If you have not yet heard the French song about an orange fish named Steve that is currently making the rounds on TikTok, this is your last chance to escape.
Stop reading now if you do not want to be wandering your home for the next several days muttering “Steve le poiiiiiiiiiaaaahh” under your breath as you open kitchen cabinets, wash your hands and check your mailbox.
OK, you have been warned.
Earlier this month, Victoria Ronat and Thomas Ename made their first TikTok video about an orange fish named Steve — Steve le poisson, in French — who has human-esque features. Ms. Ronat, a 26-year-old animation production assistant, did the animation work while Mr. Ename, who is 25 and a composer and sound engineer, arranged the accompanying tune. (The duo, better known as Vigz and Tomo, live in Paris. They first met via Twitter 10 years ago, they said.)
The resulting cartoon looks clean and simple and the song is unrelentingly catchy. It was Ms. Ronat’s TikTok debut and it already has more than 12 million views.
In interviews conducted via phone and email, Ms. Ronat and Mr. Ename discussed their sudden internet fame.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What inspired you to make Steve?
VICTORIA RONAT: Steve was born out of an art block. After a burnout following my animation studies, I didn’t dare draw anymore because I felt I wasn’t good enough. So I created this little fish with arms and legs because he was simple and funny to draw. I’ve always loved drawing simple characters, often animals. I think I was heavily inspired by “Adventure Time” and other Cartoon Network shows I watched growing up.
Why a fish?
RONAT: Tomo and I share a Twitch community of about 40 amazing and creative people who I had shown Steve before. For April Fools’, I proposed a little creative challenge. In France, April 1 is known as “Poisson d’Avril,” where people stick paper fish on each other’s backs as a prank. I wanted to honor that tradition with our community. Everyone had to draw Steve and post it on our Discord, and then we looked at them live on stream. Tomo surprised me by composing a song instead of drawing.
Tell me about the song. It’s such an earworm.
THOMAS ENAME: The process was very quick, I didn’t have much time. I tried to capture Steve’s chill and nonchalant vibe. I wrote and composed the song like a cartoon intro. Some people even asked if I used A.I., but nope, I recorded and composed everything myself. The track only has a few chords, to stay in that spirit of simplicity. I think the time constraint really boosted the creativity. Sometimes, simplicity is the key.
Is there anything special about the way Steve is drawn?
RONAT: I used a technique called “boiling lines” where you redraw the same frame several times to create a shaky, lively effect. It’s time-consuming, but it makes the result feel more organic and alive.
What has the reaction been like online?
ENAME: I didn’t expect it to go viral, but in France, just a few hours after posting, the video already had over 200,000 views. That’s when we realized something was happening. People were already adopting it, but we never imagined it would cross borders.
RONAT: I actually expected it to do well, because I was proud of the animation and found Tomo’s song super catchy. But I had very few followers, so hitting even 100,000 views would’ve already been a huge success for me. I was completely blown away by the response, tons of messages, people wanting to get Steve tattoos. Everyone loved him.
Why do you think that is? What about Steve makes him so lovable?
ENAME: I think it’s his blank expression and big eyes — he’s just so cute. But most of all, I think it’s the perfect combo of simple character design and simple music. Both are super accessible and easy for people to reinterpret in their own way.
Lots of people have made their own Steve-inspired creations. Do you have any favorites?
ENAME: Steve cosplay, 3-D Steve, Bossa Nova Steve, wooden Steve, Erik Satie-inspired Steve and this Steve dance.
What’s next?
RONAT: I’ve gained 90,000 followers so far, and I’m a bit nervous to post again. What if people expect only Steve content now? I also don’t want to overdo it and become annoying, so we’ll have to get creative moving forward.
ENAME: I didn’t expect it to bring so much attention to my profile. Now the challenge is to see if I can keep that audience and maybe get hired or if I’ll just be “Le poisson Steve guy” forever.
Madison Malone Kircher is a Times reporter covering internet culture.
The post An Orange Fish With Arms and Legs, and a Song You Can’t Escape appeared first on New York Times.
