Nyan cat
Encyclopedia
Nyan Cat is an Internet meme
which started as an animated GIF
of a cat
with the body of a cherry Pop-Tart flying through space, leaving a rainbow
trail behind it. The animation has also been made into a YouTube
video set to a remix of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!"
, who uses the name "prguitarman" on his website LOL-Comics. The animation was posted on April 2, 2011. Torres said in an interview: "I was doing a donation drive for the Red Cross and in-between drawings in my Livestream
video chat, two different people mentioned I should draw a “Pop Tart” and a “cat”." In response, he created a hybrid image of a Pop-Tart and a cat, which was developed a few days later into the animated GIF. Torres said: "Originally, its name was Pop Tart Cat, and I will continue to call it so, but the Internet has reached a decision to name it Nyan Cat, and I’m happy with that choice, too."
user "saraj00n" combined the cat animation with a version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" uploaded by Nico Nico Douga
user "もももも" ("Momo Momo"), and uploaded it to YouTube on April 5, 2011, giving it the title "Nyan Cat".
, was uploaded by user "daniwell" to Nico Nico Douga
on July 25, 2010. The song's lyrics refer to the Japanese
word for the sound cats make, "nyā" .
Momo Momo uploaded his/her version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" to Nico Nico Douga on January 31, 2011. The Momo Momo version uses the singing synthesizer software UTAU
with the voice "Momone Momo" , which repeats the word "nyan" throughout the song. "Momone Momo" comes from the kanji
"momo" 桃, meaning "peach", and "ne" 音, meaning "sound". The voice source used to create Momone Momo was , a Japanese woman who lives in Tokyo
.
's top ten viral video
s of April 2011, with 7.2 million total views. The original YouTube
video has received over 50 million views . Due to its popularity, many new remix
es and cover versions have been made, some hours long. There are also ringtones, wallpaper
s and applications
created for operating system
s including Windows 7, Nokia
, iPhone
, iPad
, Android, HP webOS. and Windows Phone 7
.
Christopher Torres has criticized the website
sponsored top-level domain
, has been described by Torres as "plagiarized".
complaint from someone claiming to be prguitarman, the creator of the GIF animation. Christopher Torres (prguitarman) immediately denied being the source of the complaint, and contacted Saraj00n and daniwell, who hold the copyright for the video and the song, in order to file a counter-complaint to YouTube. On June 28, 2011, the video was restored to YouTube. During the period that the video was unavailable, Torres received hate mail from people who wrongly believed that he was the person behind the DMCA takedown notice.
Internet meme
The term Internet meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet. The term is a reference to the concept of memes, although the latter concept refers to a much broader category of cultural information.-Description:...
which started as an animated GIF
GIF
The Graphics Interchange Format is a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServe in 1987 and has since come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and portability....
of a cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
with the body of a cherry Pop-Tart flying through space, leaving a rainbow
Rainbow
A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines on to droplets of moisture in the Earth's atmosphere. It takes the form of a multicoloured arc...
trail behind it. The animation has also been made into a YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video set to a remix of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!"
Animated GIF
The original animation was made by 25-year-old Christopher Torres of Dallas, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, who uses the name "prguitarman" on his website LOL-Comics. The animation was posted on April 2, 2011. Torres said in an interview: "I was doing a donation drive for the Red Cross and in-between drawings in my Livestream
Livestream
Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is a live streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet...
video chat, two different people mentioned I should draw a “Pop Tart” and a “cat”." In response, he created a hybrid image of a Pop-Tart and a cat, which was developed a few days later into the animated GIF. Torres said: "Originally, its name was Pop Tart Cat, and I will continue to call it so, but the Internet has reached a decision to name it Nyan Cat, and I’m happy with that choice, too."
YouTube video
YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
user "saraj00n" combined the cat animation with a version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" uploaded by Nico Nico Douga
Nico Nico Douga
is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...
user "もももも" ("Momo Momo"), and uploaded it to YouTube on April 5, 2011, giving it the title "Nyan Cat".
