Scroll down the rabbit hole that is TikTok and you’ll probably come across music that seems to make no sense. Earlier this week, a Squidward J. Q. Tentacles’ video arrived at my feed and as soon as it played, my child responded. “Erm… what the sigma!?” he chimed. A Shazam brought me to a song titled “What the Sigma?”, part of an album titled “Brain Rot”). It was credited to Justin Muen Jin (or “Muen”), the 17-year-old Mediababy founder.

First of all, definitions, A “sigma” is a type of male; one who behaves as a lone wolf. The derived catchphrase “what the sigma?” originally appeared as a TikTok featuring Squidward and SpongeBob peering at an ice cream cone. As of writing this, that one video segment has been viewed over 11 million times. Now, it seems the new trend on the TikTok block is producing music with meaningless use of Generation Alpha’s slang, a la Mad Libs.

To be clear, no shade. Justin Jin seems to enjoy himself and that’s important. You can’t fault him for trying to blow up on TikTok. After all, the social media platform is responsible for much of his business success. But it’s certainly not easy to pinpoint another media executive making “brainrot” music. I reached out to Jin via email to ascertain a motive, but did not receive a response.

Well, produced by the Playboi Carti-inspired beatmaker Donnie Katana, Jin’s “What the Sigma” incorporates certain mainstream rap elements–like Working on Dying’s producer tag.

The first twelve seconds of the song are rather exciting. Jimmy Cooks-like, it opens muffled before a jarring beat transitions it into a different atmosphere. Interrupting a somnambulant dancefloor reverie, Jin pivots to outlining what it means to be “sigma”. Its sonic arrangement is simple, as the modern trap sound coupled with light drums and dissonant chords creates an upbeat track for listeners.

Halfway in, in line with its cultural inspiration, “What the Sigma?” boasts a moody beat, filled with rattling treble as Annie Mae, the originator of the phrase, is heard saying “You’re not fucking funny and you’re corny…”

Another song part of this debut album, released through Recordcore (formed by Jin with partnership with WMG) is “Skibidi Rizz”, which encapsulates more Gen Alpha words. The album may be a standout simply for being different, but on the other hand, Jin’s song is laughable because of the absolute hodgepodge of senseless fluff it is–a collection of buzzwords you’d hear in a middle or high school classroom.

And perhaps that vernacular makes sense. When Justin Muen Jin started Mediababy, he would be leading the democratization of Gen Z and Gen Alpha culture.

Growing up, the entrepreneur played the piano and the saxophone, according to one of his old YouTube videos–but like many other teenage boys, he was also an avid gamer. He took a liking to Minecraft in his early teens and would use popular songs to soundtrack the gameplay that he posted on YouTube. On his YouTube channel, 50mMidas, he has created various music parodies–one titled “Life By Skyblock” and another “10000 Hours”. The former is a parody of Minecraft streamer Tubbo’s “Life by the Sea”, the latter a collaborative recreation of Justin Bieber’s song of the same name. An internet-addled entrepreneur trying to make it big.

But anyway. If you scroll through more TikToks, you can find anything from “Skibidi FE!N” (a parody of Travis Scott’s “FE!N”) to “Sticking out Your Gyat for the Rizzler”, one after another. And though Jin’s jarring desire to bring the funny times may not be reinforced by musical talent, it is certainly being indulged.