Numa Numa Meme

What does the Numa Numa meme mean?

Numa Numa is pure, unguarded joy: one person having the time of their life in front of a webcam with zero irony. Quoting it usually means unselfconscious enthusiasm — dancing like nobody is watching, even when they are.

Origin

• 2003: O-Zone release "Dragostea din Tei," a Moldovan pop song that is a hit across Europe.
• December 6, 2004: Gary Brolsma, then a New Jersey teenager, uploads his webcam lip-sync of the song to Newgrounds as "Numa Numa Dance."
• 2005–2006: The clip spreads to YouTube and beyond, becoming one of the defining viral videos of the pre-YouTube mainstream web; VH1 later named Brolsma its #1 "Internet Icon" in 2007.
• 2017: Brolsma uploads the original to his own YouTube channel; a Fortnite emote based on the dance follows in 2022.

Examples

• "Doing the Numa Numa" — spinning in your chair and lip-syncing with total commitment.
• A reaction clip for any video of someone joyfully over-performing.
• Karaoke nights where someone commits 200% to a song nobody asked for.

Translation

• Literal reading: a heavy-set guy bounces in a chair mouthing Romanian words.
• Actual meaning: the performance is the message — infectious, unembarrassed fun.
• Cross-language note: nobody needs the lyric translated; the "numa numa" hook itself is a mishearing that became the meme's name in every language.

FAQ

What is Numa Numa?

Gary Brolsma's 2004 webcam video dancing to O-Zone's "Dragostea din Tei," one of the internet's first global viral videos.

Who is in it?

Gary Brolsma, an American teenager from New Jersey, dancing in front of his computer.

What does "numa numa" mean?

It comes from the song's Romanian refrain "nu mă, nu mă," misheard as "numa numa."