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TikTok still can't get over Wendy Williams' wild performance on 'The Masked Singer'

Nov 13, 2020, 01:04 IST
Insider
Wendy Williams as the Lips.Michael Becker/FOX
  • Wendy Williams performed as "Lips" on Fox's "The Masked Singer," a show in which celebrities anonymously sing while dressed in elaborate costumes, in October.
  • Her performance of Odyssey's "Native New Yorker" has gone viral thanks to Williams' charismatic performance in which she sings, laughs, snorts, and throws in lines like "a little vampin'" as she sings.
  • TikTokers are obsessing over Williams' performance, making memes about it and using the audio for posts about the election or any other kind of content.
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Wendy Williams, the host of "The Wendy Williams Show," is a popular figure in meme culture — her face is frequently used as a reaction image, and edits of her show run rampant on YouTube. Now, her iconic performance on Fox's "The Masked" singer as a giant pair of lips has gone viral on TikTok, with audio from her rendition of Odyssey's "Native New Yorker" becoming a popular sound on the app.

"The Masked Singer" is a television show based on South Korea's "King of Masked Singer," and features celebrities performing anonymously in elaborate costumes. In turn, a panel of judges guesses the identities of the performers, and the singer who receives the least votes from the audience and the panel must unmask.

Williams was unmasked in an October 28 episode of the show, but her performance, which is filled with laughter, vocal runs, and confident belting, still lives on in meme culture.

One part of the performance has gained particular attention on TikTok. "Yeeeeeah, a little vampin'," Williams sings, jumping into a delicate "ooh ooh ooh," before belting a single note, bursting into laughter, snorting, and then going into the song's final refrain.

"[W]e could have been alive at any point in history but we were alive for wendy williams performance on the masked singer and i will count my blessings for that every day until i die," the caption on one TikTok post about the performance reads.

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On TikTok, one upload of the sound has over 24,000 videos associated with it that range from ruminations on Williams' performance itself to thoughts about the United States presidential election. Creators are mining the sound itself for content, lip-syncing along to it, and even ranking the various sounds that Williams makes.

The audio appears to have started to go viral during the week of the presidential election, leading to significant meme crossover as people posted about election worries and eventually, results.

Others made jokes based on the lyrics of the song — "No one opens the door for a native New Yorker."

While the audio has become popular, it's not limited to any single meme and has become a bit of a catch-all for a variety of content. Williams' performance of "Native New Yorker" is extremely funny and unbearably catchy, and despite her laughter throughout, the opening "yeah" and the big finish make it feel at least a little bit victorious. Adding the sound to any kind of video will immediately give it a veneer of both irony and joy.

"I hate Wendy Williams but this sound is quite possibly the most satisfying compilation of noises I've ever heard," TikToker @emboogie wrote in the caption of a video.

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While Williams' "Masked Singer" performance is already weeks in the past, her "Yeeeeeah.... a little vampin', ooh ooh ooh" is sure to live on in meme culture for weeks to come.

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