What is Astronaut in the Ocean?

It is a 2019 trap single by Australian rapper Masked Wolf that went viral as a TikTok beat-drop sound in late 2020 and hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2021.

Where did Astronaut in the Ocean come from?

Masked Wolf first released it on June 6, 2019, and told Tone Deaf the lyrics were about depression and anxiety.

What does Astronaut in the Ocean mean?

In the artist's own words, the astronaut-in-the-ocean image describes feeling mentally stuck in anxiety and isolation, though online critics mocked the line as nonsensical.

How do you use Astronaut in the Ocean?

TikTokers typically use the slow intro as a build-up and cut to an action moment, edit reveal or gaming clip on the beat drop, a pattern used in over 6.7 million videos within seven months.

Is Astronaut in the Ocean still popular?

It peaked as a chart hit in May 2021 and is now treated as a classic 2021 TikTok sound rather than an active trend, with Masked Wolf performing it on Jimmy Fallon around that peak.

Astronaut in the Ocean

2019sound memeclassic

Published November 14, 2026

Australian rapper Masked Wolf released 'Astronaut in the Ocean' in June 2019, where it sat largely unnoticed outside Australia until late-2020 TikTok edits turned its beat drop into a build-up-and-transition sound. By May 2021, the song hit number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and triggered a backlash wave that produced its own mocking meme format on Twitter.

tiktok sound trends hip hop memes delayed virality memes viral song memes australian memes

Overview

Masked Wolf, an Australian rapper, built the song around a brooding intro that breaks into a hard trap beat on the line 'I feel like an astronaut in the ocean.' He told Tone Deaf the lyrics were about depression and anxiety, saying the song's image of weightless isolation reflected where he was mentally when he wrote it1. On TikTok, almost none of that mattered. Users treated the slow opening as a build-up cue and dropped the beat on an edit, a reveal, a Fortnite clip or a pet doing something unexpected2.

The track took two distinct lives online. On TikTok it was a scaffolding sound for action transitions, with the original audio used in over 6.7 million videos within seven months of hitting the app2. On Twitter and YouTube it became a punching bag: critics mocked the chorus as nonsensical, with music reviewer Anthony Fantano asking 'How does an astronaut in the ocean feel?' and later posting a full video titled 'I feel like an astronaut in the ocean' critiquing the lyrics3 4. Urban Dictionary entries from the same period define the song as 'the worst song to ever exist' and complain that 'the lyrics don't even make any sense'5.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

YouTube (song release) / TikTok (viral spread)

Creator

Masked Wolf

Date

2019

Masked Wolf first put 'Astronaut in the Ocean' out on June 6, 2019, as an independent release that circulated on YouTube and streaming services2. It picked up some play in Australia but did not chart internationally at release. In an interview with Tone Deaf, he explained he picked the astronaut-in-the-ocean image to describe mental depression and the feeling of being 'stuck in a place of anxiety'1.

The song's reuse started in gaming edits, not comedy. One of the earliest tracked uses was a Fortnite montage posted to YouTube on September 30, 2020, which racked up over 200,000 views and seeded the beat-drop treatment that TikTok would later run with2. On October 27, 2020, Masked Wolf uploaded the official music video, which rebuilt attention around the single ahead of its re-release2.

How It Spread

By late 2020, TikTok creators were using the slow intro as a transition sound, then cutting to an action moment on the beat drop. Editors pinned the first known examples to October and November 2020, and the original audio crossed 6.7 million videos in seven months2. In early 2021, Masked Wolf signed with Elektra Records, which re-released the track across streaming services on January 6, 2021; management told The Music Network the song was being streamed roughly 800,000 times a day on Spotify by then6.

The sound bled onto other platforms through gaming edits. On January 8, 2021, the Instagram account @cod_next posted a Call of Duty: Warzone clip set to the drop that pulled over 32,000 plays2. A YouTube music-video edit set to Cars 3 footage, uploaded January 13, 2021, passed 600,000 views in four months7. Compilations of the TikTok trend also moved to Twitter, including an April 2021 repost that gathered thousands of views8.

Mainstream success arrived alongside the backlash. In April 2021, Masked Wolf performed the song on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and on May 3, 2021, Billboard reported the track had climbed to number eight on the Hot 1002. Two days earlier, Twitter user @kaialijr called it 'prolly the worst song I've ever heard'2. On May 4, YouTuber Danny Gonzalez joked the song 'was written and performed by a youth pastor,' and Anthony Fantano piled on with his own tweet before releasing a dedicated critique video on May 6, 20213 4.

Timeline

2019-06-06

Masked Wolf independently releases 'Astronaut in the Ocean' on YouTube and streaming services.

2020-09-30

A Fortnite montage on YouTube becomes one of the earliest tracked uses of the beat drop.

2020-10-27

Masked Wolf uploads the official music video for the song.

2021-01-06

Elektra Records re-releases the song across streaming services after signing Masked Wolf.

2021-01-13

YouTuber Leva_Net International posts an original edit set to Cars 3 footage.

2021-05-03