We need to talk about TikTok.
A look back at TikTok’s year of dominance and some projections for its future.
I am declaring it now. TikTok is the epicenter of popular culture.
I know it’s still not cool to be on TikTok, but it’s too late. The youth have chosen, and the optimal content format has risen. Whether you like it or not, we are in the era of TikTok.
For proof of this extraordinary claim, I will breakdown several facets of popular culture that TikTok impacted this past year and offer a few projections about the future.
Music
Viral music and TikTok are a match made in heaven.
I think this is because of TikTok’s base content format. The marriage of popular music/sound bites with user generated visuals strikes a chord. It gives creators the chance to embody and attach themselves to their favorite songs or memes, taking participatory culture to new heights.
Additionally, it taps into the key facet of Gen Z’s generational spirit: the desire to be seen, on one’s own terms. TikTok is the next evolution in the surveillance generation’s constant self-branding and creation of meta narrative, allowing them to not only check the vibe but build it.
From “Old Town Road” to “Roxanne”, TikTok has left its fingerprints all over the music of 2019. Since Lil Nas X’s record breaking #1 hit (19 weeks atop the charts) is clearly the biggest example of this, we’ll start there. However, I will also point you in the direction of this article, a more nuanced dive into this song’s virality.
Who would have thought a catchy tune and genre-blending style would set the music world on fire? Well probably Lil Nas X. Through a combination of meme making and clever genre marketing, the song struck algorithmic gold. As a result, we were blessed with a new artist who completely embodies Gen Z.
As a reformed Nicki Minaj stan and tweet decker, Lil Nas X probably knew his song was going to blow up. His internet fame was fairly established before the hit (via Twitter) which goes to show that the new breed of influencer is platform fluid and keenly aware of shifts in the meme economy.
The cutting edge of popular culture is being shaped by Gen Z members like Lil Nas, and their current drug of choice is TikTok.
“Old Town Road” went viral through the Yee-boy/Yee-girl trend on TikTok. Paired to a fifteen-second snippet of the song, TikTokers around the world transformed from bedroom dwelling teens to cowboy caricatures. This tongue-and-cheek bit dominated TikTok’s ‘For You Page’ for least a month, giving the song ludicrous amounts of exposure.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg for viral TikTok trends attached to songs. Each of the following artists can attribute a degree of their recent fame to exposure through TikTok:
TOKYO’S REVENGE, Baby Keem, Flo Milli, Don Toliver, Mak Sauce, Blanco Brown, Ashnikko, 24kgoldn, Suecothechild, bbno$, Lizzo, mxmtoon, Yung Gravy, y2k, Lil Boom, Jasiah, DBangz, Yori, Khalil?, Loki, BigKlit, Jack Stauber, Absofacto, Doja Cat, Zack Fox, 10k.cash, Stunna, and many many more.
What I am trying to say is that TikTok is working symbiotically with popular music. We are the point where artists are crafting songs to become TikTok trends.
The increasing popularization of in-app references (such as the Woah, e-person culture, or Dr.Miami), extremely boosted bass, call and response, and generally absurd skits/preludes are all examples of musicians leaning into what goes viral on TikTok.
Each of the aforementioned ‘song features’ tends to increase the likelihood of a meme or trend being born around a song. Resultantly, clever musicians are beginning to make their music for creators on the app. See the recent example of a bbno$ and Yung Gravy song with the line, “Dude, I’d be pissed off if this song blew up on TikTok.”
Similar to a few years ago where SoundCloud rappers claimed their name, leaning into the genre of DIY music that arose from the platform, TikTok famous rappers are beginning to do the same.
SoundCloud rap is dead, say hello to TikTok rap (or maybe Meme Rap)
Fashion
Given that all aspects of popular culture (music, fashion, television, digital media, etc.) are intrinsically linked in unfathomable ways, I will seamlessly transition into the next major example of TikTok’s influence, fashion.
E-boys, yee-bois, soft-bois, VSCO girls galore. Each of these TikTok genres is attached to an intricate aesthetic composed of color schemes, specific sound bites, types of humor, and most important of all, clothing styles. Like before, we will start with the most popular, e-boys.
Uwu Woo of Urban Dictionary provides the following definition:
“A boy who has black painted nails, skates, wears black clothes and chains and beanies, and they sometimes have their hair parted down the middle, and their usually rlly pale. They got striped longsleeves or checkered sweaters under their T-shirt’s. They listen to music you “probably haven’t heard of” AKA lil peep.”
While the aesthetic clearly borrows from mid 2000s pop punk, grunge, punk rock, and Billie Eilish’s wardrobe, there are aspects that make this a platform specific phenomenon.
From chains, dangly earrings, and thrasher hoodies, to chain biting, the swaying of dangly earrings, and showcasing ‘alternative’ brands (Hot Topic and Zumiez), the e-boy exists as a visual identity. Which makes sense, as TikTok creators are primarily responsible for the visual portion of their content.
The creator provides artful lip-syncing and dance to an already popular sound bite. Hence, the creation of visual guidelines for these group identities. Each of which are taken as far as its prominent adherents are willing to venture.
These identities are built on how the aesthetic can be showcased within the TikTok medium. The VSCO girl makes sure to include a backdrop of hydroflask, nature imagery, or other sustainable products to demonstrate their eco-friendly loyalties.
