Virality is fleeting, and TJ Mack, one of Brian Jordan Alvarez’s facefiltered, fully developed characters, seems to be grappling with this difficult truth in a TikTok Alvarez recently posted. Mack looks somber as he peers out an open window on a drive home through New York City. He seems pensive, perhaps even grateful for the song that made him ultrafamous, but most importantly, he is sitting. Viral fame can be gone as quickly as it came, but through it all, Mack—and, by extension, Alvarez—is sitting and taking in the moment.

Sitting truly is a wonderful thing to do (in moderation), and now it has an indelible anthem in the form of the improvisational song that launched Alvarez into the TikTok stratosphere. It’s a simple tune with simple lyrics; the magic is in how it’s sung: “Sitting/Sitting is the opposite of standing/Sitting is the opposite of running around/Sitting is a wonderful thing to do,” AlvarezasMack sings with a serious demeanor and a seemingly Latin accent of sorts, contrasted by the alien ridiculousness of the bugeyed filter which makes the eyes and mouth take up almost the entire face. The earworm made its way into the minds and mouths of countless creatives on TikTok since it was shared on Sept. 10, and the app was soon flooded with beautifully sung covers, a fullyproduced pop track, a musical theater rendition, and even a metal/screamo reimagining.

Alvarez, 36, credits his improv training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with helping him come up with this catchy little ditty. The video he posted was actually a second take because the sound didn’t record on the first, but he says he usually just posts the first take of his videos. “I think that’s part of what people are responding to,” he tells TIME. “They can almost see in your eyes that you do not know what you're gonna say next.” “Sitting” almost immediately went viral after he posted the original video, as people began leaving comments to the effect of, “Wait, this is actually a pretty good song.”

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