“Playing with memes” went viral and gained 1.6 million followers. Is there a new way for ordinary people to become famous?

Recently, a very popular person named Nomi appeared on the Internet. He single-handedly made "Chengdu Disney" popular. Let's see what happened.

After "Wang Po of Kaifeng", Douyin welcomed another internet celebrity who became extremely popular.

He became popular because of a song that dissed the judges of the new rap. One of the lyrics, "I want to diss you", became a popular meme among netizens, "I want Disney". Countless netizens lined up to check in at the place where the song MV was filmed, bringing about an "artificial carnival" that took place both online and offline. He is the rapper Nomi. After the explosion, his Douyin account gained more than 1.6 million followers in a week.

It can be seen that Nomi and Wang Po seem to have a lot in common in their paths to fame: they hit the emotional pain points of young people, and their offline scenes have become "Internet celebrity check-in spots"...

01 A song made "Chengdu Disney" popular

This song made a previously unknown rapper famous, and also made a community in Chengdu famous.

Recently, a song and MV titled "Thank God, Thank God" went viral on TikTok. In the MV, Nomimo lodmemo ("Nomi" for short) sits on a gym chair in the community, repeating a lot of lyrics, "Thank God, thank God, I want to diss you."

Who is Nomi? He is a rapper who recently participated in "New Rap", but failed the audition. The audition officer Xie Di suggested that he should "just treat rap as a hobby". In addition, Xie Di mistakenly said that "A Pu's Thoughts", a song that Nomi wrote for his grandfather, was written for his grandmother. Nomi was angry and wrote the now famous song "Thank God and Thank God".

However, if it was just a diss to the censor, this song wouldn't be so famous.

Since many netizens were unaware of the cause and effect and did not read the subtitles, the repeated lyrics of the song sounded like "Thank God, thank God, I want Disney". Therefore, this lyric became a popular meme on the Internet, which led to Nomi's explosion of popularity.

After the MV and lyrics became popular online memes, the place where the MV was filmed - the Jianqi chair in the Qixiang Community of Yulin, Chengdu, was queued up by countless netizens to check in. The Qixiang Community of Yulin, Chengdu is even known as "China's Third Disneyland", attracting countless netizens to check in, including both locals and tourists who came from other places specifically to check in.

Gaode Map changed the name of Yulin Qixiang to "Chengdu Disney Party and Mass Service Center" overnight, causing an "artificial carnival" taking place both online and offline, also known as the "Nomi phenomenon."

As the check-in spots became increasingly popular, Sichuan's cultural tourism industry and local residents also responded quickly. Although they said they could not quite understand the interests and hobbies of today's young people, they did not fall behind in action.

Due to the large number of tourists and too many people gathering, the number of people entering the check-in spot has been restricted.

In less than a few days, the community has divided the entrance and exit, arranged special volunteers to maintain order on site, and formally divided the "check-in area" to divert and divide the time periods so that netizens can fully achieve diversion and staggered peaks. "Chengdu Disney" even has its own exclusive billboard.

The term "Chengdu Disney" also appeared on Weibo's hot search, with related topics reading 110 million times. In addition to the topic "Chengdu Disney limited flow" with 170 million readings, other topics related to "Chengdu Disney" have readings ranging from as little as one million to as much as ten million, sparking heated discussions across the Internet.

Nomi also went from being an unknown rapper who was eliminated in the audition to an Internet celebrity with more than 2 million fans, gaining more than 1.6 million fans in just one week. On April 8 alone, he gained more than 200,000 fans, and his videos received 9.354 million likes.

After he became popular, his show attracted six-digit viewers as soon as it started, with the highest number of viewers reaching 3.085 million. He was greeted by dazzling gift special effects as soon as the screen opened.

As of today, his account has broadcast 17 live shows, with an average of 354,000 viewers per show, and 9.354 million likes for his 21 short videos.

The topic named after its platform ID "诺米么lodmemo" has been played 2.47 billion times. It has also set off a trend of imitation on Douyin, pushing the "I Want Disney Imitation Contest" to the top 6 of the challenge list.

