What Is Italian Brainrot & Why Are Your Kids Obsessed With It?
Do not, and we cannot stress this enough, overthink it.
Creating cultural capital that adults don’t understand is a hallmark of childhood, especially when you’re talking about teens and tweens.
And so, there’s a good chance you’ve heard something about “Italian brainrot.” Or have perhaps heard your child repeating “Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung!” over and over for no apparent reason, and when you ask them about it, they just say “It’s a meme!” but they can’t exactly elaborate.
Let’s talk about it. But before we get into it, we’re going to let you in on our conclusion: you absolutely should not overthink any of this.
The first thing you have to know is the basic concept of brainrot, which just so happened to be the Oxford Word of the Year in 2024. It’s defined as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging. Also: something characterized as likely to lead to such deterioration.”
AKA: dumb sh*t you find online.
Italian Brainrot refers to a series of AI-generated surrealist character memes paired with nonsensical Italian narration. They began in January 2025 with Trallallero Trallallà — a blue shark wearing Nikes.
While initially conceived among Italian creators, this brand of brainrot has spread around the world, with some characters coming from Indonesia, the U.S., and beyond. Anyone can use AI to create their versions of these characters, so kids can either consume a whole lot of content or make some of their own and hope it goes viral.
Perhaps you’re thinking, “But why? A shark with Nikes? What does it mean?”
We repeat: you should not overthink any of this. It doesn’t mean anything.
The best explanation we can give is the weirdness of the characters (which are usually a combination of animals and inanimate objects, but not always) and their names (which are usually, but not always, sing-songy) make kids giggle. Other than that, it’s nonsensical and silly. You have to really internalize the idea that you’re not missing anything. There’s nothing to get. OK? Lock that in, because it will be put to the test as we share some of the other popular Italian brainrot characters...
Bombardino Crocodilo
He’s a crocodile bomber plane. In this case, someone has created a catchy but repetitive EDM song to go with the character.
DO NOT OVERTHINK IT.
Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Tung Sahur
This guy is a club holding a baseball bat. This video has more than 4.5 million views. DO NOT OVERTHINK IT. Just let this fact exist in your brain as a fact.
Lirilì Larilà
Elephant Cactus wearing Birkenstocks. Naturally.
Chimpanzini Bananini
This video exploring the possibilities of Chimpanzini Bananini goes on for an hour. You’re perhaps starting to try to think about that. DON’T OVERTHINK IT!
Brr Brr Patapim
This tree-giant is accompanied by a sweeping musical score and poem.
Ballerina Cappucina
Anthropomorphic ballerina/cappuccino. She’s frequently seen with her husband, Capuccino Assassino.
This video has 7 million views after just one month.
We could go on. There are so many more of these characters, and even “characters” is sort of generous/doesn’t really cover it. But at this point, you understand it as well as can be expected.
And now, for a palate cleanser, some Millennial brainrot.
Ah yeah, that’s the stuff. See, you get brainrot. You just don’t get your kid’s brain rot. And that’s as it should be: the cycle continues.