The song
The original song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!", made with the VocaloidVocaloid
is a singing synthesizer application, with its signal processing part developed through a joint research project between the Pompeu Fabra University in Spain and Japan's Yamaha Corporation, who backed the development financially—and later developed the software into the commercial product...
, was uploaded by user "daniwell" to Nico Nico Douga
Nico Nico Douga
is a popular video sharing website in Japan managed by Niwango, a subsidiary of Dwango. Its nickname is "Niconico" or "Nico-dō", where "nikoniko" is the Japanese ideophone for smiling. Nico Nico Douga is the thirteenth most visited website in Japan...
on July 25, 2010. The song's lyrics refer to the Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
word for the sound cats make, "nyā" .
Momo Momo uploaded his/her version of the song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya!" to Nico Nico Douga on January 31, 2011. The Momo Momo version uses the singing synthesizer software UTAU
Utau
Utau is a Japanese singing synthesizer application created by Ameya/Ayame. This program is similar to the Vocaloid software, with the difference that it is freeware instead of being released under third party licensing.-Overview:In March 2008, Ameya/Ayame released UTAU, a free, advanced support...
with the voice "Momone Momo" , which repeats the word "nyan" throughout the song. "Momone Momo" comes from the kanji
Kanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
"momo" 桃, meaning "peach", and "ne" 音, meaning "sound". The voice source used to create Momone Momo was , a Japanese woman who lives in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
.
Popularity
The Nyan Cat music video reached ninth place in Business InsiderBusiness Insider
Business Insider is a U.S. business/entertainment news website launched in February 2009. Founded by DoubleClick Founder and former C.E.O. Kevin P. Ryan it is the overarching brand beneath which fall the Silicon Alley Insider and Clusterstock verticals...
's top ten viral video
Viral video
A viral video is one that becomes popular through the process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites, social media and email...
s of April 2011, with 7.2 million total views. The original YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
video has received over 50 million views . Due to its popularity, many new remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es and cover versions have been made, some hours long. There are also ringtones, wallpaper
Computer wallpaper
Wallpaper is an image used as a background of a graphical user interface on a computer screen or mobile communications device. On a computer it is usually for the desktop, while for a mobile phone it is usually the background for the 'home' or 'idle' screen...
s and applications
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
created for operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s including Windows 7, Nokia
Nokia
Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...
, iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
, iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
, Android, HP webOS. and Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone 7
Windows Phone is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft, and is the successor to its Windows Mobile platform, although incompatible with it. Unlike its predecessor, it is primarily aimed at the consumer market rather than the enterprise market...
.
Christopher Torres has criticized the website
nyan.cat, which features a similar-looking cat with the same background music. The site, which uses the .cat.cat
.cat is a sponsored top-level domain intended to be used to highlight the Catalan language and culture. Its policy has been developed by ICANN and Fundació puntCAT...
sponsored top-level domain
Sponsored top-level domain
A sponsored top-level domain is one of the categories of top-level domains maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet....
, has been described by Torres as "plagiarized".
Temporary DMCA takedown
On June 27, 2011, the original YouTube video was taken down from the site following a Digital Millennium Copyright ActDigital Millennium Copyright Act
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization . It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures that control access to...
complaint from someone claiming to be prguitarman, the creator of the GIF animation. Christopher Torres (prguitarman) immediately denied being the source of the complaint, and contacted Saraj00n and daniwell, who hold the copyright for the video and the song, in order to file a counter-complaint to YouTube. On June 28, 2011, the video was restored to YouTube. During the period that the video was unavailable, Torres received hate mail from people who wrongly believed that he was the person behind the DMCA takedown notice.
External links
- Nyan Cat on LOL-Comics, the original GIF animation by prguitarman (Christopher Torres), April 2, 2011.
- Nyan Cat original video on YouTube by saraj00n, April 5 2011.
- Official Nyan Cat website