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VOICE OVER: Rebecca Brayton WRITTEN BY: Alex Slade
These trends are why it’s been eight hours and all you’ve done is watch TikTok. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Trends Only TikTok Users Understand.
For this list, we’ll be looking at trends, old and new, that have creators and viewers alike engaged for hours on end. Whether the trend focuses on a certain TikTok creation tool, incorporates a meme, or is a good old fashioned challenge, if it’s garnering millions of views, it’s eligible for this list.
#10: DNA Test
To start off our list, we have a challenge that made everyone jump up and show what they were really composed of, whether it was Russian, Catholic, or even ogre...? At the peak of this trend’s lifecycle, it wasn't just DNA that people took to parodying, but every part of their cultural identity. This trend saw many different variations of the song verse from ‘Truth Hurts’ by Lizzo. Every video took a different approach to the challenge, making it impossible to know what was going to happen next, from cultural stereotypes, old vine recreations, psychedelic drops, to anything at all that had some sort of internet presence at one point.
#9: Respect the Drip
This trend started with TikTok user @drewbreeeeze and his demand that his stepmom stop being such a wet towel. From there, it took on a life of its own. People tweaked the format to include a tease of their weird, wonderful, and downright outrageous outfits from a first person perspective, before the glorious mirror reveal. The TikToks are often created by cosplayers, drag queens, and even just hobbyists. It’s a simple formula, but the tease builds anticipation, and the reveal is a payoff that kept people coming back for more.
#8: Memes
The memes; oh where to start. The entire TikTok platform is made up of just that: memes. A core part of TikTok is taking sound from different sources and using it to create more content in a way that wasn’t originally intended. Ex-Viners have migrated over to TikTok, and are using it as a creative outlet to bring memes to life in new ways, whether it’s a challenge gone wrong, a creative video interpretation of a picture meme, or just down-right absurdity. Whatever gets people talking about it is an objective completed.
#7: Juice, Sauce, Little Bit of Dressing
You know how there’s a weird part of YouTube? Well, this is the weird part of TikTok. While some of the vids within this trend are tame, showcasing a small dance and the items listed in the song Cheryl by Yung Gravy, the lyrics of the song leave a lot to the imagination - which some TikTokers are happy to take full advantage of. If you love seeing TikTokers torture themselves by being doused in juice, sauce, and a little bit of dressing, then this was the trend for you.
#6: Duets
These allow creators to include another TikTok within their own, and are great for singing, dancing, or just plain-old reacting. They’ll always be a current trend, as they allow up-and-coming TikTokers with great ideas the exposure they need by including another, more well-known TikTok to reference. They're also great when their name is used quite literally, as it showcases a TikToker's performance with another. We’ll always wonder how another person will react to something, or how they’ll match it, which means we’ll always be interested in watching Duets.
#5: Slow-mo
Regardless of the platform, slow-mo as a camera or post-processing effect is always appealing to watch. TikTokers around the globe have found unique ways to highlight elements that would look the best in slow-mo. Stunts performed are just one example. The slow-mo allows us to examine exactly what’s involved, and to admire them in greater depth. Water, hair, and really any other fluid objects or liquids are also going to be instant hits, and the TikToks that seem to do exceptionally well, come in and out of slow-mo intermittently to achieve a more cinematic effect.
#4: I Baked You a Pie
Hungry? Well, we’re not sure if this trend is going to make you hungrier or put you off your appetite. It’s just weird. Frankly, there’s a fine line between comedy and cringe with TikTok, and we aren’t sure where this one falls. But it definitely found an audience. The roots of this trend actually go back to a 2014 asdfmovie sketch, and to YouTuber RoomieOfficial’s remix The Muffin Song. In 2018, various versions hit TikTok, which … somehow … morphed into TikTok user Jayden Croes’ “I Baked You a Pie” video. With a slew of creative recreations, came an onslaught of ironic ones too, which are just as funny, if not funnier, than the original. Half of them don’t even feature pies. Just saying.
#3: I Wanna Be Tracer
This trend gained traction when TikTokers took to lip-syncing the lyrics from the Overwatch-themed song ‘No Mercy’, by The Living Tombstone with a controller in hand. In a lot of cases, the controllers weren’t even compatible with controles that run the game, and wired headsets weren’t connected. None of this escaped the eagle eyes of audiences, and they dueted the TikTok in ironic ways with more and more outrageous objects in place of the controller, like holding up an entire PC, or playing their headphones while strapping controllers to their ears.
#2: For You Page
The TikTok algorithm is one tough cookie to crack. The For You page is a sure-fire way to get views; you just need to get on it for as many people as possible. If you find a lot of the TikToks you’re watching have #FYP or #Foryoupage on them, you can bet they’re doing everything they can to be on that page. While we don’t know for sure what exactly gets you on that page, a combination of views, likes, comments, and maybe that for you page hashtag will get you there.
Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:
Who Do I Look Like?
Because You Can Have a Lot of Fun with Google Images.
How Many Shrimp?
Because Petting Your Pet to a Beat Will Never Get Old
Say So Challenge
Because the Song Is a Massive Hit.
Old Town Road Challenge
Because the TikTok Community Loves Catchy Tunes
Obsessed Challenge
Because It Features a Creative cChoreographed Dance
#1: Hit or Miss
The diss track ‘Mia Khalifa’ by Ilovefriday features a frustratingly catchy verse that had cosplayers and legions of TikTokers jumping on the trend to show off their lip-syncing skills. We don't know many people on the internet today that havent heard this audio by now, voluntarily or not. Listen to it a couple times, and you’ll find yourself scouring YouTube in the hopes that someone has uploaded a 10-hour version. Hit or miss? Well, when it comes to trends reaching an audience of millions upon millions, this one sure was a hit.
