Park Geonroung, the child star of Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark Dance”, has made his K-pop debut a decade after appearing in the viral video.The 2016 video, in which Park appeared at the age of 7, has more than 17.2 billion views and remains the most-watched video in YouTube history.Now 17, Park released his first digital single, “WAVE”, on Thursday under the stage name Baby Shark Boy, with backing from The Pinkfong Company, which turned Baby Shark into a global entertainment franchise.The Guardian reported that “Baby Shark Dance” has held YouTube’s No. 1 position for 69 consecutive months.“Baby Shark Dance brought joy to people around the world, and I’m very grateful that so many people still remember me from 10 years ago. That made me want to come back and connect with people through music again,” Park told Reuters.
Baby Shark melody returns in ‘WAVE’
The Baby Shark tune features at the beginning of “WAVE” before the song moves into electropop with trap elements. Park also contributed to the lyrics, which Pinkfong said draw on his return after 10 years and his decision to take on a new challenge.The track features Joohoney of K-pop group Monsta X. Young-jun Choi led TEAM SAME on the choreography. Choi has previously worked with acts including BTS, Seventeen and Twice. Pinkfong said some movements associated with the original Baby Shark dance have been adapted for the K-pop performance.Despite growing up as the face of a video watched billions of times, Park told The Guardian that his childhood remained largely normal. However, the song itself was difficult to escape. Park recalled that Baby Shark became so familiar that he would sometimes find himself humming it without realising.Pinkfong’s 2016 video spawned parodies and a dance craze. The song was later played at the White House, while US President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk were among those who praised it. Park remained associated with Pinkfong after the original video and appeared in other programmes produced by the company. “WAVE”, however, marks his first solo K-pop digital single.Park said he sees “WAVE” as the start of a longer musical journey and hopes to show different sides of himself through music and other content.Pinkfong is also making “WAVE: Becoming Baby Shark Boy”, a documentary about Park’s journey from child performer to his new musical identity and the making of his debut single. Pinkfong said it is also exploring other projects involving Park.
