You’ve likely seen the video. A cat’s clapping paws enter the top left of the frame as the opening tune of The Chordettes’ 1958 hit “Mr. Sandman” starts to play.
It’s pure joy, pure delight and over 10 million people have viewed it on the video-sharing platform TikTok. It’s all the creation of Ottawa teenager Jade Taylor-Ryan. The 17-year-old — who’s set to start the 12th grade this fall — posted the nine-panel video of her cat Ed to the popular social media platform last week, and since then has become an internet sensation.
Taylor-Ryan says that while she’s only been on TikTok for around a month, she’s gained over 50,000 followers since posting the video. She says she took inspiration from similar videos like this one from TikTok user @thunthunskittles.
“I was just looking through TikTok and then I saw the nine-person filter combined with the Sandman song, and I just got the idea to use my cat, because I thought it would be different and funny at the same time,” Taylor-Ryan told HuffPost Canada.
The cat in question is Ed, a four-year-old orange tabby named after the singer Ed Sheeran. And people are in love with him.
Taylor-Ryan says that Ed enjoyed it as much as his fans.
“He isn’t really like other cats,” she said. “I know a bunch of my friends have cats and if you try to pet them they’ll run away or, like, scratch you. But Ed just sits there.”
Ed also has his own Instagram now at @thesandmancat. And with over 23,000 followers, his internet celebrity is only growing.
Taylor-Ryan says that she’s already had several influencers and online personalities reach out about collaborating, but that she’s going to take things slow. She says her friends and family tease her about her — and Ed’s — new internet fame.
“They always make jokes like ‘oh there’s the famous TikToker’,” Taylor-Ryan said.
For the record, I attempted to recreate the video with my roommate’s cat Bones. She was not happy about it at all and did attempt to bite me, which is honestly fair. I’d try to bite someone who picked me up and tried to flip me around to 1950s pop music too.
So props to Ed for being a good on-screen cat. That kitty’s going to be a star!