"Castaways" is a song that aired in the children's TV show ''

The Backyardigans ''The Backyardigans'' is a Computer animation, computer-animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess. The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It centers on five animal neighbors who imagine t ...

''. It went viral on

TikTok TikTok, known in China as Douyin (), is a short-form video hosting service owned by the Chinese company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which can range in duration from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. TikTok is an international version ...

in 2021.

History

The song was originally released in 2005, on the first season of ''The Backyardigans''. It aired on the show's 11th episode, of the same name. It was later released in the album ''The Backyardigans'' along with other songs from the show.

Musical style

The song is set to a

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovativ ...

style. It is sung by a group of children, which makes unclear what some of the notes sung are. The lyrics are fairly simple and talk about the group of friends being castaways (per the title), lost with no way to go back home.

Virality

The song became viral on

in March 2021 and was included in over 1,200,000 videos on the platform. After achieving virality on the platform, users contributed to the song rising in Spotify charts, with more than 15 million streams. The song's virality has prompted covers and reimagined versions in different genres to be uploaded to TikTok. Merlysha Pierre (swagsurfff) is believed to be the first, or one of the first people, on the platform to upload videos about ''The Backyardigans'' and the song "Castaways". The song was later the subject of a video by music theory

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

Adam Neely, who talked about the backstory of the song and its production, as well as details regarding its composition and what qualities it has that might have contributed to its popularity. The song's virality made another song from the show, "Into the Thick of It!", trend in the Spotify Viral 50 United States chart. Another Backyardigans song, “International Super Spy” trended on TikTok later in the year, but did not chart anywhere. The song has also inspired many remixes and playlists to be released and compiled within months of the viral takeoff. In June 2022, the song was featured on the latest Nick Jr. series ''

Face's Music Party ''Face's Music Party'' is an American children's television series produced by Jonas & Co., Nickelodeon Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio that premiered on Nickelodeon on June 3, 2022. Premise The series is hosted by longtime N ...

'' in the episode "Pirates/Confidence".

Song credits

Producer

Evan Lurie Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to " Ivan", "Ian", and " Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhô� ...

Douglas Wieselman Douglas Joel Wieselman (born November 30, 1954) is an American composer and jazz reedist. He plays primarily clarinet and tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also plays soprano and baritone saxophone. Early life and education Wieselman was ...

Songwriters

* Douglas Joel Wieselman - composer * Leslie Antonio Valdes - lyricist * McPaul Smith Lawrence - lyricist

Vocals

Corwin C. Tuggles Corwin C. Tuggles (born November 13, 1992) is an American actor. He was the singing voice of Tyrone on '' The Backyardigans'' during its first season. On Broadway, he was in ''Caroline, or Change'', and Dr. Seuss' '' How the Grinch Stole Chris ...

- as Tyrone *

Jamia Simone Nash Jamia Simone Nash (born August 21, 1996) in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S., also known simply as Jamia, is an American singer and actress. Career Nash's first national appearance was in ''Love & Basketball'' in 2000 in which she played Quincy a ...

- as Uniqua * Sean Curley - as Pablo

Charts

''Castaways'' debuted on the #1 spot on Spotify's Viral 50 United States chart for May 12, 2021. The song remained #1 on the Viral 50 chart until June 4, 2021, and fell to second place on June 5, 2021.

References

{{reflist TikTok 2005 songs Songs from animated series Bossa nova songs