"PPAP " is a single by Pikotaro, a fictional singer-songwriter created and portrayed by Japanese comedian Daimaou Kosaka. It was released as a music video on YouTube on 25 August 2016, and has since become a viral video., the official video has been viewed almost 136 million times, spawned parodies, and has been hailed as the new "Gangnam Style" by various newspapers and online media. The single itself reached number 1 on the BillboardJapan Hot 100 chart and became the shortest single to chart on the BillboardHot 100. At the end of 2016, the songs charted at number 6 on Japan Hot 100 Year-end Chart.
Background and composition
Kosaka said in an interview that he came up with the song sitting in his house. He was listening to the tune when he picked up a pen to start writing. He thought about his background of being from Japan's biggest apple-producing region as he also realized that he had an open can of pineapples on the table. The song is written in the key of C♯ minor with a common time tempo of 136 beats per minute. Pikotaro's vocals span from F♯3 to C♯5 in the song.
Music video
The song originated as a music video released on YouTube on 25 August 2016. In the video, Pikotaro, dressed in a yellow snake/leopard animal print costume, dances around, and then sings English lyrics like "I have a pen, I have a apple. Uh! Apple pen" while making the gestures of holding the named items and combining them. The video's expense was about 100,000 yen. On 26 September, Pikotaro released a video on how to do the dance and the gestures. On 27 October, Pikotaro posted a "long version" of the music video. On 17 November, Pikotaro made an appearance on the Japanese edition of Sesame Street, where he joined Elmo and Cookie Monster in singing their version of the song titled "CBCC ". Pikotaro has since revisited the compounding-words concept of PPAP in later music videos, such as the musically similar "Beetle Booon But Bean in Bottle ".
Release
"PPAP", alongside three other works by Pikotaro, was released to digital storefronts through Avex Music Creative on 7 October 2016. An instrumental version of the song was made available on 12 October 2016.
Reception
Viral spread
The video accumulated about 1 million hits in its first month of play. Kosaka remarked it was mostly popular among Japanese students. On 27 September 2016, Canadian pop singerJustin Bieber shared the video on Twitter, captioning it as his "favorite video on the Internet". The video had since gone viral, averaging over 1.5 million hits a day, and being touted as the new "Gangnam Style" by various newspapers and online media. It has spawned many videos from people doing their own versions. On the YouTube music video charts it reached number 1, and stayed there for three weeks in a row. A PPAP Cafe in Tokyo was open for 20 days starting from 1 November 2016.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Pikotaro uploaded a remix of the song on 4 April 2020, titled "PPAP-2020." In the remix, Pikotaro pretends to combine his hands with soap, and repeats "Wash! Wash! Wash! Wash!" while pretending to wash his hands. In the end, he tells the viewers to "Pray for People And Peace."
Chart performance
The song debuted at number four on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 dated 22 October 2016. The following week it climbed to number three and the week after that it peaked at number two. After dropping to number three, it topped the chart for the 14 November edition. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States at number 77, and at 45 seconds in length, becoming the shortest song to chart in its history. The previous shortest song was "Little Boxes" by The Womenfolk, which reached number 83 in 1964 and was 1 minute and 2 seconds in length. The fact was recognized by Guinness World Records. The song has since reappeared twice more, at number 82 for the week of 26 November, and 93 the week of 3 December.
