TikTok’s latest bid for the song of summer asks an unfathomable question: If “all of the dream, how does it mean?”
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That’s from the chorus of the meme-turned-very-real-song “Planet of the Bass,” an ironic tribute to the 1990s Eurodance genre from comedian and content creator Kyle Gordon. A 50-second clip of the song posted to TikTok, Instagram, and X (the platform formerly known as Twitter) on July 28 has amassed close to 100 million views. It officially crossed the threshold from parody to certified bop when Gordon performed the song at a packed club in Brooklyn and fast-tracked its release.
But the viral video’s true star is Audrey Trullinger, the 23-year-old actress and content creator from Ambler who plays Biljana Electronica, Gordon’s coconspirator who gallivants around the World Trade Center’s Oculus shopping center and lip-synchs the hook while wearing a baby tank that reads, “When God made man, she was only joking.”
Before she played a Eurodance icon, Trullinger attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Flourtown and cut her teeth performing in regional theater, including a 2012 production of The Music Man at the Walnut Street Theatre. She has earned more than 1.6 million TikTok followers by creating sketch comedy characters that Trullinger says are “heightened versions of the people you know in everyday life,” like that one friend who is constantly annoyed with their significant other.
The magic of “Planet of the Bass” lies in its performers’ commitment to the bit: The song captures the bygone vibes of groups like Aqua and the Vengaboys, thanks to Gordon as DJ Crazy Times, a fictional rapper dressed like a Y2K doomsday prepper in a fake Kevlar vest and space pants.
Gordon told the New York Times he spent about a month writing and recording “Planet of the Dance” alongside a writer from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and singer-songwriter Chrissi Poland, who actually sings the hook. Just like the Eurodance groups that once used rotating casts of models to stand in for featured vocalists, Gordon has been swapping Trullinger out for two other fake Biljanas.
The internet is not happy with this decision.
“Bro, delete this and bring back Ms. Biljana Electronica immediately. My rhythm is NOT glad right now,” wrote one X account in response to a version of “Planet of the Dance” that features yoga influencer Mora Olney.
The reaction “has made me really happy,” Trullinger told The Inquirer. “It means that day filming in the Oculus was worth it.”
The Inquirer spoke with Trullinger to learn about the makings of “Planet of the Dance,” from getting kicked out of the Oculus to Biljana’s backstory. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you come to play Biljana Electronica?
Kyle direct messaged me on Instagram about a month ago and said, “I’m coming out with this song for my character DJ Crazy Times. I think it’s going to be really funny, and I need a girl to play the female singer. Would you be interested in filming with me?”
I really admire Kyle. I think his characters on TikTok are some of the funniest out there, so this was a no-brainer.
We ended up filming on a random Sunday at the Oculus, which was probably the worst time we could’ve picked.
Why? What was it like filming a Eurodance song in the middle of a big mall?
There were a lot of large tourist groups filming and looking at us like, “What’s going on?” As someone with pretty bad anxiety, this was actually one of the tougher things to film in public just because of how into it I was.
The police actually stopped us twice in the middle of filming. When we were shooting … they came up to us and said we weren’t allowed to film here, and when I asked why, they explained that it was public property. But tons of people are taking pictures and recording videos in the Oculus, so we ended up just going to a different part of [the mall] that didn’t have as many people.
We start filming again and another cop comes up to us and is like, “Guys, you got to stop.”
Of course, I want to get a good shot, so I say to the cop, “Well sir, don’t you like comedy?” He said he did, but we still couldn’t film, so we ended up moving to a subway station to finish the video.
What, to you, is Biljana Electronica’s origin story?
I haven’t really thought about this because everything has been so crazy.
My guess of who she is? Biljana is a ‘90s pop star who dreamed of collaborating with DJ Crazy Times. She’s an icon, and a legend, and at least for right now, absolutely living in the moment.
Were you in on the joke of the changing Biljanas?
I actually had no idea that Kyle was planning to film the video with somebody else. When I saw that Kyle was filming with Sabrina Brier in his DJ Crazy Times outfit, I thought to myself, “Oh my gosh, my shots must not have been good enough.” I literally thought I got replaced.
But then when I saw the video with [Mora Olney] come out, I realized there was going to be three versions. I just knew that, together, we were going to break the internet.
How do you feel about being the people’s Biljana Electronica?
I never expected the response to be, like, “Where’s my Biljana?” because I thought Mora did a great job. I don’t want people speaking poorly of her because she was fantastic and hilarious in her own way.
It’s become such a meme to make a big deal [about Gordon replacing us]. I love the humor of it, but the switcheroos aren’t that big of a deal.
