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What is the song “Barbara's Rhubarb Bar” on TikTok? Viral rap turns into dance

A catchy rap titled “Barbara's Rhubarb Bar” went viral on TikTok with an accompanying dance, but most viewers don't know what it's about because it's sung in German.

When TikTok launched in 2016, it was merged with ByteDance's other short-video app – Musical.ly – which focused on dance routines, lip syncing and other ways for creatives to showcase their work. This means that music has played a major role in most viral videos.

Over the years, countless songs and sounds have gone viral on the app, and thousands of people have made duets and used the sounds in their own videos.

While some are popular songs from the top hit lists, other sounds were created and released directly on TikTok with no intention of gaining exposure outside of the platform.

One song that has gained massive popularity is “Barbaras Rhubarbbar” – a catchy German rap song sung by two creators on the app. But what is it about? Here you can find out everything you need to know.

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What is the song “Barbara's Rhubarb Bar” on TikTok?

“Barbara's Rhubarbbar” or “Barbara's Rhubarb Bar” is a popular German tongue twister about a woman named Barbara and her famous rhubarb cake, which gets more and more complicated the further you go.

The original TikTok video, which has been viewed over 19.5 million times, was created by German musical comedian Bodo Wartke. Although Wartke didn't invent the tongue twister's lyrics, he made it his own by turning it into a catchy rap song that he performed with Marti Fischer.

Several viewers have argued that the two men rapping sound a lot like “Dog of Wisdom,” a viral meme from 2015 that depicts a talking dog on a plane.

As the rap went viral, several TikTok users used the sound in their own videos, where they can be seen dancing and lip-syncing to the catchy tune. One person who dueted the video wrote on their video, “Sir, I don't know what you're saying but you have my full attention.”

Another person is seen drawing while nodding to the beat. She wrote: “Pov: You're working and you hear this German rap about a pretty woman named Barbara who bakes an amazing rhubarb cake.”

What is the song “Barbara's Rhubarb Bar” about?

Since the song or tongue twister is in German, most people who find it on TikTok have no idea what it is about.

However, TikTok user ColorTalk C created an animated video with the song's lyrics and the lyrics translated into English to help people understand what they're singing along to.

In short, the rap is about a woman named Barbara who bakes an “unusually good” rhubarb pie that people across the country have heard about. As demand for her rhubarb cake increases, she decides to open a rhubarb bar.

In the same village where Barbara lives, there are also barbarians who keep visiting Barbara's bar so often that they become known as the “Rhubarb Bar Barbarians”.

The tongue twister then focuses on the barbarians who stop their barbaric behavior and instead visit Barbara's rhubarb bar. Barbara even claims that they are now friendlier than Barbapapa (a children's cartoon).

However, since the barbarians were hairy, Barbara sent them to a barbarian barber who shaved their heads and trimmed their beards.

TikTokers turns the viral Barbara song into a dance trend

In March 2024, Australian TikTokers Stephanie and Christina ( @steph_who___ and @Christina Stasii) posted a video of themselves in a public toilet, dancing to the rap and wearing costumes, which received 16.6 million views.

“POV: You have a song you can't even understand, 24/7,” the text on the screen read.

They then released another video repeating the dance routine they created, which became even more viral with 18 million views and started a new dance trend.

Nearly 29,000 videos have been created using the audio, including American influencers Austin and Marideth Telenko and actress and dancer Kaycee Stroh.

The song's creators, Wartke and Fischer, also posted a video of themselves performing the dance trend to their rap, in a video that has over 24.3 million views.

Thank you to @Stephanie and @CHRISTINA STASII for the great choreography you came up with for our song and thank you to everyone around the world dancing to it, especially @Cost n' Mayor and @KayCee Stroh who have made it known worldwide phenomenon!” Wartke wrote.

He then teased: “@Marti Fischer and I are already working on the sequel…!”

If you want to learn more about using TikTok, you can check out our other guides here:

How to do a duet on TikTok | How to Embroider on TikTok | How to go live on TikTok | How to Find Contacts on TikTok | How to use TikTok Stories | Best time to post on TikTok to get more views and likes

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