Indie horror game Mouthwashing has unexpectedly propelled Imogen Heap's 2006 track "Headlock" into viral TikTok fame through creative fan animations featuring the game's characters.

Released on September 26, 2024, by developer Wrong Organ, Mouthwashing follows five crew members aboard the starship Tuplar who crash while transporting cargo. With their food supplies depleted, the crew resorts to consuming their only remaining cargo: hundreds of bottles of mouthwash, leading to their gradual descent into madness.

The game's dark narrative has attracted a devoted following who began creating TikTok content featuring the game's characters set to "Headlock." Fans have drawn compelling parallels between the song's lyrics and the game's storyline:

• The song's themes about being stuck in old habits mirror character Curly's inability to pursue his dreams of a family life
• The lyric "You've been walking, you've been hiding, and you look half dead all the time" has been connected to Jimmy's betrayal of his crew members

This creative fan interpretation has resulted in "Headlock" becoming the unofficial anthem of the Mouthwashing community, similar to how fans previously synchronized Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon with The Wizard of Oz. The phenomenon has led to a significant increase in streaming numbers for Imogen Heap's nearly 20-year-old song.

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