My kids’ childhood was filled with both fun and annoying jingles that delighted them, but quickly overstayed their welcome for all of the adults around them. I know I’m not alone here. You know the kind of earworms I’m talking about. They include, but are absolutely not limited to any of the Blippi songs, The “I Love You” song from Barney, Baby Shark, and so many more. Don’t even get me started on all of the songs that their toys sing!
A large part of my younger son’s infant-hood involved Baby Shark. He’s seven now, but for a while, it was good for a distraction. We could play it on Alexa, and he’d sing along while doing the hand movements. My older son would join him. It was super cute. Then, it expanded into all of the merchandise, like bath toys and books. Baby Shark is turning 10 next year. To celebrate, the brand’s official Instagram account posted a cute clip featuring the little boy from the original video, which starts with him as a kid and then transitions into him as a teenager. That’s right. The Baby Shark Boy is now 17 years old.
In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the Baby Shark Instagram account shared a video with the original little boy from the first music video. Although he was only 6 years old when filming the first video, Park Geon-roung is now 17 and definitely not little anymore – and the Internet has feelings about it.
During the clip, someone can be seen playing the original video on their phone, in which Park is pictured much younger and wearing an animated life ring. He can be seen holding his hands up above his head to mimic a shark fin.
The video then shifts to show a much older Park, who is now a teenager. He high-fives Baby Shark, who enters from his left. “Do you remember the baby shark boy? 👀,” the video asks.
The video was also shared on TikTok, set to Simple Plan’s “I’m Just a Kid.” In the comments, many expressed their disbelief at how old Park is now.
“Wait wait wait…I am that old,” one comment read.
“I swear I was older than him,” another said.
On Park’s own Instagram page, his bio reads “Babyshark Boy.” It also shares his birthday, “2008.9.1.”
After starring in the original Baby Shark YouTube video — which remains the platform’s most viewed video with over 15 billion views — Park went on to star in the K-pop kids co-ed group Play With Me Club. The group made their debut in December 2020 and released their first single, “Let’s Play.”
The original Baby Shark video was uploaded to YouTube in June 2016 by Pinkfong, an educational brand from South Korea. The 2-minute infectious clip sees a little boy and girl singing and dancing along to repetitive-sounding lyrics while they tell the story of a family of sharks — a baby, mommy, daddy, grandma and grandpa — who hunt and avoid danger together.
I’ve always assumed that both kids who appeared in the video were in the pre-school range, not elementary school-age. It is kind of blowing my mind that this kid is already 17, but that’s time for you. It just continues to catch us all off guard! Baby Shark didn’t really catch on in my own household until my now seven-year-old son was one, but I was aware that it was a thing. Gosh, the amount of hours my kids spent dancing and singing that song… it’s bringing me back. When are we getting a similar nostalgic celebration from the little girl in the video? Baby Shark has become such a brand sensation over the last decade. I hope both of those kids have been compensated accordingly.
I am old enough to remember Baby Shark as a campfire song… yep. AARP bound, lol
Wild. What is time.