Week 3: Girl power + @charlidamelio + skinny tongue
I’m Kira & this is my weekly highlight of notable TikTok trends and creators.
The weather’s all doom and gloom, so we’re going to focus on another heartwarming trend this week: girls supporting other girls. This trend shows up in a few different ways, unified by their encouraging words, care, and love.
In one form of this trend, girls tell the viewer to be more confident. Anything from general advice or boy-specific “he’s just not that into you” feedback encourages you to focus your love and attention on yourself. With this form of the trend, the video itself is the final product, an altruistic act to an ocean of strangers who visibly appreciate it.
Another type of video features one or more girls supporting someone. Some are sweet acts filmed to document the moment, while others use the audio of the TikTok as the supportive act itself. Many of these videos involve tokens of affection like encouraging words or a creative gift basket after a break-up.
Another form of encouragement comes from videos of girls feeling confident and loving themselves. These videos tend to be interpreted as inspirational, even though they could quickly sink into vanity. The comments make it clear that viewers are able to discern between confidence and narcissism.
This trend is heartwarming for a few reasons. It defies the norm of social media platforms as a place of competition of looks. It defies the norm that women should compete for the attention of men. Instead, these videos create a space that promotes inclusion and self-love. These creators respond to break-ups as opportunities to lean in and take care of each other, to view girlfriends as teammates instead of opponents.
However, the popularity of these videos may hint that many teenage girls today lack confidence, or don’t believe that they have the same quality of female friendships as others their age. These videos could have thousands of likes and comments because they portray something that the viewer needed to hear, or a relationship they wish they had. Unfortunately, as we’ll see in future weeks, the prevalence of self-deprecating humor on TikTok suggests that this sadder reality partially fuels the popularity of this otherwise positive trend.
This week we’re covering Charli D’amelio (@charlidamelio), not so much for the content of her TikToks but rather for the evolution in the reactions to them. Looking at Charli’s path in the past three months exemplifies the rise and fall of fame on social media platforms.
Charli became popular very swiftly this past August. It wasn’t a single viral video; rather, her constant stream of dance videos kept appearing on people’s feeds. (On TikTok, the “For You Page” or “fyp" is an endless scroll of algorithmically-chosen videos. Some videos are from accounts that you follow; most are not.) Given how often her videos were appearing and how quickly she was gaining followers, many called out the hype surrounding her, describing how they wished she would notice her, among other classic fanboy expressions (from both girls and boys).
However, by early November, cracks began to appear. Many started to complain that her hype was undeserved, either lamenting that she wasn’t talented or wishing that more attention would be paid to other creators.
This resentment came to a head when she announced a meet-and-greet for November 17th. She had over three million followers by this point, so a meet-and-greet wasn’t atypical. But what bothered people was the $100 “VIP package” option that allowed fans to make a TikTok with Charli, which many saw as evidence that the fame had gone to her head. What’s more, on November 23, she was invited to dance onstage at Barclays Center with Bebe Rexha, the opener for the Jonas Brothers. This fueled even more resentment that her newfound fame was undeserved.
She responded to this criticism in two ways: with a TikTok explaining that the meet-and-greet proceeds were going to a charity benefiting ALS research, and with a new YouTube account with a single video titled “what happened at my meet and greet” (that currently has 3.5 million views). Unfortunately for her, this did nothing to save face; in fact, it became fodder for further criticism and parody. Many commenters interpreted the two videos as acts of desperation.
From then on, the comments on her TikToks took a different tone. People kept reiterating that she wasn’t worth the hype, that they didn’t understand the hype, or that the hype was over. They critiqued her curled hair, her “uncreative” dances, and her lack of any dance ability at all.
Is this meteoric rise and fall unique to Charli? All signs point to no. During her initial fall in early November, another creator named Alex (@mynameisalex.french) also began to take off, currently standing at two million followers. Her videos feature a permanent smile and cheerful remarks instead of dancing, yet she drew the infatuation that Charli did.
Many commenters on Alex’s early videos complained that she was worth more hype than Charli. Other videos pitted them against each other, asking people to pick which team they were on. So what has happened to Alex in recent weeks? Lo and behold, she, too, has fallen from grace, with users commenting that she’s annoying and claiming her voice is an act.
What does this leave us? For starters, there’s no need to pity Charli, as she has been left with over 10 million followers and an average of 5 million views on her recent videos. Her former admiration has been replaced with apathy, not vitriol. There’s no harassment or stalking that I can see. The spotlight moved over her and has simply moved on, all in the span of four months. In fact, she seemed just as surprised as anyone about her sudden stardom. To her, the rise to fame wasn’t confirmation of her worth or talent; her bio on her TikTok account reads “don’t worry I don’t get the hype either.”
My suspicion is that the criticism of Charli wasn’t about the meet-and-greet — it just happened to be a readily available lever to push her off her pedestal (even though she didn’t ask to be put there in the first place). Perhaps people were contemptuously waiting for a loose thread to unravel the hype, and her meet-and-greet served that purpose. Perhaps other TikTok users got cynical and thought that Charli needed to deserve the attention put on by “chance.” Regardless of why it happened, it serves as an example for how social media can rapidly accelerate fame and the growing pains that come with it.
The award for Biggest Surprise goes to this video of a kid in class demonstrating his skinny tongue. You think you know what you’re about to see, but I can guarantee that you do not. (Don’t worry, it’s not a severed tongue or anything, just a mind-boggling physical feat.)
The award for the Most Creative Use of Lyrics goes to this interpretation of Michael Buble’s cover of L.O.V.E.. This is a great example of one of my other favorite TikTok trends: people interpreting lyrics (or what sounds like the lyrics) in a completely different situation. Listen closely!
The winner of the Most Stress-Inducing: College Edition award goes to this video that shows a high school senior (left) listening to advice from a college freshman (right) on her recent adjustment to college.
Finally, this week we have two contenders in a single category, Biggest Plot Twist. Runner-up is this video about the most attractive things a girl can wear.
And the winner of the Biggest Plot Twist award goes to this re-enactment of a childhood moment, set to an old classic Please Don’t Stop the Music by Rihanna.
That’s all folks! See you next week!