Johnny Cage "International Love"

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About

Johnny Cage "International Love" refers to a series of video memes and fan edits that pair Mortal Kombat character Johnny Cage with the song "International Love" by Pitbull featuring Chris Brown. The memes predominantly trended on TikTok in late 2023, most often paired with Johnny Cage dancing during his K.O. move in Mortal Kombat 1 (MK1). "International Love" became known as Johnny Cage's theme song and many professional Mortal Kombat players and streamers who mained Johnny Cage started to post clips of them playing the song once they hit their K.O. move. In turn, the meme and song became associated with the catchphrases "I Caged him" and "You just got Caged."

Origin

A since-deleted TikTok sound^[1] posted by an unknown TikToker named Tasha used "International Love" by Pitbull featuring Chris Brown. The first known video on the app to pair Johnny Cage with "International Love" used the since-deleted sound and was posted by TikToker^[2] @ryuko.org on August 6th, 2023, who referenced the Bro Started Emoting meme, gaining roughly 2.9 million plays and 301,300 likes in two months (shown below).

Spread

Going into August 2023, TikTokers started to use the verified TikTok sound^[3] of "International Love" by Pitbull featuring Chris Brown. For instance, on August 23rd, 2023, TikToker^[4] @acs780 posted a video that compared Pitbull to Johnny Cage dancing, gaining roughly 544,700 plays and 79,900 likes in two months (shown below, left). On August 30th, TikToker^[5] @elmaracucho007 posted a Johnny Cage edit with the song, gaining roughly 1.6 million plays and 130,400 likes in two months (shown below, right).

Edits and memes following the trend started to surface on YouTube, such as a video posted by YouTuber^[6] MAND00M on September 20th, 2023, which received roughly 51,800 views in one month (shown below).

On September 30th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @oso.xo posted a clip of him playing "International Love" when winning with Johnny Cage in MK1, gaining roughly 3.9 million plays and 545,200 likes in 18 days (shown below, left). Then, @oso.xo made the video a sound^[8] in a separate video uploaded on October 1st, which was then used by others, such as TikToker^[9] @im4b0tish on October 1st, who received roughly 1.1 million plays and 169,900 likes in 17 days (shown below, right).

By October 18th, 2023, the trend's primary TikTok sound^[3] had amassed roughly 125,500 posts using it.