While the e-boy’s focus on chains, piercings, earrings, and other metal accouterments is because of the way light reflects off these surfaces. Also because they can be pulled, bit, and dangled to the beat of the music.
And boy how this music can vary. There are vast discographies for each aesthetic. The e-boy listens to Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Savagegasp, while the softboi enjoys Mac Demarco and acoustic covers.
It is certain these fashion trends existed prior to the app, but TikTok has provided a place of cultivation and development. And though the e-boy may no longer haunt the ‘For You Page’, the mark is made and templates for these different group identities are laid out.
If there is one thing any TikTok viewer knows, there is something on the app for everyone, and the algorithm will find it for you.
Because of this, I am prepared to see Generation Z embrace these trends, albeit in subtle ways. With this, the hallways of middle and highschools will fill with cuffed jeans, middle-parted hair, and Fjallraven Kanken backpacks.
Celebrity
With VidCon, the video content conference of the year, far beyond us (summer of 2019), the world of digital media has already met the newest wave of creators. We are in a phase of TikTok integration.
The key takeaway of the event was that TikTokers are here in full force, and they are under the digital media spotlight.There is an entire new cast of teenage creators dominating adolescent screens.
Musical.ly was the flare shot; we are now in an age where young people likely know more about Lil Huddy than Jake Paul.
To remain under favor of the algorithm on their own platform, well-known Youtubers like Pewdiepie and Cody Ko choose to address TikTok memes and trends through their videos, giving further credence to the app’s role as the current cultural hub.
TikTok is another step in digital media’s redefining of stardom and celebrity. Everyday, a new teen goes viral on TikTok, as many pine after the fabled ‘hype.’
The ‘hype’ is a meme used to describe the fleeting favor of TikTok’s algorithm and creator community. Recent notable recipients are Charli D’Amelio and Alex French.
Another sign of a power shift is the migration of old media celebrities. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Howie Mandel, Will Smith, and Kevin Hart are just a few you might see scrolling through the app.
Any savvy social media intern would be remiss to not let their boss know ‘we should be on TikTok’.
If Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube are spaces where celebrities find themselves under fire, TikTok is a safe harbor from the storm of online harassment. With the options of blocking duets, monitoring comments, and turning off saves, there are definitive ways to deter the large amount of trolling that can occur of social platforms. This has made TikTok an ideal spot for growing protected brands online.
And while some creators protested the wave of Howie Mandel content that flooded the ‘For You Page’ this summer, most existing celebrities find themselves embraced as another patch in TikTok’s meme filled fabric.
Beyond this, major brands have flocked to the platform in droves.The NFL, Comedy Central, Late Night shows, and Chipotle are a few examples. There is a gold rush for virality with this new medium, and TikTok seems willing to welcome these brands with open arms.
As established media influence continues to enter the space, it is imperative TikTok makes decisions regarding their creator community carefully. From a cultural perspective, there is something truly special happening on this platform, and historically, decisions regarding creator monetization have greatly disrupted what makes social media great.
Memes
Honestly, I could write a 50-page essay about the intricacies of TikTok memes. To save you from too long of a read, I’m going to get pretty abstract.
Meme culture is internet culture is popular culture.
It is no secret the internet is full of memes. It is so full of memes that I’d wager it is almost entirely comprised of them. There is no need to go into any theories of Memetics, but my first point is that meme culture is the prominent facet of internet culture. It is pervasive in every online community and underlies all digital communication. TikTok is the latest hub for prolific meme production.
Next, there is popular culture. Still largely dictated by a few hulking conglomerates, popular culture remains at the whim of existing mediums. With shifts in technology and access to these mediums, we see periods of cultural renaissance and growth that shift human perception of what is popular. Social media platforms are one major instance of a new medium usurping the power of those before.
Now that most of these mediums (art, fashion, television, music etc.) have been thrust into an online world and seemingly democratized, there is a moment of flux. A sort of digital renaissance, where the roles of creator and consumer are blurred, with everyone doing at least a bit of both.
Though the most important idea is that it is all coming from the internet.
With this, we see the link between meme culture, internet culture, and popular culture. But the lines get even more blurry.
Any type of content can become popular because of memes and memes are resultantly created because of the surplus of existing content. This makes for a sort of Ouroboros paradox, a snake that constantly eats its own tail.
Memetic production is constantly increasing because of the popularity of digital mediums and surplus of content, and popularity and surplus increases through the production of these memes.
All TikTok has done is up the rate of memetic transmission. By feeding people user-generated video content paired with addictive audio content, yet another step has been taken in our march towards merging with the machine.
Some nominal takeaways are that there a many fascinating new TikTok meme genres, notably the POV format, where creators act out scenes for others to duet or interact with.
Additionally, as previously stated, all of popular music seems to hinge on making successful memes now. There isn’t really a title for this movement, but I propose ‘Meme Rap’ or ‘TikTok Rap’.
At the end of the day, TikTok is growing and is poised to keep growing. If 2019 has taught us anything, I’d say we should not underestimate the importance of meme culture in the coming decade. The wealth of creative output this app facilitates further justify the claims of a digital renaissance or golden age of content.
And while TikTok is endlessly exciting to anyone interested in tech and media, a great responsibility is being placed in their hands. The minds and time of billions will soon be at their disposal, and I dearly hope they choose not to be evil.
