MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An Olive Branch girl was channeling Memphis-born rapper Project Pat when she took to the mic at a Mexican restaurant, but had no idea her one-minute performance would blow up the internet.
Nine-year-old Alaynna Doty has been going to karaoke at the Crazy Cactus in Olive Branch for about two years. She usually sings country songs, but this time decided to perform ‘Chickenhead’ and brought down the house.
“It’s just like a song that I’ve known for a long time. They were pretty shocked, but they sang along with me,” said Alaynna.
Lauren Durham, Alayanna’s mother, posted a video to TikTok showing her daughter and other diners jamming out to the Project Pat song, and it quickly went viral, racking up over four million views.
“When I posted it, she said, ‘Mom, I cannot believe you did that,’ and I was like, ‘Alaynna.’ It just shows you have a lot of confidence. I’m just showing, you know, other children that you have confidence and it’s OK to have confidence, and she was like fine, and then once it started blowing up, I started getting phone call after phone call after phone,” said Durham. “You really couldn’t tell her anything after it blew up, to be honest.”
Alayanna said she found out from a friend that she was suddenly famous.
“I was just watching a movie and my friend Bella. She called me and said, ‘You know, you’re viral?’ And I’m like, ‘No, I’m not,’ and she said, ‘Go check your mom‘s TikTok.’ I said ok, and I went to check it. I’m like, how did I get to this?” Alaynna said.
The TikTok post has also received over 130,000 comments in just a few days. “This is America. There is no division or hate, just pure unity and good vibes,” said one man.
Project Pat also reposted Alaynna’s restaurant rap to his TikTok page, and it has been watched nearly 4.5 million times so far. The video was also shared on several other social media sites.
“It was wonderful, and when she did a Jessie Murph song another time, Jessie Murph actually reposted her video as well,” Durham said.
‘Chickenhead’ was released years before Alaynna was born, but she said it’s her mom’s favorite, and she has been singing it for as long as she can remember. Alaynna said she understands why it was such a crowd-pleaser.
“It was like an old classic song, and I was pretty hyped up. They were surprised that a 9-year-old would be that confident,” said Alaynna.
Alaynna dreams of making it big in Nashville one day, but right now she has a great story to tell her friends when she returns to school for her summer break.
You can watch Alaynna’s full performance of Chickenhead here.