Who is the “Indonesian aura farming boat kid” taking the internet by storm?
Have you heard people talking about the Indonesian kid who was spotted “aura farming” at a boat race? And if not, do you need more than one of the words in the previous sentence explained to you?
For those who don’t spend their days scrolling TikTok, one of the recent memes to take the platform by storm is the “aura farming boat kid.”
For context, “aura farming” is, as previously explained by Gisselle Hernandez for the Daily Dot, “earn[ing] a ton of cool points without seemingly trying hard.”
But who is the boat kid himself? Let’s investigate.
Social media obsesses over the aura farming boat kid
As reported by Know Your Meme, the “Indonesian Boat Racing Kid” meme refers to a series of videos taken at the Pacu Jalur annual boat race in Indonesia, an event that has been taking place since the 17th century.
Traditionally, boats in these races have featured kids standing on the front, who will perform and dance to both entertain audiences and direct the rowers.
One video of this race, soundtracked to a song called “DJ GALADO KAMPUANG JO NAGARI REMIX BREAKBEAT TERBARU 2024 FULL BASS,” began to go viral on the platform, drawing many eyes to the race and the boat children.
@lensa.rams AKSI BOCIL PACU JALUR #pacujalur #viral #tradisi #budaya #fyp #tiktok #Indonesia ♬ suara asli - Amii15❤️🔥❤️🔥
@neekoranking Boat Racing Kid Aura Farming🔥 #ranking #pacujalur #aurafarming #boatracing #dockboys #bananaboat ♬ Young Black & Rich - Melly Mike
While the name of the meme would imply that there’s only one Indonesian aura farming boat kid, there are actually several, as children standing on the front of these boats is extremely common in this race. Other videos of these children often go with the song "Young Black & Rich" by Melly Mike.
This trend has sparked a variety of discussions across TikTok, with some people simply imitating the dances, while others simply noted the fact that “aura farming boat kid” inspired totally different reactions from those in the know and those not in the know, representing just how different some people’s TikTok algorithms can be.
@foxstar829 pacu jalur emote🗣️ IB : @B #pacujalur #kidaurafarmingonboat #newemote #meme #fyp ♬ original sound - 𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖔𝖜
@hunterkaimi She’s missing out
It’s currently unclear how much staying power this meme will have. However, for the time being, people are simply loving the videos—and doing their best to learn some of the children’s dance moves.
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