No matter what anyone says, the limelight is tough.
You can't become famous and just stay like that for the rest of your life.
And with the rapid introduction of social media making our lives more instant, one thing
has drastically shortened.
Our attention spans.
Trends come and go; fads die out and yesterday’s viral sensation is nothing more than tomorrow’s
flashback Friday.
Ready to meet the forgotten stars of internet fame?
Let’s get it on!
THE BACKPACK KID Every generation has its signature dance move.
Russell Horning, aka the Backpack Kid joined a very elite club in 2017 when he introduced
the world to his – the floss!
During a Saturday Night Live special, the lanky teenager stole the show from Katy Perry
during her performance of Swish Swish.
When she tried to imitate his unique dance backstage, he commented: when your mom tries
to look cool.
Epic mic drop, sure, but not exactly the way you repay someone for giving you your time
in the limelight, especially after she had seen his videos on social media and invited
him onstage.
Peak floss-mania saw Backpack Kid suing popular game Fortnite to fund his wannabe rap career.
Developer Epic Games was accused of using the floss without permission, a case that
is proving tricky for his legal team as the dance isn’t copyrighted.
Although he still makes videos on a regular basis, he definitely peaked too early.
LIL TAY The story of Lil Tay; the great vanishing
act.
Now you see her, now you don’t.
Hers is a rags to riches story.
The only problem is, there’s no details as to exactly how she got hundreds of thousands
of dollars.
She rose to fame on Instagram, as the youngest flexer of the century.
Toilets that cost more than your momma’s rent.
A kitchen bigger than your whole apartment.
Gucci and Louis Vuitton lining her wardrobe.
She knew the secret to getting her internet notoriety off the ground – start a fake
beef with someone much more famous than yourself.
In this case it was Bhad Bhabie, otherwise known as the cash me outside girl.
Eventually the truth came out though.
The multi-million-dollar apartments were her real estate mother’s property listings.
The clothes?
Still had tags on.
Once a video of her being exposed surfaced, it was game over.
Lil Tay’s fame was no more and we all felt a little less poor.
PSY The very definition of a one hit wonder, Psy
arrived with a bang in 2012 when his Gangnam Style music video crushed all records by hitting
100 million views on YouTube in just 3 days.
There isn’t a person alive on Earth who hasn’t heard of the song, and most of us
are guilty of trying to nail its distinctive dance moves.
At the present time, Gangnam Style has been viewed 3.9 billion times.
Yes, that's a billion.
The man has experienced the full kaleidoscope of life experience, going from conscripted
army grunt, to overnight sensation, to now almost unrecognisable without his blue suit,
sunglasses, and hair gel.
And while his fame in South Korea is still blooming, it's fair to say that his worldwide
notoriety has decreased immensely along the years.
Overall he considers gangnam style as his most important achievement in his life, and
it's not too hard to see why...
LIL PUMP Self-promotion is one of the great privileges
of the digital age.
Anybody who wants to be anybody can upload their music onto Soundcloud and use it as
a vehicle to launch their career.
Lil Pump started out by getting on the mumble rap trend early on, making catchy repetitive
tracks with lyrics so outrageous they were comical.
Any publicity is good publicity, but he really excelled as the younger generation rallied
around his rebellious attitude, while the immense dislike and attention from the older
generation inadvertently assisted in his rise to fame.
A few years on, and a whole bunch of face tattoos later that look like they’ve been
drawn in crayon by a toddler.
Is life so great for Lil Pump?
Sure, he has watches and chains worth over a million dollars, but it’s sad seeing the
numbers go down so rapidly after so little time.I guess Gucci Gang fame didn’t last
as much as he’d hoped.
YODELLING KID All it took was one video to take Mason Ramsey
from yodelling out his rendition of Hank Williams’ Lovesick Blues in the air mattress aisle of
Walmart, to performing at Coachella in the same year.
In 2018 the 11-year-old from the small country town of Golconda’s Instagram account exploded,
and within a week he had over a million followers.
The next month he appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show, where they take great pride in jumping
on internet memes quickly.
He belted out a cowpoke anthem in his unique yodelling style, told the world about his
distaste for sparkling water, and collected a $15,000 cheque from Walmart to go towards
his college education.
From there he signed with Atlantic Records, with his debut single Famous made number 1
on the US iTunes charts.
A whirlwind year of touring, performances and recording ended rather uneventfully as
he quietly drifted into obscurity.
HIDE THE PAIN HAROLD It’s the year 2120, a century from now.
Language is a lost art form, and the world communicates only in the form of memes.
While it may not be so dire now, it still pays to know your meme – and Hide the Pain
Harold is an absolute classic.
It’s actually not really his name at all.
Retired electrical engineer and proud Hungarian man Andras Arato was a model for some stock
photography taken in 2009.
His facial expression was bizarre, like he was forcing a smile behind his computer while
experiencing incredible discomfort, like banging his toe under the desk or something.
Just 2 years later the internet had gotten hold of the images, and memes were flying
around social media.
2012 to 2015 was peak Harold, and the following year Andras made the brave decision to come
to terms with his massive fame, embrace it, and reveal his identity to the world.
SALT BAE Fitted white t-shirt, check.
Dark jeans, check.
Gold rimmed sunglasses, double check.
This is Instagram’s most adored butcher – this is Salt Bae.
Nusret Gokce took just 36 seconds in early 2017 to make the quantum leap from restaurant
owner to overnight sensation.
His expert slicing of the perfectly cooked meat and final flourish of sprinkling salt
down his forearm took off.
Within 24 hours the video had 2.4 million views.
Working 12-hour shifts at just 13 years old proves he’s put in the hard yards to fine
hone his craft that has gained over 11 million followers, and is so recognisable he claims
he poses for 1,000 photos a day with fans.
Fast forward to now, and he has 13 restaurants across the world employing over 600 staff.
Celebrities flock to his dining room not for the delicious steaks, but for his ritual application
MANS NOT HOT In 2017 we got the hero we needed, but didn’t
deserve.
A man who took us all back to elementary school arithmetic and helped us ace that big end
of year math test, Big Shaq.
Michael Dapaah was an aspiring grime rapper, an up and coming comedian who created the
Mc Roadman Shaq persona for BBC 1XTRA’s Fire in the Booth segment.
Once the world got a hold of his ridiculous lyrics they couldn’t get enough – the
official Man Not Hot music video has over 380 million views.
Comedy gold spun up by Shaq has cemented its way into internet memedom, a sea of fans who
are appreciative that he gave up his job working at Vodafone to pursue his passion in comedy.
According to him, even if he was just a flash in the pan, the numbers in his bank account
still add up.
DAMN DANIEL Once in a blue moon, a meme raises its ugly
head from the cesspool of the internet, making no sense at all while being inexplicably funny
and catchy.
2016 was the year of the internet craze Damn Daniel.
The video in question is a montage of Josh Holz recording his friend Daniel Lara wearing
fresh kicks while saying the signature line over and over in a faux fashion week voice.
Trust me, that’s all there is to it – don’t overthink it.
The younger generation swarmed on it, and a hastily booked interview on Ellen saw Daniel
mobbed by screaming teenagers whipped into frenzy – a flashback to Beetle-mania in
the 60s.
Vans gave the teenager a lifetime supply of their sneakers he made famous in the video,
and the accidental internet star and all-around good guy decided to donate them to a hospital.
Now, he’s still a regular high school student, even if he’s instantly recognisable.