Pop Cat grew from a meme image of a cat named Oatmeal whose closed-mouth and open-mouth photos were edited into a simple looping gag. The meme spread widely on social media in 2020, then evolved into videos, rhythm edits and the Popcat clicker trend. The sound is still used because the mouth movement is instantly recognizable and easy to sync with a beat, a pop, or even a vine boom style punchline in short-form edits.