One normal Sunday morning, the world woke up unaware of the Corn Kid. Now, many will instantly recognize Tariq, the gap-toothed seven-year-old that is corn’s biggest advocate. 

An interview of Tariq—released by Recess Therapy—explaining his love for corn went viral, becoming even more popular when The Gregory Brothers’ turned clips from this interview into a catchy, comedic song. 

So what made these clips spread so quickly? There are a couple of specific elements that led to the Corn Kid going viral. Most obvious is his cute nature. Even through a screen, Tariq’s bubbly and energetic spirit is contagious. In addition, his overflowing passion for corn, because “it has the juice” and he “can’t imagine a more beautiful thing,” makes him unique. Viewers are drawn to the humorous randomness of Tariq’s love for corn. 

Another reason for the views and love for the Corn Kid is due to the social media platform, Tik Tok. This is not the first time that someone on Tik Tok remixed an original clip into a song that resulted in overnight fame. For example, “Chrissy, Wake Up” and “Jiggle Jiggle” are also clips that were remixed into songs, gaining millions of views in just a few days. 

With TikTok increasing in popularity, it plays a crucial role in spreading viral content and trending clips. TikTok views can grow exponentially by building engagement quickly; if followers like, comment and share, the video will appear to more people via their “for you” page. The original interview and song reached a respectable 7.9 and 15 million views respectively on YouTube, but due to the fast engagement on the Gregory Brothers’ TikTok, the Corn Song has over 79 million views blowing away YouTube’s statistics. 

Since gaining fame, Tariq has been featured in an advertisement for Chipotle and been named South Dakota’s official “corn-bassador.” Tariq seems to be loving the attention for his unwavering love of corn; there is no doubt that he is going to accomplish corntastic things in the future.

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