"Brainrot" content on social media, like an AI-generated shark singing "trallalero trallala", is not just another chaotic trend, but an ironic response of the youth to the serious world they live in. Although these mimes seem gibberish to the elderly, they form a new kind of common language among teenagers
The appearance of a new type of "mimes" on social networks it caused different reactions from the public. Today's brainrot mimes have gained popularity among communities Generation Z and Alpha, while causing confusion and criticism among the rest of the community.
"Brainrot" is defined as the alleged deterioration of a person's mental or intellectual state as a result of excessive consumption of material deemed unchallenging.
The first recorded use of the term "brain rot" dates back to long before the creation of the Internet - in 1854, it was written by Henry David Thoreau in his book "Walden", writes the BBC.
Thoreau was thereby criticizing society's tendency to devalue complex ideas, which is part of a general decline in mental and intellectual effort.
Back in the 1850s, Thoreau asked himself what the rest of the world may be wondering today: "While England is trying to cure the rot of the potato, will no one try to cure the rot of the brain, which prevails far more widely and fatally?"
Oxford Word of the Year 2024
Oxford held a public vote in which more than 37.000 people participated, and announced that the Oxford Word of 2024 was "brain rotation".
Their language experts made a shortlist of six words that reflect the moods and conversations that shaped the year 2023, and the word "brain rotation", better known as "brainrot" in Serbia, won the most votes.
However, the use of this word does not lose its importance even in 2025, moreover, there is an increasing number of mimes that interest the younger generation, and increasingly confuse the older ones.
Italian brain rot
What has recently attracted a lot of public attention are the increasingly popular Italian brainrot mimes, which feature AI-generated photos of animals combined with various objects, followed by repeating phrases.
The trend's "mascot" is a video of a shark wearing sneakers, accompanied by a male Italian text-to-speech (TTS) voice reciting the words "trallalero trallala."
Under that name, the video went viral in January 2025, when it was posted by TikTok user @โeZburger401.
The video also went viral on Instagram, prompting various social media users to create their own AI-generated animals, each accompanied by an identical Italian voice reciting a similar repetitive phrase.
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Due to the popularity of the shark video, videos of crocodiles, monkeys, giraffes and many other animals were also generated, where each of them is combined with a fruit or object, accompanied by sounds like "bombardillo crocodilo", "chimpanzee bananini" and the like.
Why did this kind of content become popular?
The main reason for the growth of views of such videos is the absurdity and irony behind their creation.
Once upon a time, Monty Python's nonsensical movements and scenarios were a real comedy for those who watched them, but today AI generated videos have taken their place.
The content becomes so nonsensical that it becomes laughable to the audience.
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One of the users of social networks explained to "Vreme" why such videos attract his attention.
"They're interesting to me personally because of the level of absurdity we've reached. I've been following 'mimes' for years, and it's getting more and more crazy what people find popular and funny," he says, adding that he enjoys all of this with a greater layer of irony.
"There's nothing funny about an AI-generated shark with three legs and blue Nikes, except for the context in which it appeared. It's absurd, knowing that it's a 20-year development of humor," he explains.
But this kind of content is more popular among teenagers โ many Instagram posts feature quizzes where teenagers name the unique sounds of generated animals, showing that they actually know each of them.
Sounds like "trallal" repeated with rhyming became infectious, having a certain rhythm that is easy to remember.
Given that these brainrot mimes have a specific context that is more familiar to younger generations, a generational gap is created, and to older people they seem like meaningless clips, badly made with the help of artificial intelligence.
They represent the modern common language within a generation and are often consumed more for a sense of belonging and fun than for the point of the joke itself.
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Although at first glance they seem absurd, behind them is a generational need to get rid of seriousness.
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