Rob49 Explains The Unhinged Title Of His Viral Hit, ‘WTHelly’

If you’ve been on social media at all over the past couple of weeks, you have more than likely heard a snippet of Rob49‘s new single, “WTHelly” — or at least seen people adopting the unusual lingo coined by the New Orleans native. The song, which he released on March 21, has racked up streams, while a slew of Rob’s famous compatriots from Justin Bieber to GloRilla have been slinging the new slang in their social media posts.

In a recent interview with TMZ, Rob explained the unusual, slightly unhinged title. “It’s something that my partners came up with in New Orleans,” he said. “We just be saying that so I just put it in a song.”

Over on YouTube, which provides a graphic for the most played section of the song’s stream, an explanation for the song’s viral popularity emerged. In the song’s closing bridge, Rob goes nuts with the “WTHelly” exclamation, sending it through a string of transformations that includes “What the hellyanté?” “What the Helly Berry?” “What the helly-bron James?” and “What the helly Cyrus?” The clip lends itself well to uses in TikTok videos, which find users reacting to all kinds of situations with the combination of confusion, disgust, and amusement implied by the exclamation.

Rob49 has made the most of his spotlight over the past two years, getting in collaborations with Travis Scott, Cardi B, and most recently, Cash Cobain and Bay Swag. With “WTHelly” taking over the ‘Tok, he could be due for another huge surge in popularity soon.

You can watch the video for Rob49’s viral hit, “WTHelly,” above.