Singing Killed My Grandma — Blue troll with purple hair singing with eyes closed while holding a red apple

Singing Killed My Grandma

2016catchphraseclassic

Published October 23, 2026

"Singing Killed My Grandma" comes from the 2016 DreamWorks film Trolls, where the character Branch explains his refusal to sing by recounting that his grandmother died saving him from a hungry Bergen chef. YouTube remixers started splicing the audio into Moana scenes as early as July 2017, and by February 2023 Twitter users were running Trolls comic threads around the catchphrase as an all-purpose excuse.

dreamworks memes two panel memes catchphrase memes snowclone memes dialogue edit memes

Overview

Posts in the Twitter-era format rely on a two-panel template built from stills of the pink troll Poppy and the gray troll Branch. The first panel usually shows Poppy asking "Why not? Why won't you X?" and the follow-up shows Branch answering with "X killed my grandma," where X stands for whatever the poster wants to avoid, from exercise to small talk4. Earlier YouTube edits took a different route, splicing Branch's audio line into unrelated musical scenes so it plays as a sudden interruption of someone else's song1.

Humor in both versions trades on the gap between Branch's genuine childhood trauma and the cheerful DreamWorks musical setting around it. Users either amplify that gap by placing the clip into another animated musical such as Moana2, or they use the Trolls thread format to turn Branch's refusal into an all-purpose excuse for not doing something.

Origin & Background

Platform
DreamWorks film Trolls / YouTube and Twitter (viral spread)
Date
2016

In the 2016 DreamWorks film Trolls, Branch tells Poppy that his grandmother died protecting him from a Bergen chef after his loud childhood singing drew her in. YouTube user Holly Jolly Transformations later uploaded the isolated voice-line scene on April 20, 20203. The earliest known audio remix predates that cutout, however: on July 6, 2017, YouTube channel Epic Roasts spliced the line into a Moana sequence, which went on to earn over 11,000 views1.

How It Spread

Follow-up Moana remixes used the same trick, including an April 19, 2020 version from I Just Arted that received over 3,700 views2. The catchphrase appeared on text-based platforms by early 2021, with Twitter user @badboyhalosimp1 posting a January 8, 2021 comparison between Branch and YouTuber Skeppy that earned roughly 2,200 likes, Tumblr user emositecc posting a Garfield comic version of the scene two days earlier, and the two-panel "Why not? Why won't you X?" Trolls thread template taking off on Twitter in late February 20234.

Audio-remix compilations and reupload videos of the original Trolls line also kept circulating on YouTube through the early 2020s, extending the joke's reach past the Twitter thread format5.

Timeline

2016

DreamWorks releases Trolls, including the scene where Branch tells Poppy that his grandmother died saving him from the Bergen chef.

2017-07-06

YouTube channel Epic Roasts posts the earliest known remix, splicing the line into a Moana scene, reaching over 11,000 views.

2020-04-19

YouTuber I Just Arted uploads another Moana mashup with the Branch audio, earning over 3,700 views.

2020-04-20

YouTube user Holly Jolly Transformations publishes the isolated voice-line scene from the film.

2021-01-06

Tumblr user emositecc posts a Garfield comic recreating the scene, picking up over 200 notes.

2021-01-08

Twitter user @badboyhalosimp1 posts a Branch-and-Skeppy comparison using the line, gathering around 2,200 likes.

2023-02

The Pink Troll "Why not? Why won't you X?" two-tweet thread template takes off on Twitter.

Frequently Asked Questions