It happened fast. One minute you're scrolling through standard holiday memes, and the next, your entire feed is overtaken by a nonsensical, rhythmic chant about "skibidi," "Fanum taxes," and "Gyatts." If you’ve spent any time on TikTok or Reels lately, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The 12 days of rizzmas lyrics have become the definitive anthem of Gen Alpha’s weird, hyper-niche internet culture.
It’s brain rot. Pure and simple.
But honestly? It’s also a fascinating case study in how fast language evolves when kids are left alone with high-speed internet and a microphone. While older Zoomers and Millennials are scratching their heads trying to figure out if "rizz" is a verb or a noun (it's both, keep up), the younger crowd has already moved on to remixing entire Christmas carols with an updated vocabulary that sounds like a foreign language to anyone over the age of 20.
The Viral Architecture of the 12 Days of Rizzmas Lyrics
You can’t talk about these lyrics without talking about the source material. It’s a parody of "The Twelve Days of Christmas," but instead of partridges and pear trees, we get a chaotic laundry list of memes.
The structure is repetitive. That’s why it works.
Most versions you'll find online start with "On the first day of Rizzmas, my true love gave to me..." and then it descends into madness. Usually, the "first day" is dedicated to a Skibidi Toilet reference. For the uninitiated—and consider yourself lucky if you are—Skibidi Toilet is a YouTube series about heads coming out of toilets. It has billions of views. It is the backbone of modern elementary school humor.
As the song progresses, you see a rotating cast of characters and terms. Kai Cenat is a staple. So is the Fanum Tax, which basically just means stealing a bit of someone’s food. You’ll hear about Baby Gronk, the Ohio memes that just won’t die, and the elusive Sigma.
The lyrics aren't set in stone. That's the beauty of it. Because it's a "sound" on TikTok, creators are constantly swapping out the lines to fit whatever new meme peaked that Tuesday. One day it's about "mewing" (a tongue posture exercise that supposedly chiseled your jawline), and the next, it’s about "looksmaxxing."
Why This Specific Brain Rot Stuck
Most memes have a shelf life of about forty-eight hours. They burn bright and then they're cringe. But the 12 days of rizzmas lyrics have managed to stay relevant through multiple holiday seasons because they act as a "Greatest Hits" album for the year's nonsense.
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It’s a linguistic time capsule.
If you look at the lyrics from late 2023 versus the ones popping up now, you can see the shift in what’s considered "cool" or "ironic." Early versions focused heavily on the "Ohio" meme—a joke about Ohio being a wasteland of monsters—whereas more recent iterations are obsessed with the concept of the "Sigma" and "Aura."
Aura is a big one lately. It’s basically your vibe or your social credit. If you do something cool, you gain +1,000 aura. If you trip in front of your crush, you’re at -50,000 aura. Incorporating this into a Christmas carol makes the song feel current, even if the melody is hundreds of years old.
Breaking Down the Vocabulary
To understand the lyrics, you have to speak the language. It’s not just random words; it’s a specific dialect.
Rizz is short for charisma. If you have "rizz," you're good at flirting. Simple enough.
The Fanum Tax comes from streamer Fanum, who famously breaks into Kai Cenat’s room to steal a percentage of his meal. In the lyrics, this usually occupies the "five golden rings" spot because it's the most fun to yell.
Mewing and Mogging are part of the "looksmaxxing" community. To "mog" someone is to be physically superior to them in a photo or in person. When these terms show up in the song, it's usually self-deprecating or deeply ironic. Nobody is actually "mewing" seriously while singing a parody song about toilets.
Skibidi has lost all original meaning. At this point, it’s just a filler word. It’s an adjective, an adverb, and a cry for help.
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The Cultural Impact of Meme-Music
Musicologists (yes, they’re looking at this too) call this "participatory culture."
It isn't just a song you listen to; it’s a template. You see kids in school hallways reciting the 12 days of rizzmas lyrics not because they love the song, but because knowing the words is a sign of being "in" on the joke. It’s digital tribalism.
