Foreword
Everybody is hitting the Gritty, users are placing all of their hopes into a random audio, and popular external culture continues to be accepted and adapted onto the platform. TikTok has become one of the most dynamic places for different content styles to appear and more than any other platform users attempt to essentially scrapbook culture. No other place takes so much influence from other content and melds it together to form new trends and formats. It’s only been speeding up and we can never expect what we might see next. Join us as we explore through the trends and popular culture that surround the app every week, and how you can utilize it to best engage with your audience.
The Trends
#1 Gritty
416.2k videos on the sound
The Gritty is TikToks next cultural movement and just about everyone from Joe Burrow to Jimmy Fallon are participating in promoting the new dance move. If you are unfamiliar, Gritty is the beloved mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers and became a popular internet meme for his dance moves at games. Although the human body doesn’t allow for the dynamic movement of Gritty, fans were able to distill the essence of the move and take it to the internet. Ever since it has come to TikTok, the Gritty has been a hit and has become a celebration dance move. The only question that remains, is who will have the best Gritty.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to have their brand reps or mascots compete for who has the best Gritty.
Additionally brands can show a brand mascot celebrating good news or a workplace triumph with the Gritty.
#2 Use this sound for good luck
723.6k videos on the sound
If you’ve ever seen a post that says to like and comment for good luck, you’ll understand the premise behind this trend. When this sound first appeared users created videos telling viewers that if they used the audio, they would have good luck within the next twenty four hours and their life’s dreams would be manifested. It turned out to work out for a few people and those users started posting videos talking about how they received insanely good luck after using the audio. There is zero correlation between the two occurrences but superstition sometimes is more powerful than the real world and it has thus blown up. What makes this a trend is that many users have started posting parodies of these videos. In these sarcastic renditions creators are presenting the most off-putting or hilarious situations that they consider as their goals being manifested. Check out examples below.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands should lean into the parody of this trend where they joke about an amazing workplace thing happening after using the sound.
For example saying that the shoplifter came back and returned the money is an unlikely scenario that would be funny.
#3 I want someone in love
318.6k videos on the sound
We’ve got another dance trend on our hands but more importantly the term dance is being used very loosely. It is unclear where the move originated from but users are making two simple cross body motions and lets just say most of them aren’t putting the most effort into it. There’s little nuance to the trend other than the fact that it has become somewhat of a joke to intentionally do the move poorly, but otherwise this is one of the standard TikTok dance trends that take over!
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to have representatives or mascots do the dance move intentionally poorly, attempting to make it sarcastic.
#4 I’m confused
115.4k videos on the sound
Over the last few weeks the show Euphoria has been infecting TikTok with clips from the new season and this trend is yet another example. Users are posing situations where they are either legitimately confused at a wrongful situation another person put them in, or sarcastically confused at a situation where they are being called out for something they did. People are getting extremely creative with this one so we highly suggest you go check out examples below.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to pose situations with similar dynamics of miscommunication when they or another are being mislead.
#5 Basketball
69.5k videos on the sound
In the movie High School Musical there is a very iconic musical scene where the basketball players are rhythmically bouncing the basketball to the beat of the song in a choreographed manner. TikTok users have taken this scene and found the most hilarious way to recreate it. Couples or general pairings of two people are having one person dress up as a basketball and act as if the other person is bouncing them to the beat of the song. The videos are just simply funny seeing a person dressed as a ball emulating bouncing and users are absolutely loving it.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to replicate the videos using brand mascots and representatives.
#6 I think it’s gonna be a long long time
24.7k videos on the sound
We all have those questions we won’t answer because they’re just a little too personal or hit a bit of a soft spot. This trend highlights the topics which creators find to be taboo as such. Users are joking about telling their friends that it’s going to be a long long time before they are willing to answer that specific uncomfortable question.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to pose questions which they don’t have a good answer to regarding their brand. For example one could ask Chick Fil A why they aren’t open on Sunday's.
#7 Sensational
22.2k videos on the sound
This trend has creators commenting on situations that they pose as sensational. These scenarios share similar characteristics where they have some downside but generally yield an outcome that the user intently or sarcastically desires. The way sensational is said in the delicate way is humorous as it poses a dichotomy between non serious desires and a serious liking of them.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to pose all of their products as sensational, as it leans into being self deprecating and will integrate well with the trend.
Trends from last week that keep climbing
#8 But I know you’ll stay
8.4m videos on the sound
As the song on this trend audio goes, “b*tches come and go, but I know you’ll stay” and TikTok users are taking this line to heart. Couples on the platform started posting videos of them whispering this line to one another while almost lip to lip. It’s a very cute couples trend but for those of us that are atrociously single, users have also had some fun. Many creators are parodying the trend with objects or animals to replace a significant other as the thing that is going to stay forever.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to replicate the trend with themselves, essentially positioning the brand product as the thing that will always stay.
#9 Need a chair?
796.4k videos on the sound
Sometimes there isn’t a chair lying around and users on TikTok are offering themselves up to fix that. On this trend mostly female users are creating videos where they lay against the wall in the shape of a chair offering it to a guy they like. Often these guys are popular cultural figureheads for the female gaze and plays into the other trends of attraction on the platform.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to have brand reps and mascots replicate the videos and position themselves as offering a chair to their customers or maybe more hilariously to one of the aforementioned popular males like Jack Harlow or Machine Gun Kelly.
#10 Disappear
191.4k videos on the sound
There are red flags, and then there are full dealbreakers and with this trend TikTok users have graduated into showing off personality traits, personal actions, and attitudes in others that would make them disappear from their lives. Creators will stand in frame while the characteristic they like is in text and once the beat changes in the audio, they bring their arm backwards and disappear from the frame.
Examples:
Applicability:
Brands will want to replicate this trend highlighting experiences in the workplace which are awful to deal with including poor customer attitudes or general inconveniences.
Bonus
For this weeks bonus we wanted to highlight some of the drama that is happening in the creator TikTok community rather than the usual brand presence. Just like with how Youtube had tough interactions between creators in 2015 and on, TikTok is now starting to deal with the interpersonal relationships going bad. The past week popular TikToker Jack Wright posted a Youtube video explaining his story about being sexually assaulted by other popular TikToker Sienna Mae. For some context, the pair had been briefly a fling last summer and were known on TikTok as a bit of a couple. However, over the course of summer Sienna started to overstep her bounds greatly. She was caught breaking into Jack’s apartment uninvited at times like 2:00am while Jack said he repeatedly asked her to stop. She reportedly sexually took advantage of Jack during these times. What makes this extremely sticky is that Jack tried to come forward with a narrow look at his side of the story earlier in the year, but nobody believed him because Sienna gaslit him over all of her social medias. She essentially ran a full scale campaign belittling him for being whiny about having a girlfriend that just wanted to see him. However after collecting more evidence, Jack released that video and the backlash finally hit Sienna. Over the past week the narrative has turned against her and Sienna has lost over a million followers on TikTok alone. More than anything this situation is a showing of the other side of social media personalities where not everything is perfect. TikTok users are set on the truth and the reality of the world and in a less likely situation of a female taking advantage of a male here, they have listened to Jack to believe the victim.
Summary
New trend formats continue to appear from funny lines or relatable content but over the last few weeks and months we’ve really started to see TikTok users try to adapt external culture. Whether it come from movies, tv shows, music, or other venues of media, creators are bringing it to the platform and are allowing TikTok to become one of the most prolific remixes ever. There is likely so much more to come and more to grapple with as the platform evolves. Stick along for the ride and we’ll make sure to guide you through the tumultuous world that is culture on TikTok, and how to navigate it with your brand in the coming year!