Why is the Succession theme song so meme-able?

Vulture

"Nicholas Britell’s Emmy-winning theme for Succession has inspired several timelines’ worth of memes. The track — which melds radiant, detuned piano plinks and a bottom-heavy hip-hop beat — has been set to clips of Kermit the Frog and Bill Hader dancing (separately, sorry), and footage of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker doing his staircase strut," says Kyle McGovern. "It’s been retrofitted to the iconic, old-timey Cheers opening and used to create a new intro for Arrested Development. Critics have dubbed it the song of the summer, joked about doing it at karaoke, and demanded that 2007 Lil Wayne rap over it... The Succession theme is such a hit online that it raises the question: Why? Why has this 90-second instrumental developed such a dedicated following, and what makes it so meme-able?" McGovern turned to Know Your Meme's Adam Downer, who wrote an explanation for the Succession theme meme. "The Succession theme works almost more in line with meme songs that bubble up from nowhere, because Succession isn’t the biggest hit in the world, but the song goes,” says Downer. “That lends itself to more remixes and parodies and stuff like that, that’s almost completely disassociated from the show itself.”

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