The song of Summer Is a Meme

Flyana Boss are running laps around TikTok and the music industry with "You Wish."

- TIRHAKAH LOVE

WITH ONE OF the most debaucherous prayers in 21st-century pop culture-"Hello, Christ, I'm 'bout to sin again!"-Flyana Boss's "You Wish" has become the Bat-Signal for Black alt-girls across the internet. The duo behind the hit, Detroit's Bobbi LaNea and Dallas's Folayan, have been working the TikTok algorithm to the bone all summer, posting short clips of themselves sprinting through various locations-Disneyland, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and, more recently, the Google offices-while spitting the record and inspiring DIY re-creations. The pair first bonded at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles and went on to make music separately for more than half a decade before reuniting as Flyana Boss, an ode to Diana Ross, in 2019. This June's "You Wish" is the product of a dashing approach to brand building.

At TikTok, it feels like the people who turn the knobs and press the buttons see creators who are doing things consistently and they're like, "Yo, they are not just attracted to the platform but want to build their own shit on it." And so they'll push it when they see the work is being done.

BOBBI LANEA: I was convinced there was some sort of viral button they pressed to make this shit go off.

FOLAYAN: I think it's all us!

B.L.: So when we were at the TikTok office recently, I asked. And they said, "No, we don't know how things pop off." I said, "Do you know why we're getting a million views every video?" They're like, "It's engaging..."

F.: We were like, "Okay, so what should we do?" They're just like, "Do what you're doing," literally.

What was the first thing to pop off?