MTV is getting a trippy new facelift - and people are confused

MTV used to be known for promoting heartthrob artists, playing music videos, and helping define pop culture - creating a cult following made up of mostly teenagers from the '80s.

But the iconic channel, owned by Viacom, has since $4 in its ratings and $4 with young people with the rise of the internet. So in the era of emojis, cat videos, and tumblr, MTV International decided to churn out a televised rebrand shown in the video "$4" to beckon the millennials back home - but some people are confused at the new direction.

So what exactly does that look like? The short answer is basically what you would imagine might if "GIF: The Movie" was directed by someone on acid - starring $4, psychedelic hot dogs, rainbow unicorns, and SIM characters. The trippy new look is far different than MTV's $4 which featured clean-looking fonts and a blocky aesthetic in 2010.

There's another change: the famous slogan "I Want My MTV" has changed, but only one word "I Am My MTV", possibly indicating a direction toward the current generation of heavy self-expression.

MTV International's creative vice president Sean Saylor $4 "no matter where in the world you are, we want MTV to feel like a televised GIF."

"[Our team said] 'How can we make sure that we can rebrand the channel, but in a way that we can refresh it constantly, so we're not stuck to a certain look and feel that will look old in six months?'" Saylor $4. "[The audience] is making images to respond to comments, emojis have really blown up, so we wanted to take that and apply it."

The internet-theme is appropriate, given that new fads pop up like groundhogs every couple of months, from $4 to $4.

MTV's makeover might also have been influenced by Richard Turley, who MTV poached from Bloomberg Businessweek. Turley was responsible for designing some $4 yet controversial covers, including last year's "$4.

Some people are scared. Others are amused. Here's what some Twitter users had to say:

Having a "you dang kids, get off my lawn" moment with the MTV rebrand. Kudos to change, but that video terrifies me. $4

- HOBBLEDEHOY (@hobbledehoy_rec) $4

MTV rebrand is fucked up in a good way!

- Jahl Herapath (@jahlherapath) $4

The only thing that seems really surprising to me about this is that it wasn't done earlier? $4

- Tara J. Brannigan (@kindofstrange) $4

Don't know how I feel about MTV's rebrand. It's kinda terrible/ awesome/ vomit/ brilliant. I'm off for a think

- Nick Ellis (@Nickhalo01) $4

"hey, i can't open the psd for the MTV project." "oh, i made that in kid pix." $4 $4

- Teo Soares (@teossaurus) $4

What the hell has MTV done $4

- Zack Reese (@zackreese) $4

That new MTV rebrand makes tumblr look like the MoMA.

- Yosef (@yosefadavans) $4