Tinashe’s ‘Nasty’ goes viral just in time for summer

On their recent single “Nasty,” Tinashe sagely asks, “Is somebody gonna match my freak?”

And now this wise question has become a meme. We can explain.

Tinashe released the track in April as the lead single for her forthcoming album BB/Ang3l Pt. 2 — Quantum Baby. But these lyrics first caught X / Twitter‘s attention in early May, thanks to a freaky white boy’s dance moves.

An X user reposted a brief clip of a dancer, Nate — who posts on TikTok under the handle @nates.vibes — impressively gyrating his hips, biting his finger, and sticking out his tongue. His moves are at odds with his nerdy appearance, making it irresistible meme fodder. In the original video, posted to TikTok back in February 2023, he’s dancing to “Bind” by Hey Choppi, but the viral X version replaced the audio with “Nasty.” The video garnered more than 10 million views on X.

Tweet may have been deleted

As a result of the video’s reach, users began to share their thoughts on the song’s driving question.

One user wrote, “‘is somebody gonna match my freak?’ could be the existential question of our time.” Another posted an image of Carrie Bradshaw writing, captioned, “and i couldn’t help but wonder… is somebody gonna match my freak?”

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

The question quickly spurred an engagement bait meme. A user asked, “Who are 2 people that actually did match each others freak?” The quote tweets range from Shrek‘s Donkey and Dragon to Lena Dunham and Andrew Rannells to Pen15‘s Maya and Anna.

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

As is the case with these things, the song became linked with another internet phenomenon, Challengers mania. It’s the perfect song to use in edits of the loveably nasty Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). The song now soundtracks many Challengers edits.

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

When Universal Music Group pulled its catalogue from TikTok — it’s since been restored — there was a drought of viral songs. At times, it felt like all we had was Djo’s “End of Beginnings.”

But now the drought is over with rain pouring from the sky. In the past month alone, there’s been not one, but three songs that passed over from run-of-the-mill hit to meme moments.

We’re so back.