According to online videos, netizens rushed to check in and record the same video, holding up their mobile phones to record while imitating Nomi's MV and shouting a few lines on the fitness chair. People queuing around them even responded with "I want Disney". The most popular short video received 676,000 likes, and even accounts with low popularity received over a thousand likes.

02 A new way for ordinary people to become famous?

In this era of traffic, there are countless internet celebrities who have become popular because of "abstract" and "dramatic" incidents. A simple and brainwashing plot, if it is easy to imitate, can quickly cause a national carnival.

Nomi's initial popularity was indeed "abstract". In his MV, he was exercising on a fitness chair and his lyrics were repetitive. How could netizens who love to play with memes miss such good online material? This kind of "playing with memes" has become a way for contemporary young people to deconstruct the current social trends, turning these things into entertainment and turning them into traffic hot memes. Netizens imitated his lyrics to shoot videos, which were full of "yin and yang" meanings.

Under heavy pressure in life, young people today are more and more curious about new and interesting things. When new trends emerge, everyone starts to pay attention to and pursue them. On short video platforms, this hot spot cannot be missed. Even if you don’t know Nomi, you will bow to the traffic.

But Nomi became popular not only because of the "abstract" impression he left on netizens, but also because he has a story and talent, which allowed him to take on this wave of traffic.

In fact, before Nomi became famous for her songs, she had already attracted the attention of some netizens.

In the interview after the audition of "The Rap of China", Nomi would end each sentence with "you know what I am saying", which is also the origin of another popular meme "Yin Nao San". In the "The Rap of China" competition, Nomi's American style of dressing and his remarks comparing himself to black people and calling himself an "American boy" also attracted the attention of many netizens.

Adding to his popularity is the widespread dissemination of the song "Apu's Thoughts" he wrote for his grandfather. The line "Put the cows and sheep on the hillside. It's been a long time since I last saw you, Apu. Are you all right?", a combination of Mandarin and Yi dialect, the sincere and clean lyrics made many netizens shed tears and resonate with the lyrics. The song was also forwarded and recognized by official accounts such as Sichuan Tourism and CCTV Tourism.

As of April 8, Nomi's two songs "Apu's Thoughts" and "Lonely Material" ranked fourth and fifth respectively on the QQ Music Rising Chart.

03 Amateur Internet celebrities cannot escape the “ flash in the pan ”

Nomi’s popularity reminds people of the “Wang Po of Kaifeng” who went viral on the Internet not long ago.

There are similarities in the two people's paths to fame: first, they precisely hit the spiritual world and entertainment needs of today's young people, Wang Po because of blind dates, and Nomi because of "playing with memes"; second, they both rely on offline scenes, making the venue of the video content a "net celebrity check-in spot" and boosted by local culture and tourism.

But after Kaifeng Wang Po became famous, the surge in traffic and the controversy caused by the blind date stage forced her to choose to take a temporary break.

At noon on April 3, Wansuishan Wuxia City released an important announcement about "Wang Po's Matchmaking" through its WeChat official account. The announcement showed that due to health reasons, Zhao Mei, one of the actors who played "Wang Po", would take a one-month leave from April 3, 2024.

This seems to be the problem that amateur internet celebrities always find difficult to balance after becoming extremely wealthy. Moreover, among the endless stream of traffic internet celebrities, amateurs are increasingly unable to escape the fate of being a flash in the pan.

It can be seen that since last year, many amateur Internet celebrities have become popular overnight. However, the popularity of these amateurs is no longer the result of careful planning and promotion by MCN agencies. They are lucky ones pushed by platform algorithms, but they are also prone to fall from the altar and their personalities collapse.

When there are more accidental factors in becoming popular, there are no more replicable answers. This is the case with "Dig up Mr. Huang", Yu Wenliang, Wen Shen, Wang Po, and perhaps Nomi will be like this too.

Soon, the "Nomi phenomenon" will disappear in the rapidly changing traffic world of short videos.

Author: Changmei WeChat public account: Xinbochang