Tutu is swinging on the chandelier, and she’s poised to take over social media.

Joining the canon of Rap Reiplinger’s Auntie Maria- lani, Frank De Lima’s singing taxi tutus and Andy Bumatai’s “All in the Ohana” matriarch, Imua Garza’s singing, swinging Tutu is that beloved archetypal character updated for current media.

This Tutu sings contemporary pop songs in the old cha-lang-a-lang style, while inventing her own lyrics and pronunciation.

“I always would get a kick at how some tutus would sing with the wide vibrato at the end of certain notes and how they would always be the life of the party when they started to sing,” Garza said. “I would joke around and sing like that, but on current songs, meshing fun traditional Hawaiian style with current pop, hip-hop songs.”

One day, Garza’s brother said he thought it would be funny if Garza sang the Sia hit “Chandeliers” in his Tutu-style falsetto.

“I recorded that version and texted him an hour or two later with the song. ‘You mean like this?’”

Garza’s brother loved it and started sending it to all his friends. Pretty soon, Garza was getting requests to sing it at gigs and parties.

“When I play at Da Cove (every first Wednesday, 8-10 p.m.), I normally sneak in a song or two from Tutu, and that’s when everyone’s phones come out to record it,” he said.

Garza didn’t want to release a Tutu song without a Tutu video, but coordinating a whole video shoot involved so much work. Then, an app called Face Swap came out. “Bingo!” Garza said. “I could instantly be anyone.”

He taught himself to use the program in one night. The result is his mustachioed face on the bodies of various Tutu images, some of which were sent in by fans with “kolohe tutus” who wanted to play along.

“It was just me in the room working on the video, cracking myself up,” he said. He released the video on social media that night. The next morning, he was inundated with effusive reviews:

“What did I just watch? It was magical!”

“Instant classic! Tutu is hauntingly unattractive but her lungs blow!”

“Aunty Genoa would be proud of Tutu’s loooooooooooooooo- ooooong note holding.”

“Hana hou Tutu! But be careful, no broke yo’ hip!! Weeeeeee!”

Garza plays and sings every part. The arrangements in Tutu’s songs are all his, too. He started performing and recording music when he was just a kid, recording six albums with his band Opihi Pickers. He has also released four albums with his wife, Tiffany Cruz (of the famous Cruz family of Hawaiian musicians).

A second video, a Tutu- style version of Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable,” edited by Garza’s friend David Delany from Hybrid Studios, was just released.

Tutu is taking requests on her Tutus Hip facebook page or at tutus.hip@gmail.com. Fans can submit photos of their own hip tutus to be used in upcoming videos. Tutu’s songs are available on iTunes, and Garza is planning a Tutu album. Or perhaps Tutu is planning the album, and Garza is just along for the ride. “Tutu is fierce and will meow like a lion!” Tutu said in an email. And then she went swinging off on a chandelier.

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Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@ staradvertiser.com.