Retired Jamaican-born, US-based “grandpa” Henry Anderson, who was featured in a viral Facebook video for the “Shake It To The Max” dance challenge, says he is enjoying his time in the spotlight.
Anderson, who has residences in Florida and New York, told Caribbean Life on Tuesday that he was vacationing with a few friends in St Vincent and the Grenadines when he ran into social media influencers Gladdest from Trinidad and Tobago and Kevisha Greaves from St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Gladdest’s manager Ryan, also known as Content King Creations, told Caribbean Life that he shot the dance challenge for Gladdest’s remixed version of the “Shake It To The Max” song that they called “Dun With Your Ex.”
He said Gladdest posted the video on her Facebook page and that “the rest is history.”
Ryan said the video has spread like wildfire across social media platforms, reaching over 1.3 million views on Facebook.
On Instagram, he said it has “amassed over 300k views so far.”
Ryan that, when they shot the video, they had an inkling that it would go viral.
“We knew it would have gone viral, but we didn’t know it would have hit a million views overnight,” he said. “Usually, when we do videos, we like to tell a story, because we know it has the potential for people to enjoy it.”
Anderson’s performance in the video has garnered hundreds of comments on Facebook.
Kwailan Kwailan posted, “Pops have young boy knees,” while Yoland Vance said, “Blue pants (Henry) have good knees.”
Angela Wilson exclaimed, “Pop knees working not de waist”, while Weesh M Beng said, “I’m glad they zoomed in on them knees in the blue in the back. He’s been waiting for this moment!”
Anderson said he was surprised by all the attention the video has been getting.
He said his “drop it down low dance” clearly resonated with viewers, adding that “it’s hilarious how the Internet is obsessed with his ‘young boy knees.’
“I plan to premiere a full version of my ‘Drop it down low’ dance on Instagram page @FaceVU.Images next week,” he said. “I created the dance at the insistence of my grandson. He loves it.”
This is not the first time the grandpa has garnered attention for his “drop it down low dance”. In 2023 while attending Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Jamaica, he said he stopped by Pier One restaurant in Freeport to have a drink.
“A radio station that was doing a live broadcast had a dance contest that I entered. I did a remixed version of TJ’s ‘Drift’ that incorporated my ‘drop it down low dance’ and ended up winning complimentary tickets for both concert nights. Guess everyone loves my dance,” he said.
“‘Shake It To The Max’ by Ghanaian singer Moliy is the hottest song on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube,” New York-based, Jamaican entertainment publicist Anthony “ER Guru” Turner told Caribbean Life.
“The video for the song has over 10 million streams on YouTube since it was released in January,” he added. “The song has taken over TikTok and Instagram and is currently the #1 song on YouTube charts in Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, British Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago.”
Turner said a remixed version of the song, featuring Moliy, Shenseea, Skillibeng and Silent Addy, has “racked up over 4.5 million views and counting on youtube since it was posted two weeks ago.
