Meme Sampling in Music: Artists Embrace Viral Internet Sounds

Published on 10/30/2025 Trend Spotting / Early Adopter Signals

This post points to a potential trend where mainstream artists integrate viral internet memes or sounds into their music. If Lily Allen indeed sampled the 'crying guy' meme, it signifies a growing convergence between internet culture and popular music. This represents a strategic move by artists to leverage humor, relatability, and shared cultural references to engage with a meme-literate audience. For businesses, this opens opportunities for:

  1. Music Industry: Developing services for identifying, licensing, or creating 'sample-able' viral sounds for artists.
  2. Marketing: Brands can create and promote content designed to go viral and become 'sample-worthy,' enabling organic integration into popular culture.
  3. Content Creators: Monetization opportunities for original sounds or content that gains significant traction online and gets sampled by artists. This also highlights a shift in audience expectation, where pop culture references from the internet are increasingly accepted and celebrated within mainstream media.