Alexis Kestler
You may have seen the name Andrew Tate trending online recently. Tate has become a controversial internet celebrity known for his toxic views and brazen personality. If you’ve come across TikToks or YouTube videos about Tate, you may have heard a peculiar French song used in many of them. What is this song, and how did it become the background music for the Andrew Tate meme phenomenon? Read on my friend, and I’ll fill you in on all the details.
Who Exactly is Andrew Tate?
Before we get into the theme song, let me give you some background on who Andrew Tate is, and how he achieved internet infamy.
Tate is a 35-year-old British-American former kickboxer, reality TV star, and self-described business mogul. He first gained notoriety when he appeared on the UK reality show Big Brother in 2016. He was removed from the show after a video surfaced of him attacking a woman with a belt.
Since then, Tate has aggressively built an online persona and community around promoting toxic masculinity, misogyny, and a “get rich quick” worldview. He sells various “success” courses that teach dubious money-making schemes and manipulative dating tactics.
Tate relentlessly brags about his extravagant lifestyle, owning multiple supercars, mansions, and dating many women at once. His social accounts were banned over his extreme views, but he still built a cult-like following, particularly among young men.
Here are some key stats on the scope of Tate’s controversial influence:
- Over 4.5 billion views on TikTok for videos including #AndrewTate as of August 2022
- Videos with #AndrewTate have 13.7 billion “likes” on the platform
- Tate related hashtags were viewed over 11 billion times in a 3-month period on TikTok
- His Hustler’s University program has over 160,000 members paying a monthly fee for access
Tate was banned from Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok in August 2022 for violating hate speech policies. But not before his brazen persona captivated millions of eyes across social media.
The Viral Andrew Tate Meme Formula
Andrew Tate’s unapologetic toxicity and outrageous statements made him the perfect target for mockery and memes. A tried and true formula emerged across TikTok and YouTube:
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Take clips of Tate arrogantly boasting about his wealth, cars, masculinity, or putting down women.
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Insert the melodramatic French pop song “Tourner Dans Le Vide” by Indila as the backing track.
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Using the absurd contrast between the song’s lovelorn lyrics and Tate’s superficial ego, poke fun at the disconnect.
This simple formula has been used to create thousands of videos and memes making a mockery of Andrew Tate. The emotional power ballad becomes ironic audio shorthand for the superficiality of his personality.
So why this particular song? What is it about “Tourner Dans Le Vide” that made it Tate’s go-to soundtrack for satire?
What is “Tourner Dans Le Vide” by Indila?
“Tourner Dans Le Vide” is a 2013 single by French singer and songwriter Indila off of her debut album Mini World. The song was a major hit, going 2x platinum in France. The title translates to “Spinning in the Emptiness.”
The lyrics, sung passionately in French by Indila, tell a dramatic story of a woman desperately longing for a man she can’t be with. Let’s go through the lyrics and translate them into English:
Chorus:
He who makes me spin in the void, void
Spin in the void, void
Spin in the void, he makes me spin
In the void, void, void
Verse 1:
He had brown skin, a tanned complexion
A shy gaze, hands worn and damaged
He cut stone, son of a labourer
He was proud of it, but why do you laugh?
No, do not judge him
You who do not know
The thrills and the hard work
Verse 2:
He is my whole world, and so much more
Only I cry out his name when disaster strikes
And then everything collapses when he‘s no longer there
I would love to tell him but I dare not
As you can see, the lyrics tell a melodramatic tale of a woman grieving over a lost love. Themes of judgment from others who “do not understand” also recur.
Why “Tourner Dans Le Vide” Works So Perfectly as Tate’s Meme Song
So what is it about this sweeping, emotional French ballad that makes it such an effective soundtrack for satirizing Andrew Tate? There are a few key reasons:
1. Ironic Contrast Between Lyrics and Tate’s Persona
The vulnerable longing expressed in the lyrics provides delicious ironic dissonance with Andrew Tate’s cocky, superficial persona. The absurdity of associating Tate with these sincere expressions of love and pain mocks his rigid self-absorption.
2. Mocks Tate’s Judgment of Others
When the singer defends her lover against those who “do not understand”, it parallels how Tate aggressively lashes out at critics of his toxic worldview. Using this as backing for mocking videos highlights the hypocrisy.
3. Emotional Melodrama Matches Tate’s Energy
While the song is earnestly dramatic, Tate comes across as histrionically intense in his rants and flexing. So the exaggerated emotion in the lyrics aligns well with his energy.
4. Implies Tate is a Lovestruck Softie
Suggesting that underneath it all, Tate is just a sad romantic pining away amuses those critical of his hyper-masculine posturing. It satirically cuts through his ego.
5. Contagious Melody Spread Widely on TikTok
The song’s catchy, swaying melody is very conducive to going viral in TikTok videos, allowing it to proliferate rapidly.
Let’s take a look at some example videos demonstrating these ironic musical juxtapositions:
[Embed TikTok examples]As you can see, the emotional lyrics lend themselves perfectly to mocking and satirizing Andrew Tate. The song is likely to remain a musical shorthand for parodying Tate’s grandiose persona for the foreseeable future.
Indila and Le Flex: An Unlikely Meme Match Made in Heaven
The viral pairing of Indila’s moody break-up song with Andrew Tate memes seems like an unlikely match. But the internet has a knack for weaving together disparate strands of culture into the tapestry of viral phenomena.
Interestingly, “Tourner Dans Le Vide” is not the only semi-obscure foreign pop song to recently become part of the online zeitgeist. “Mr. Producer” by French artist Le Flex has blown up on TikTok as the unofficial “Andrew Tate Seeing Red Meme” song.
The pulsating, danceable track provides the background as Tate gets progressively angrier in response to hypothetical disses or doubting his claims. Two lesser-known French artists now forever linked to the Andrew Tate meme juggernaut!
This just goes to show the unpredictable, serendipitous nature of virality. In the meme culture of 2022, even long-forgotten French pop can provide the perfect fodder for mocking the irony of fragile internet egos.
Andrew Tate: Villain of the Year Turned Meme Goldmine
In many ways, Andrew Tate’s meteoric rise and public downfall encapsulates the chaotic energy of internet culture in 2022. His brazen promotion of toxic views captivated legions of young followers searching for meaning online.
But the same internet that allowed his ideas to spread like wildfire also rapidly mobilized to dunk on him relentlessly through memes.
Tate’s pompous persona made him the perfect target for viral mockery. Indila’s obscure heartbreak ballad provided the perfect audio backdrop to parody Tate’s disingenuous ego. Together, they represent a case study in how online culture takes down those who attempt to rise too high on brittle foundations.
So while Tate may have portrayed himself as an invincible “Top G”, in reality he was just the flavor of the week for the great meme machine. Hisexpires, but the songs live on as a reminder of the fleeting nature of internet fame in the age of virality.