There's a lot of hand-wringing from parents and teachers about "brain rot" and the "Skibidi-fication" of the youth. They worry that kids' vocabularies are shrinking. But if you look at it through a different lens, these kids are actually performing complex linguistic satire. They’re taking a traditional structure and layering it with fast-moving cultural references that change weekly.
That’s actually kind of impressive.
It reminds me of the early days of YouTube parodies, like "The Annoying Orange" or "Fred." Every generation has its version of loud, obnoxious, repetitive humor that makes the previous generation want to move to a cabin in the woods with no Wi-Fi. In the 90s, it was "Wassup!" commercials. Now, it’s a kid singing about "Grimace Shakes" over a holiday beat.
How to Handle the Rizzmas Invasion
If you’re a creator, you’ve probably realized that using these lyrics is a cheat code for the algorithm. Because the terms are so highly searched, any video featuring the sound tends to get pushed to the top of the feed.
But there’s a catch.
You have to be authentic. If a brand tries to use the 12 days of rizzmas lyrics to sell insurance, it’s the definition of "Fellow Kids" energy. It dies instantly. The only way this meme works is if it’s messy, slightly chaotic, and clearly made by someone who actually spends too much time on the internet.
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The audio quality is usually terrible. It’s often a screen recording of a screen recording. That’s part of the aesthetic. High production value actually hurts the "rizz" of the video. It needs to feel like it was made in a basement by a middle schooler who should be doing their math homework.
The Actual Lyrics (A Common Variation)
While there are dozens of versions, here is a prose breakdown of what a "standard" version looks like:
On the first day of Rizzmas, my true love gave to me: a Skibidi Toilet in a tree.
On the second day, it’s two Fanum taxes.
The third day brings three Ohio Goons.
By day four, we’re looking at four Moggirng Sigmas.
Day five—the big one—is five Golden Gyatts.
Day six is six Grimace Shakes.
Day seven features seven Baby Gronks.
Day eight is eight Kai Cenat’s.
Day nine has nine Mewing streaks.
Day ten brings ten Aura points.
Day eleven is eleven Skibidi Slicers.
And day twelve ends with twelve Twitch Streamers.
It doesn't make sense. It’s not supposed to.
The Longevity of Meme Carols
Will we still be singing about Fanum and Skibidi toilets in 2030? Probably not.
But the format will stay. The "12 Days of [Insert Current Meme]" is a permanent fixture of internet culture now. It’s too easy to replicate. It provides a perfect 60-second window for a TikTok video.
The 12 days of rizzmas lyrics are just the 2024-2026 iteration of a cycle that started with "The 12 Days of Minecraft" back in the day. Each era gets the parody it deserves. We just happen to live in the era of "Aura" and "Rizz."
If you’re trying to keep up with the kids, don't bother memorizing every word. Just know that if you hear someone mention a "Sigma" or a "Fanum Tax," they're probably referencing this specific corner of the internet. It’s harmless, mostly. It’s just the sound of a new generation finding its voice, even if that voice is singing about toilets and charisma.
Actionable Steps for Navigating Meme Culture
If you're looking to engage with this or just want to understand what's happening around you, here's what you should actually do:
- Listen for the "Sound": Go to TikTok and search for the original audio clips. Don't just read the lyrics; the delivery—often monotone or ironically enthusiastic—is half the joke.
- Track the Terms: Use a site like "Know Your Meme" to look up individual words like "Fanum Tax" or "Gyatt." The lyrics make significantly more sense (relatively speaking) once you know the origins of the slang.
- Observe the Irony: Notice how often the people singing these lyrics are actually making fun of the memes themselves. There's a layer of "post-irony" where people use the words because they are cringey.
- Check the Comments: The comment section of these videos is where the "lore" is built. You'll see users debating which "day" should be assigned to which meme. This is where the real community engagement happens.
- Don't Overthink It: The primary mistake adults make is looking for a deep meaning. There isn't one. It’s rhythmic nonsense designed to trigger a dopamine hit through recognition.
Instead of fighting the "brain rot," it's usually better to just observe it as a weird, temporary digital phenomenon. It’ll be gone by next Christmas, replaced by something even more incomprehensible.