- A lot of new music has been released in 2020, but arguably none of it is as urgent and transcendental as the sweet melodies of Barney the cat, who belongs to TikTok user @mars.gilmanov.
- Barney has allegedly been practicing for a few months, and his recent videos have earned him millions of views and new collaborators.
- TikTok user @Akizguitar uploaded a video of himself adding guitar licks to Barney’s concerto, and it blew up on Twitter, garnering over two million views.
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During the global pandemic, Barney the cat has been hard at work learning how to play the piano. Barney’s persistence and chops have not gone unnoticed.
On TikTok, Barney had his first taste of viral stardom in June, when Barney’s owner, TikTok user @mars.gilmanov, uploaded a video of the feline playing and captioned it, “It was the second month of training.” In most videos, his owner can be heard whispering to Barney, “You, play.”
While Barney’s most recent solo video on December 3, titled “new work from Barney” garnered 270,000 views, his June serenade garnered 1.8 million views.
In his videos, Barney indulges in building adagio movements, keeping listeners in suspense of where his paw will strike next, and focusing stoically on his owner.
TikTok user @Akizguitar or AG also noticed Barney's talent, and on December 5, uploaded a duet on TikTok of himself playing guitar in a split-screen with Barney's December 3 medley.
"still working on my phrasing with maestro cat," @Akizguitar wrote in the video's caption. The collaboration is shockingly smooth, with @Akizguitar strumming melancholic minor guitar chords and Barney adding slow, dynamic piano stabs. The next day, @Akizguitar and Barney duetted again, their chemistry clearly growing stronger.
@Akizguitar included the caption, "Groovie lesson with maestro cat."
Twitter this week also took note this week of the multi-species duo, recognizing the collaboration's bizarre excellence.
—Rob N Roll (@thegallowboob) December 15, 2020
Twitter user @gallowboob uploaded their two collaborations and wrote, "someone did a collab tiktok with a cat and it's perfect." On Twitter, the first video garnered 2.4 million views as of this writing.
—Rob N Roll (@thegallowboob) December 15, 2020
Barney's confident serenades have attracted more collaborators, like TikTok user @egglemonade, who added jazzy, spaced-out vocals to the duet's jingle.
—Hamzah (@huhmzuh) December 16, 2020