaded a Tik Tok of them performing a dance routine to Wartke and Fischer’s rap in a public bathroom.
While the original version still has just over a million likes on the app, mostly from German speakers, the girls’ choreography quickly saw them reach over 15 million likes worldwide.
When they recorded a later version in the same bathroom, this time wearing their own clothes instead of costumes, they were forced to clarify that they were the same couple from the original dance clip.
Stephanie explained in a follow-up post: “We looked like this because we’re theater kids. We did this half an hour before a show.
“I appreciate people messaging us saying ‘they stole your dance, they even went to the same bathroom,’ but I can assure you it’s okay because we’re actually the same person.”
Amazed by the success of their routine, they continued to record subsequent versions for TikTok, while American influencers Austin and Marideth Telenko (@cost_n_mayor) and actress and content creator Kaycee Stroh made theirs, having discovered the trend.
Having racked up millions of views, the Barbara Rhubarb phenomenon came full circle, and in late April, Wartke and Fischer posted themselves dancing to Stephanie and Christina’s dance.
Wartke wrote alongside the clip: “Thank you to @steph_who___ and @stasii777 for the great choreography they came up with for our song, and a big thank you to everyone who dances to it around the world, especially @Cost_n_Mayor and @KayCee_Stroh for doing it.” . A global phenomenon!
“@Marti_Fischer and I are already working on the sequel…!”
How did an unknown song become so popular?
While it’s entirely possible for unknown songs to make it big on TikTok, recent developments on the app may have given little-known content creators a boost.
In late January, Universal Music Group (UMG) decided not to renew its contract with TikTok over fears that artists would not receive payment for the widespread use of their songs on the platform.
UMG is one of the largest music companies in the world and owns the rights to songs from countless high-profile artists, including Adele, Billie Eilish and Bob Dylan.
He accused TikTok of “trying to build a business based on music, without paying a fair value for the music” and of “sponsoring the replacement of artists with AI” by allowing the site to be “flooded” with AI-generated recordings.
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Taylor Swift signed a deal with UMG in 2018 that facilitated her now-famous decision to re-record her albums to give her more rights.
Swift’s songs disappeared from the platform for 10 weeks after the dispute between UMG and TikTok, but reappeared last month.
This week, UMG reversed its decision and reached an agreement that all of its artists’ songs will be restored to the app in the next two weeks.
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So during the dispute, while users were able to choose some high-profile artists to soundtrack their TikToks, UMG’s decision created a void, allowing lesser-known artists to appear.
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Will the United States ban TikTok?
TikTok is also facing a ban in the US after the Senate passed a law requiring its Chinese owners Bytedance to sell to an American owner within nine months.
If this does not happen, the United States could follow India and ban the platform completely.