Emergency! Emergency! Can someone page Dr. Beat? 

In what feels like the pinnacle of today’s TikTok era, dance trends fade in and out almost like days of the week. Pulling from microgenres and cycling between different decades, the platform's latest phenomenon goes by the name of “Budots.” The kicker, though, is that this trend already went viral several years ago. 

Born out of an internet cafe in the Philippines, the Budots genre is characterized by its upbeat tempo, repetitive rhythms, and often humorous or nonsensical samples and vocal phrases. It garnered recognition in the early 2000s thanks to the internet shop owner Sherwin Calumpang Tuna (aka DJ Love), who began producing catchy melodies on the clock. 

Soon, these beats would become associated with dance moves popular on Filipino streets. The movements themselves are informal and freestyle, featuring exaggerated, often humorous movements, body rolls, arm flailing, and hip shaking. According to an interview conducted by VICE News, “Budots as dance came first. The electronic mix that is known as Budots music now came after.”

Becoming a global phenomenon (the first time)

Though the microgenre flourished for several years, this was more seen locally, and Budots didn’t experience its first taste of the national mainstream until the late 2010s. With several elections nearing in the Philippines, political candidates adopted the trend in hope to capitalize on its popularity - first in 2015 when Rodrigo Duterte successfully/unsuccessfully ran for president and again in 2019 when former movie star Ramon “Bong” Revilla ran for senate. With nearly half a decade of exposure, the dance trend was now inescapable. One TikTok user recalled how “Budots was like the Gangnam style of the Philippines when I was a kid. It was EVERYWHERE.”

On Spotify, the most followed playlist with the genre’s name is titled “BUDOTS DANCE💃,” with around 28k followers. Created in early 2018, the playlist's rise in followers coincided with the explosion of the genre during this time.

Analyzing the same playlist, a large majority of listeners hail from the Philippines. In fact, another country doesn’t even enter the top 50 until No. 36 with 66.7k listeners from Hong Kong. This suggests that the trend's epicenter remains in the Philippines, and its true listeners remain within its home borders.

Meanwhile, TikTok was growing to prominence in the Philippines, becoming one of the first countries to adopt the app in 2017. When analyzing popular tags like #budotsdancechallenge, the earliest TikToks were posted by Filipino creators starting in 2019 — suggesting that Budots was an early dance trend that emerged on the platform.

Who doesn’t love a comeback?

Dance crazes have always been a part of the Budots story, so it’s only fitting that its return to the mainstream would be through another viral boogie

Sometime around the beginning of July 2024, the TikTok sound “EMERGENCY BUDOTS” by DJ Johnrey skyrocketed into virality. The sound samples Gloria Estefan’s “Dr. Beat” from the 1990 album 20th Anniversary while infusing the eccentric and silly production that Budots is known for. Everyone from small creators to major stars like Olivia Rodrigo were joining in, posting their take on the iconic Filipino dance trend. What once incorporated arm flailing and hip shaking was now replaced by basic arm swings and kicks — a simple movement perfect for showing off OOTDs. 

While the exact sound by DJ Johnrey isn’t on streaming services, a different remix by Linear Phase was uploaded in February of this year and currently sits at 2.6 million streams. It’s not exactly clear if the two artists are related, but both remixes sample “Dr. Beat” and feature similar rhythms.

Interestingly, another song called “Emergency 911” (completely unrelated to both Johnrey and Linear Phases’s mixes) was released in 2000 by Italian producers Prezioso, Marvin, and Andrea Prezioso. Thanks to the growing TikTok trend, “Emergency 911” has also experienced a significant uptick in Spotify streams last month, likely from users searching for the name of Johnrey’s remix.

Other playlists have also popped up on Spotify following the trend, such as “EMERGENCY?!?! PAGING DR BEAT, EMERGENCY!!!” and “Emergency Reels TikTok Trend” with 3.8k and 1.2k followers, respectively. Another titled “Budots Dance Remix” saw a significant uptick in followers towards the end of July, gaining 419 new followers in one day at its peak.

While the trend appears to mainly surround DJ Johnrey’s remix and just a handful of associated releases on Spotify, the recent Budots surge is still the phenomenon’s first major exposure outside of the Philippines. This is likely why many users appear to be experiencing it for the first time, even though it’s been around for nearly two decades. Funnily enough, the disconnect between regions is actually pouring some fuel onto the fire, urging users (typically those with Filipino heritage) to call out or almost mock the watered-down Budots dancing of those formerly unfamiliar with the genre.

A question of longevity

Whether the actual Budots sound finds a long-term spot within popular music remains to be seen. Based on similar cases over the past five years, the answer probably leans more towards a no (sadly). It appears that TikTok has a particular knack for bringing niche microgenres to the surface, but only for a relatively short period of time. 

Take Phonk, for example. In 2022, the hip-hop subgenre exploded on TikTok as users became mesmerized by the sound’s dark and distortive vibe — so much so that some of the most widely used sounds translated into over 500 thousand Spotify streams. Artists like Kordhell even wound up as some of the top artists by Chartmetric score growth for the year, as noticed in Chartmetric’s 2022 6MO report.

Two years later, Phonk isn't enjoying the same level of attention. While some tracks have left a lasting impression on fans, most of the songs still receiving significant play are the ones that went viral during the trend’s peak. 

A similar trajectory could be seen last year with Eurodance, as many remixes in summer 2023 sampled from the European electronic sound of the 1980s. From “Planet of the Bass” to David Guetta’s remix of “Blue (Da Ba Dee),” the Eurodance moment has seemingly come and gone. 

While this is obviously the nature of trends in general, it seems that cycles are getting shorter and shorter — to the point that a decade-long era can now cycle out in a three month span. But perhaps this is just the case with the very specific sounds and microgenres that become popular on TikTok.  Larger genres that are perhaps “easier on the ear” and more accepted into the mainstream are seeing higher longevity. Just look at sad girl folk-pop or cutecore rap, for example. 

At the end of the day, it comes down to what tends to go viral on TikTok and how. If a niche, formerly unknown genre is trending through a dance craze, it’s likely no one will remember it in a few months time. This is because they’re associating with the dance, rather than diving into the sound's origins. On the other hand, a large wave of artists coming up through the app by participating in a larger, more unified sound like indie or rap, may be more likely to actually stick in a listener’s ear.

Visualizations by Sarah Kloboves and Nicki Camberg and cover image by Crasianne Tirado. Data as of August 8, 2024.