Last month it was announced that, for better or for worse, OG internet meme Crazy Frog — formerly known as The Annoying Thing — was set to make a comeback. Now, that day has arrived, and his return comes in the form of a TikTok-inspired Run-DMC mashup (what else?).
Titled “Tricky”, the song reworks Run-DMC’s “It’s Tricky” for the TikTok crowd, notably sampling Millie B’s Blackpool grime classic “M to the B” (a sound that topped the app’s best of 2020 list). Naturally, the Crazy Frog rework also leans heavily on the Annoying Thing’s catchphrase: “brring ding ding, baa baa, etc etc.”
Besides being insanely irritating, the debut of Crazy Frog in 2005 caused controversy due to visuals for the track “Axel F” featuring the creature’s genitals, which were edited out following complaints and a US-wide ban.
Now, you’ll be glad to know, Crazy Frog’s penis is back on display, as showcased in Instagram posts leading up to the new release (though there will still be a censored version because of restrictions in the US).
Speaking of phalluses, the “Tricky” video itself sees Crazy Frog hurled into a launch site reminiscent of projects headed up by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos (AKA the poster boys of phallic space travel). He is “an amphibian hand grenade tossed into the launch zone of the Bezos-Musk ego trip,” reads a press release. “An anarchic viral bombshell amid a billionaire’s playground.”
The visuals are directed by Sigfrid Söderberg and Andreas Wicklund, with original producer and president of A&R for Sony Music Wolfgang Boss also still on board.
“When we started Crazy Frog, there was no TikTok, it didn’t exist,” Boss said, discussing the character’s TikTok-adjacent return with the BBC last month. “But right now TikTok is super important. It’s basically the number one platform for people to share new music and funny things connected with music.”
Whether Crazy Frog’s new track will be able to replicate his mid-00s success, which saw “Axel F” rise from a ringtone gimmick to number one on UK music charts, is pretty much in TikTok’s hands now.
Watch the video for “Tricky” below.
