I Put My Armor On / Indian "Unstoppable"

Submission 5,065

Part of a series on India. [View Related Entries]

About

Indian "Unstoppable," also known as I Put My Armor On Show You How Strong I Am, refers to a cover of the song "Unstoppable" by Sia that many online refer to as its "Indian version." However, the cover was sung by Sri Lankan artist Sandaru Sathsara and uploaded to YouTube in late 2022. In the following months, the song became a meme on YouTube and TikTok as many creators posted animation memes showing a cockroach singing the song after getting sprayed with insecticide and surviving.

Origin

On September 9th, 2022, the YouTube^[1] channel of Sri Lankan artist Sandaru Sathsara uploaded a cover of the song "Unstoppable" by Sia.^[2] Over the course of six months, the video received roughly 7.8 million views and 330,000 likes (shown below). On the same day, Sathsara posted a clip of his music video to TikTok,^[3] gaining roughly 3.9 million plays and 309,300 likes in the same time period.

Spread

In September 2022, Sandaru Sathsara's cover started to earn memetic content and remixes on TikTok. For instance, the first known use of the cover was uploaded by TikToker^[4] @kentkichen on September 10th, 2022, whose stylized edit of the song gained roughly 778,700 plays and 39,300 likes in six months (shown below, left). On September 14th, TikToker^[5] @simonli90 posted a version that joked about downloading the wrong version of "Unstoppable," earning roughly 14,700 plays and over 570 likes in six months (shown below, right).

Animation Memes / Cockroach Getting Sprayed

On October 2nd, 2022, TikToker^[6] @reallaniricky posted an original animation, showing a guy spraying a cockroach with insecticide. However, the cockroach survived, stood up and started singing Sandaru Sathsara's cover of "Unstoppable" while holding a shield. Over the course of five months, the video received roughly 3.1 million plays and 325,600 likes (shown below).

On October 25th, 2022, TikToker^[7] @starfresh309 posted a new iteration of the animation, earning roughly 3.8 million plays and 257,900 likes in five months (shown below, left). Multiple animators on TikTok uploaded their own iterations thereafter, such as TikToker^[8] @lihayk on December 8th, whose video gained roughly 13.9 million plays and 1.1 million likes in three months (shown below, right).

Going into early 2023, various animators on YouTube started uploading variations. For instance, on February 25th, 2023, YouTuber^[9] @jolly_show uploaded an animation that received roughly 10 million views and 368,000 likes in one month (shown below).