Alan Walker himself then responded the meme by uploading multiple TikToks that includes him reacting to several 'blue smurf cat' videos and uploading a TikTok where he calls it his 'friend'. The image was originally called 'Shailushai', created by Nate Hallinan in 2014. In September 2023, the song went viral on TikTok, with a picture of a 'blue smurf cat' being displayed with the song playing at the point where Borgen sings 'We live, we love, we lie,' even spanning a song dedicated to the meme written by YouTuber CG5 (“we live we love we lie”) that remixes the song with the smurf cat. In 2022, the official music video accomplished 1 billion streams on YouTube, making it Walker's 3rd single to accomplish this milestone. Comparing to 'Faded', they deemed it 'a sleeker, more refined record'. Your EDM felt the song 'contains all of the common Alan Walker elements that international EDM fans have come to find and love', including 'the sound design, faint dreamy vocals, the anthemic drop, and the patented Alan Walker lead'. It's a song that I specifically want to dedicate to my core fans who've been following me since the start.' Critical reception Walker said of the song in a press release: 'The reactions and feedback from people have been truly amazing, I'm very excited that's it's now being released officially. In an interview with Dance Music Northwest, Walker described the song as 'a newer version of my old song Spectre', similar to 'what I did with 'Fade' to ' Faded''. He has included the song in his live sets months ahead of the song's release, as well as playing a revised version of the song on the main stage at Tomorrowland Belgium 2017. On 22 December 2016, Walker debuted the song during the live show 'Alan Walker is Heading Home', in his hometown Bergen, Norway. 'The Spectre' is a vocal remake of Walker's 2015 single 'Spectre', which was released through NoCopyrightSounds on 6 January 2015. The song was released via Mer Musikk on 15 September 2017. 'The Spectre' has a tempo of 128 BPM, is in the key of C♯ minor, and lasts for 3 minutes and 13 seconds. It was composed by Jesper Borgen, Alan Walker, Marcus Arnbekk, Mood Melodies and Lars Kristian Rosness, with production handled by the latter four, and lyrics written by all composers as well as Tommy La Verdi and Gunnar Greve. ' The Spectre' is a song by Norwegian record producer and DJ Alan Walker incorporating uncredited vocals provided by Norwegian songwriter and producer Jesper Borgen.

Alan walker spectre extended zippyshare