What Does 'Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa' Mean? The Viral 'Dubidubidu' TikTok Sound And Its Memes Explained

The internet can amplify any content that would normally be niched to a specific audience, expanding it to enormous virality worldwide. The success of 'Murder On The Dance Floor' by Sophie Ellis-Bextor two decades after the original release or Kate Bush's 'Running Up That Hill' are two notable examples of how a piece of media has the power to engage a new audience, no matter the time of its original release.

This phenomenon can also be simplified with this article's subject, the Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa Spanish song, which is going viral on TikTok all because someone thought the music would look cute paired with a video of a cat moving its head. There is a bit more to the trend, so let's explain it.

Where Does The 'Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa' Music Come From?

Chilean child singer Christell uploaded her song "Dubidubidu" to YouTube on September 23rd, 2010, which has since been made private from the platform but a recording of Christell performing sometime in 2002 the live song during an episode of the Chilean television program Rojo was uploaded to YouTube (shown below, left) on April 17th, 2011, amassing over 4 million views and 55,000 likes in 13 years.

What Does 'Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa' Mean?

"Dubidubidu" is a simple children's pop track, where the performer invites friends to her house to draw, sing and dance together. There are no hidden meanings here and the chorus is a mix of phonetic sounds that rhyme, which quickly sticks in your memory and stays in your head all day.

Chipi chipi chapa chapa
Dubi dubi daba daba
Mágico mi dubi dubi
Boom boom boom boom boom!

How Did 'Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa' Became A Meme?

Although the song was considerably popular in Chile at the time of its release, it was only after the animator Kuwonn posted a 10-second-long Boykisser animation on October 27th, 2023, in which he used the song, that 'Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa' would go on to become an international meme. The creator's video (shown below) gained over 208,000 views, 1,400 reposts and 6,200 likes on X / Twitter in two months.

One of the most prominent usages of the song as a meme was posted on TikTok In December 2023, by user @mel0aaaa_02, who combined the song with a looped video of a cat moving its head, which received over 15.7 million views and 2.2 million likes in four days (shown below).

What Chilean Singer Christell Think Of The 'Dubidubidu' Memes?

On December 12th, 2023, Christell uploaded a TikTok video (shown below. left) showing the live "Dubidubidu" performance that became a viral meme, which amassed over 7 million plays and 713,000 likes in a month. The Chilean also sang the chorus in a new video (shown below, right), which was later combined by @stkmusic05 to compare the original with the latest version, amassing more than 5 million plays and 87,000 likes in a month.

For the full history of the Chipi Chipi Chapa Chapa, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.