Happy Nice Mall

Four or five times a week these days he’ll contact an old friend Louis Theroux and tell him, “My daughter’s been running around the house singing your rap” or “My wife was exercising your rap in Pilates class.” Passing by an elementary school, Mr. Theroux has the feeling that he is being watched, confirmed when he hears a child call out behind him: “My money isn’t swinging.”

His manager made dozens of requests for personal appearances and performance invites. The 52-year-old British-American documentary filmmaker, Mr. Theroux, turned them all down with a librarian, somewhat apprehensive tone, notably as he put it in a video interview from his London home, “I’m not trying to make it a rapper.”

But somehow it already exists: Mr. Theroux is the man behind “Jiggle Jiggle”, which caused a sensation on TikTok and YouTube, where it was posted hundreds of millions of times. He sings the rap in a humble voice with traces of his Oxford education and says, “My money isn’t swaying, it’s curling up/I’d like to see you fidget, fidget, absolutely.” It adds a fun spark to his lines.

For Mr Theroux, son of the American writer Paul Theroux and as a cousin to actor Justin Theroux, the entire episode was awkward and somewhat disturbing. “I’m glad people are enjoying rap,” he said. “There is also a part of me that has mixed feelings. It’s bittersweet to have a breakthrough moment of virality through something that’s seemingly throwaway and doesn’t fit with what I really do in my job. But we are.”

The story of how this middle-aged father of three took over youth culture with a rap of novelty was “an astonishing 21st century example of the weirdness of the world we live in,” said Mr Theroux.

She was pregnant for years before “Jiggle Jiggle” became all the rage. It started in 2000 when Mr. Theroux hosted “Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends,” a BBC Two series that explores various subcultures. For a chapter In the third and final season, he traveled to South America, where he met several rappers, including Master P. He decided to do a rap himself as part of the show, but he only had a few scant lines: “Shake Shake/ I love the way you move/ I want to dribble too/ You want a violin?

Jackson commissioned her to help form a rap duo, Reese & Bigalow, in Miss. Bigalow cleared the opening lines and associated the word “jiggle” with the word “jingle” to make you think of the sound of coins in your pocket. Reese asked him what kind of car he was driving. Reply to – Fiat Tipo – “To drive my Fiat/You really have to see it/Six feet two compacts/No slack but luckily the seats are back.”

“Reese & Bigalow infused rap with real quality,” said Mr Theroux. “The elements that made it special, I could never have written on my own. Despite the risk of overanalysis, the ingenious part was, in my mind, “My money isn’t swinging, it’s not swinging.” folding.’ There was something very satisfying in the rhythm of those words.”

He filmed the song performing live on New Orleans hip-hop station Q93, and BBC audiences witnessed his debut in rap when the episode aired in the fall of 2000. That might have been the end of “Jiggle Jiggle” – but “Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends” got new life in 2016 when Netflix licensed the show and began streaming it on Netflix UK. The rap segment became a favourite, and whenever Mr. Theroux was doing promotional tours for a new project, interviewers inevitably asked him about his hip-hop breakthrough.

While promoting a new show in February of this year, “Forbidden America by Louis TherouxMr Theroux sat down for an interview on the popular web talk show. “Chicken Shop History,Hosted by London comedian Amelia Dimoldenberg.

“Do you remember any of the raps you did?” ‘ asked Mrs. Dimoldenberg, who called Mr Theroux. start her rhymes in what he describes as “my somewhat sullen and dry English delivery”.

“What happened next is the most mysterious part,” he added.

Luke Conibear and Isaac McKelvey in Manchester, England Duke and Jones, took the sound from “Chicken Shop Date” and placed it on a back track with an easy rhythm. Then they uploaded song To their YouTube account with 12 million views and counting.

But “Jiggle Jiggle” has become a phenomenon largely thanks to it. Jess Qualter and Brooke BlewittThe 21-year-old graduates of Laine Theater Arts, a performing arts college in Surrey, England. In April, two friends were making pasta in their shared apartment when they heard the song and hurriedly choreographed the track-appropriate choreography—playing basketball, turning the wheel—and the “Jiggle Jiggle” dance was born.

Ms. Qualter and Ms. Blewitt, wearing hoodies and hoodies (women said in an interview that they chose this outfit because they don’t wear make-up) 27 second video themselves performing the routine. Miss Qualter exploded shortly after posting on TikTok. Imitation videos soon emerged from TikTok users around the world.

“All this was happening without my knowledge,” said Mr Theroux. “I got an email: ‘Hey, a remix of the rap you did on ‘Chicken Shop Date’ is going viral and doing amazing things on TikTok.’ I’m like, ‘Well, that’s funny and weird.

It jumped out of TikTok last month and went mainstream. Shakira sang “Jiggle Jiggle”.Dance on NBC’s “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Snoop Dogg, Megan Thee Stallion and Rita Ora sent themselves dancing to this song. Downton Abbey cast trembles during the red carpet event.

“Anthony Hopkins just did something yesterday‘ said Mr. Theroux. ‘It would be too much to call it a dance. It’s more of a twitch. But it does something”

The whole episode was awkward for his three kids, especially his 14-year-old son, who has a huge interest in TikTok. Speaking of his son’s reaction, Mr. Theroux said, “’Why is my dad, the smartest man in the universe, on TikTok anywhere?’”

“I left my evil all over his timeline,” he continued. “I think that confused him a lot and he got a little resentful.”

Ms. Qualter and Ms. Blewitt find it equally surreal to see Shakira and the others dance with their own moves. “I almost forget we made it up,” said Miss Qualter. “This doesn’t sound like it’s happening. Over 60 million views. We see the number on the screen, but I can’t tell there’s people behind it.”

After the original Duke & Jones remix went viral—namely, featuring the vocal track from “Chicken Shop Date”—the DJ-producer duo asked Mr. Theroux to remake his vocals in a recording studio. That way, instead of just being another TikTok earworm, “Jiggle Jiggle” can be made available on Spotify, iTunes, and other platforms, and its makers can gain some visibility and profit from it.

In addition to Mr. Theroux, five composers appeared on the official broadcast: Duke & Jones; Reese & Bigalow; and 81-year-old hit producer Neil Diamond. Mr. Diamond became a part of the team when his representatives signed “Jiggle Jiggle” which echoed his 1967 song “Red Red Wine” in the episode where Mr. Song Enter Spotify viral charts Global last month.

So does that mean real money?

“I sincerely hope we can all get a little shake-up from this phenomenon. Or maybe it can bear it a little,” Mr. Theroux said. “So far, it has been more on the turbulent end.”

In his career as a documentary filmmaker, Mr. Theroux has explored the worlds of male porn stars, the Church of Scientology, right-wing militia groups and opioid addicts. Theroux examines the effects of social media on the entertainment industry and politics in the BBC’s new series “Forbidden America”. Years before Netflix made a Joseph Maldonado-Passage-centered hit show known as Tiger King, Mr. Theroux made a movie about him. American documentary filmmaker John Wilson, creator and star of HBO “How with John Wilson”, cited it as an influence.

Now their work has been overshadowed, at least temporarily, by “Jiggle Jiggle”. And like many who have gone viral, Mr. Theroux finds himself trying to figure out what just happened and what to do with this newfound cultural capital.

“I don’t have a catalog and now I can publish all my other rap tracks,” he said. “Obviously I will not tour it. “Come see Mr Jiggle himself.” It would be a 20-second concert.”