Katyusha was written in 1938, with music by Matvei Blanter and lyrics by Mikhail Isakovsky, and it became one of the most famous Russian songs of the Second World War era, when soldiers adopted it as a morale song and it later lent its name to the Katyusha rocket launcher. The melody stayed in popular culture through choirs, films and folk performances, and in recent years it has spread again online through history edits, anime fandom and short video memes that use its instantly familiar tune as shorthand for Russian nostalgia.