Alien Dance
TL;DR · Origin"Alien dance" is the nickname the meme acquired in Korea; the song is actually titled "Dame Tu Cosita." It is a reggaeton track by Panamanian producer El Chombo, featuring Ja…
Origin
"Alien dance" is the nickname the meme acquired in Korea; the song is actually titled "Dame Tu Cosita." It is a reggaeton track by Panamanian producer El Chombo, featuring Jamaican musician Cutty Ranks.
Crucially, it was not a 2018 release. The song first appeared as a short track on the 1997 album Cuentos de la cripta II — meaning it sat largely unnoticed for more than two decades.
What revived it was a music video released in 2018, featuring a 3D-animated green alien performing a distinctive floppy dance. That character is the reason Korean audiences call it the "alien dance" rather than by its title. The song's history is documented on Namuwiki's page for “Dame Tu Cosita.”
It exploded through the first half of 2018. The music video passed 5 billion views on YouTube — a figure that reflects simultaneous consumption worldwide rather than in any single market.
The main vehicle was a dance challenge. The alien's loose, rubbery limb movements were easy to copy and funny to attempt, so everyone from ordinary users to celebrities filmed their own versions. It reached Korea in the same window and became recognizable enough that "alien dance" identifies it even for people who never learned the title.
Usage
It is used with the audio and the choreography together. This is a movement meme rather than a quotation meme, so it is reproduced on video rather than cited as text.
- Performing the alien's movements over the audio in short-form video
- As a comparison when describing floppy or uncanny movement
- In nostalgia posts recalling the internet of around 2018
Posting the original music video clip, or compositing the alien character into other footage, are both common forms.
