Fortnite sea shanty emote brings the TikTok sensation to the battlefield

Fortnite Shanty for a Squad emote
(Image credit: Epic Games)

Fortnite now has the TikTok sea shanty as an emote, and it even lets you harmonize with the rest of your squad.

The Shanty for a Squad emote is available on the item shop for 500 V-Bucks. It will make your character produce a hand drum and beat it with a closed fist as they sing a Fortnite-themed cover of "Soon May the Wellerman Come." The 19th century whaling song recently enjoyed a surge of popularity among landlubbers for the endless TikTok duets it has inspired, but these lyrics are revised slightly to be about dropping hot and taking dubs instead of being locked in an endless battle against a mighty whale.

Here's the chorus of Shanty for a Squad - apologies if it's already stuck in your head.

See there, the storm she come, to whittle us down and leave just one
So grab your squad, quick on the run, let's take our dub and go

You can use the emote by yourself, but it really comes to life when you use it with the whole squad. Each member will join in for their own synchronized part of the shanty - the announcement trailer proves that Fishstick has a very lovely singing voice.

It seems safe to say that Fortnite will remain the only game where The Flash, John Wick, the Mandalorian, and Ellen Ripley can form a vocal quartet for a long time to come.

An upcoming Batman and Fortnite crossover comic will reveal some secrets about the game's backstory.

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Connor Sheridan

I got a BA in journalism from Central Michigan University - though the best education I received there was from CM Life, its student-run newspaper. Long before that, I started pursuing my degree in video games by bugging my older brother to let me play Zelda on the Super Nintendo. I've previously been a news intern for GameSpot, a news writer for CVG, and now I'm a staff writer here at GamesRadar.

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