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If you’ve found yourself quietly humming, “P for Papas… it’s a Papa’s party!” while nodding your head to the beat, you’re not alone. As with a lot of popular internet lore, it all started with a cat video.
Where did the song ‘P for Papas’ come from?
Way back in early May 2023, a TikTok account featuring pet siblings June, Benny and Cherry (@june.hound) posted a video of a cat dancing to a couple singing a song called “P for Papas” — and somehow, the trend caught on to become a viral sensation.
“Visited my brother and his gf and they had to show us their cat’s lil dance,” the video reads.
The song and dance have become their own sensation, with many wondering what on earth a Papa’s party even is.
“I need to know the origin of the papas party,” demanded fellow cat account @nimbus_siberian.
To help clear up the confusion, the star of the show himself appeared in his owner Cody Rey’s (@codyrey_) video, showing the song and dance in full close-up glory. According to Rey’s account, the dancing cat in the original video is Apollo, while he also has a cat sibling named Potatoes. Potatoes did the “Papa’s party” dance first, but it was Apollo who reached viral status.
TikTok commenters quickly swooped in with their theories about what a Papa’s party is, with some theorizing that the cat’s name is Papa and others guessing the “Papas” is actually short for “Paws Paws.”
“If you hear the audio at the end, they say good job papas,” explained @mycreativespace_bismi.
“I thought it was ‘paws paws’ because its paws are in the air,” @sin replied.
Others pointed out that “papas” actually means “potatoes” in Spanish, so because the dance was originally for the cat named “Potatoes,” it must have been named after him.
“Lol papas does mean potatoes but papa means Dad and Papas/Mamas is used often (usually for kids) as a general pet name,” explained @cassandragalarza.
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Despite — or perhaps because of — the simplicity of the song and dance, which features just the refrain “P for Papas … it’s a Papa’s party,” the song has spread far and wide, with other accounts posting their own versions and the song and dance even showing up at concerts.
No one may be sure what a Papa’s party is, but that seems far from the point for TikTok fans.
“I don’t know what a papas party is, but I want to be invited!” said @niamhharbin.
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