A decade after appearing at age 7 in Baby Shark Dance, the most-watched video in YouTube history, Park Geon-roung is stepping back into the spotlight, this time as a K-pop singer.
The 17-year-old released his debut single, WAVE, last Thursday, officially launching a solo career under the stage name Baby Shark Boy.
The new song opens with the instantly recognizable melody from Baby Shark, while Park also took part in writing the lyrics. The track features Joohoney of K-pop group Monsta X and tells the story of a child who finds success in front of the camera.
For Park, however, the single is intended as more than a nostalgic callback to the viral hit that made him famous.
“WAVE feels more like a new beginning than a one-off project,” he said. “I hope to continue showing different sides of myself through music and also through other kinds of content.”
Pinkfong, the company behind Baby Shark and holder of the franchise’s rights, is also accompanying Park as he begins his new career.
“Our video brought joy to people around the world, and I’m grateful that so many people still remember me even after 10 years,” Park said in a statement. “It made me want to come back and connect with people again through music.”
Speaking to The Guardian about the release, Park said he wants to gradually develop an artistic identity of his own without distancing himself from the phenomenon that first put him in front of a global audience.
“I want to gradually find my own style as an artist,” he said. “But for me, being the Baby Shark kid isn’t a past I want to leave behind.”
Despite becoming one of the most recognizable young faces on the internet, Park said his childhood remained relatively ordinary. His classmates knew about the video and thought it was “cool,” he recalled, but otherwise treated him much like anyone else.
Park Geon-roung in 'Baby Shark'
The song itself also followed him long after filming ended. Park said the melody stayed stuck in his head and that he would sometimes find himself humming it “without even noticing.”
There is an added irony to that memory: Park did not actually perform the vocals heard in the original video. Another child provided the singing voice.
Now, at 17, he says he finally wants audiences to hear his voice.
“Now I want people to hear my voice and the stories I wrote myself,” he said.
Baby Shark Dance, released in 2016, became one of the defining viral phenomena of the internet era. Built around a simple song about a family of sharks, the video has amassed more than 17.2 billion views on YouTube, making it the platform’s most-watched video.
Its reach extended far beyond YouTube. The song spawned countless dances, memes and parodies across social media and became a global pop-culture fixture. It was even played at the White House and drew public praise from figures including Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
A decade later, Park is not trying to escape that history. Instead, he appears to be using the world’s most famous shark song as the starting point for a career in which, this time, the voice is finally his own.