One TikTok user's unique composition about fighting with his partner in a grocery store has quickly cascaded into a full-fledged, now viral virtual musical.
The spontaneous TikTok musical has been viewed more than 4.6 million times and counting with hundreds of creators chiming in to add their own riffs.
This thread is evidence of the way TikTok’s duet feature can result in the most hilarious and creative collaborations.
— mom friend™ (@emmaspacelynn) October 5, 2020
Pretty much a guy wrote a musical number about a grocery store and everyone is adding onto it and I am deceased.
Part 1 pic.twitter.com/4z5Mqbscgp
Composer Daniel Mertzlufft created the original piece "Grocery Store: A New Musical" using the green screen effect to take followers down aisle 9 with him for the melodramatic Broadway twist on Louisa Melcher's "New York Summer."
"And we're fighting in a grocery store and I love you, but I don't know if I like you anymore," Mertzlufft sings. "We're standing right in aisle 9 and I promised everything was fine, still we're fighting in a grocery store, and I love you but I don't know if I like you anymore."
Mertzlufft's performance was complete with captions to signal when potential singers should jump in: "Gotta have the back-up singers belting too."
Then, within the video-sharing app, other singers joined in using the duet function, first with Megan Gilbreath, @another.blonde, who took on the role of the wife in the argument.
@another.blonde ##duet with @danieljmertzlufft Grocery Store: The Musical ##musicaltheatre ##fyp ##singing ##theatre ##musicals ##music ##newyork ##sing ##acting
♬ original sound - danieljmertzlufft
"It really shows that in times like these we can still be collaborative with each other and still grow in such a creative field without needing to be super close to each other," Gilbreath told ABC News.
She was followed by a cast of characters, including someone who portrayed their child and another as a grocery store clerk, and from there, everything from a can of soup to a squeaky wheel on a cart.
Part 6 pic.twitter.com/ZR3GXgatGP
— mom friend™ (@emmaspacelynn) October 5, 2020
Even "Pitch Perfect" star and Broadway singer Skylar Astin hopped on the trend to sing the part of "Daniel's lover."
@skylarastin15 #duet with @another.blonde
♬ original sound - danieljmertzlufft
Mertzlufft told ABC News he has been blown away by the reaction, which started with a YouTube anthem to mark the end of the summer of COVID-19.
"I had no idea that it was ever going to explode the way it did," he said. "I've had a couple go like do well on TikTok before, but never on this scale."
Now, the creative genius has already started his second show. This time in the form of a prequel about the first time he meets and falls in love with someone at the grocery store.
@danieljmertzlufft Grocery Store: When the First Met ##grocerystore ##musicaltheatre ##fyp ##greenscreen ##singing ##fightinginthegrocerystore ##singer ##music
♬ original sound - danieljmertzlufft
