"Hey Hey You You" Cat Dancing — Three-panel collage of a grey tabby cat in a teal beanie held upright to look like it is dancing, with meme captions over

"Hey Hey You You" Cat Dancing

2023viral videodeclining

Published October 17, 2026

In late October 2023, Douyin user @瘦巴巴的胖虎 filmed her cat Tiger lying belly-up on her lap while she wiggled its paws to the chorus of Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend,' creating what English-speaking TikTok would later call 'Hey Hey You You' Cat Dancing. A repost by @petsmeowwoof on November 1st drew around 25.7 million plays, and by mid-November 2023 a CapCut template let creators insert the dancing cat into Fortnite menus and dorm-room scenes as a sing-along reaction to anything they disliked.

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Overview

Posts in the CapCut 'Cat Girlfriend' template that powered 'Hey Hey You You' Cat Dancing typically open with the puppeteered feline bouncing in time with the 'hey, hey, you, you, I don't like your girlfriend' hook from Avril Lavigne's 2007 single. Creators then object-label the dancing cat with a caption naming whatever the video is poking fun at, so the chorus lyric lands as a punchline aimed at a rival, an inconvenience, or a bad habit5.

The visual works because the owner cradles her cat Tiger across her lap and manipulates its front paws so the animal looks upright and swaying in beat1. That setup travels well into greenscreen edits, where creators insert the clip over gameplay footage, bathroom tiles, or classroom scenes while the pop-punk vocal line carries the joke4. The cat's almost human posture, more than the song itself, is what sold the trend to Western TikTok audiences.

Origin & Background

Platform
Douyin (source) / TikTok (viral spread)
Creator
@瘦巴巴的胖虎
Date
2023

On October 31st, 2023, Douyin user @瘦巴巴的胖虎 posted the original clip of her cat Tiger lying on its back across her lap while she lifted and wiggled its front paws to the chorus of Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend'1. The video gathered roughly 3.9 million likes on Douyin over the following month5. One day later, on November 1st, 2023, TikTok account @petsmeowwoof reuploaded the clip, where it drew about 25.7 million plays and 2.6 million likes2.

How It Spread

Twitter accounts began mirroring the clip the same day, including a repost by @NoCatsNoLife_m on November 1st, 20233. The remix era for 'Hey Hey You You' Cat Dancing kicked off on November 17th, 2023, when TikToker @igreenscreenthings posted a greenscreen cutout of the dancing cat that drew around 9.7 million plays and 1 million likes in two weeks4. A companion CapCut template called 'Cat Girlfriend,' published a day earlier, passed 185,800 uses by December 1st, 20236.

Early template edits stayed personal and absurd. @delulumikuu's November 19th, 2023 video about rushing to shower after a canceled college class gathered roughly 237,600 plays and 32,900 likes in its first 12 days7, while @inforis's November 20th post about losing a Fortnite match to an 8-year-old collected about 160,900 plays and 5,900 likes in 11 days8. Each edit object-labels the dancing cat with the thing the creator claims to dislike, so Avril Lavigne's chorus line lands as the caption's verdict.

Timeline

2023-10-31

Douyin user @瘦巴巴的胖虎 posts the original clip of her cat Tiger appearing to belly-dance to Avril Lavigne's 'Girlfriend.'

2023-11-01

TikTok account @petsmeowwoof reposts the video, where it drew around 25.7 million plays. Twitter accounts including @NoCatsNoLife_m mirror the clip the same day.

2023-11-16

The 'Cat Girlfriend' CapCut template is published, enabling greenscreen edits of the dancing cat.

2023-11-17

TikToker @igreenscreenthings posts the first widely shared greenscreen edit, promoting the CapCut template.

2023-11-19

@delulumikuu posts a template edit about showering after a canceled college class.

2023-11-20

@inforis posts a Fortnite-themed template edit about losing to an 8-year-old.

2023-12-01

The 'Cat Girlfriend' CapCut template passes 185,800 uses.

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