Kellogg's Miel Pops

PeperoncinoStudio/YouTube

A decade-old Russian cereal ad inspired this buzzy TikTok song

The track is being hailed as the song of the summer. But is it 'mi pan' or 'miel pops'?

 

Audra Schroeder

Internet Culture

Posted on Jul 30, 2020   Updated on Aug 11, 2020, 1:37 pm CDT

If you’re seeing dancing llamas on TikTok, it might be because of “Mi Pan Su Su Sum.” But it allegedly came from dancing bees.

As detailed by StayHipp, the trend started taking off in June, after audio of someone singing what was thought to be “Mi pan su su sum” was used in an animated video from user isterrrrika. Know Your Meme says a remix has been circulating since February. More recently, the TikTok song has been applied to videos of dancing llamas, and unamused alpacas.

Mi Pan Su Su Sum meaning

https://www.tiktok.com/@awa_de_horchata_uwu/video/6849216781303827717
https://www.tiktok.com/@her.earth/video/6854301706700868870

Lyrics site Genius posted the verse, but on TikTok, the most popular audio is titled “THIS SONG ISNTT ABOUT BREAD Stop mipansusus,” apparently a reference to the “mi pan” part, though people definitely made it about bread.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jashlem/video/6850949152013176070

The song appears to be more popular with Spanish speakers on TikTok, as well as “alt” TikTok. But as Vice points out, it originated in Russia; a 2010 commercial for honey-flavored cereal Miel Pops includes a jingle with the same cadence, though the lyrics are a little different. That might explain why the original poster’s TikTok includes a caption in Russian. There is also a French version.

It is catchy, though. Maybe a little too catchy. The song has been memed on Twitter, but people are also divided on whether it is good or bad.

mi pan su su sum tiktok
Twitter

There has been some clarification on what the lyrics actually are, though. Washington Post editor Tanya Sichynsky said that as a Cuban and a Ukrainian, she is “uniquely qualified to dunk on every tiktok teen who insists the lyrics are ‘mi pan.’ THE SONG IS IN RUSSIAN.”


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*First Published: Jul 30, 2020, 11:33 am CDT