Unless you’ve been living under a rock these past weeks, you’ve probably heard of the viral sea shanty trend making waves across TikTok. Now, in a typically 2021 plot twist, Nathan Evans – the Scottish singer responsible for the online obsession – has released a studio version of the 18th century maritime hit “Wellerman” on Polydor.

Evans, who works as a postman by day, shared a black-and-white video of himself in late December singing “Soon May the Wellerman Come” – a whaling song from the early 1800s. According to The New York Times, the track refers to a Australian whaling company owned by three brothers called the Wellers. It was likely sung by workers as they slaughtered whales.

The track, naturally, went viral on TikTok, with countless people joining the original version’s harmony and sharing their own sea shanties. There’s even a Kermit the Frog version and electronic remixes.

According to Google Trends, Nathan’s performances have led to “sea shanties” enjoying their biggest-ever popularity in the search engine’s history, while the hashtag #seashanty on TikTok currently has 1.6 billion videos.

Listen to “Wellerman” below.