Photo via Marshmello's Twitter
In today's world, few things are certain: death, taxes, and memes. Somehow, each viral phenomenon that RKOs (out of nowhere!) its way into popular culture is more outlandish than the last, whether it's "Damn, Daniel," Harambe, Evil Kermit, or more musically-minded stunts like the Running Man challenge.Unsurprisingly, dance music's social-media-savvy elite have found a way to edge in on the conversations of the moment—though not always to the same effect. While it was somewhat impressive to see artists such as Marshmello, Diplo, and former duo Flosstradamus pull off audience-wide Mannequin challenges at their respective shows, Ultra Music's signing and remixing of Japanese comedian PIKOTARO's strange, viral single "PPAP" was seen as a "cringeworthy" and "confusing" move by dance music media.The latest Internet sensation to lead us out of 2016 is "Om telolet om," a phrase that flooded social media earlier this week to the point where DJs were asking aloud what it all meant. According to The Jakarta Post, the mini-movement originated last month in Indonesia, where public buses in Ngabul, Jepara, Central Java have a quirky, arpeggiating horn. The sound is so delightful to children that whenever they see a bus approaching, they yell the phrase "Om telolet om!" (which translates in English to "Sir, honk your horn, sir!") to which drivers seem happy to oblige.Also happy to oblige to the whims of the Internet were producers such as Dutch duo Firebeatz, Ummet Ozcan, and meme maven Dillon Francis, all of whom posted mash-ups of their work with the horn honks within a day of its emergence. Others, such as Hardwell and Marshmello, posted photos and videos of themselves in buses with the phrase as their caption; while others are… well, they just seem to already be over it.
Today's been a full day of deleting stupid Instagram comments of a phrase not even worth repeating. Fuck off
— ookay (@Ookay)December 20, 2016