TikTokEvery month, people turn to TikTok to create unique, engaging content. Many of those videos resonate so strongly with the community that they become TikTok trends. Throughout May, TikTok users have found creative ways to stay active and express themselves by showcasing clean transitions, looking at old friendships, and giving us an inside look at the houses they've been spending all their time in during the pandemic. They've continued to stay connected with each other through moments that highlight their personalities while they're social distancing in their homes.
Toward the end of May, the TikTok community also showed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Footage of protests to demand justice began to grow organically on the platform in late May, and become a powerful movement heading into June. Hashtags like #blacklivesmatter, #blackvoicesheard, #blm, #justiceforgeorgefloyd and #protest became some of the most creation-inspiring tags. We'll explore this deeper in next month's report.
Below we take a look at some of the trends from May, along with a creative effect that brought the 2020 yearbook to TikTok, and spotlight a creator who's using his animation skills to make a splash on the app.
Top 3 Trends
The #WipeItDown challenge brought together a catchy song, seemless transitions, and unique characters to create a Trend that took over TikTok. Built around the song "Wipe it Down' from BMW KENNY, users showed themselves wiping down a mirror as their normal selves, before wiping up and revealing themselves in an alternate outfit or costume. Initially, the trend developed within the Cosplay community on TikTok, but quickly spread across the app being used by everyday users, top creators, and notable celebrities like Jason Derulo.
Every friendship has a story and May's #GonnaBeFriends trend told the tale of countless creators meeting their besties and developing relationships that'll last a lifetime. Built around a popular song from The White Stripes set to the lyrics "I can tell that we are going to be friends," creators made a montage of old videos and photographs from the time they met their best friend - and sometimes a little more than friends. From enduring lifelong friendships to couple goals, this heartwarming trend showed us that the best ship is friendship.
"Whatup MTV, welcome to my crib!" These are all words we've dreamed of saying and with the #MyCrib trend, dreams became reality. Creators began showing off their homes during quarantine and thanks to a partnership with MTV, they were able to add authentic sounds and logos from the actual MTV Cribs show! From custom house buses to stylish studios and aggressively high tech houses these cribs show us that home decor can fit in any space.
The most watched video of the month
Top Effect: Yearbook 2020
As users were stuck inside for the last part of the schoolyear, TikTok helped bring a bit of normalcy to this abnormal time with the Yearbook 2020 effect. Designed to mimic the appearance of high school yearbooks, the Creative Effect also leveraged the format of popular "randomization filters" to give out superlatives. This effect was launched during TikTokGraduation programming and became a popular trend when users paired it with the song "Movin' Right Along" by Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog from The Muppets. With everyone from Charli D'Amelio, to David Dobrik, Emma Chamberlain, and Brittany Broski taking part in #Yearbook2020, this effect brought us into summer laughing.
May's Hottest TikTok Track: Party Girl
Starting as a popular dance trend being performed by users and collab house members across TikTok, "Party Girl" by StaySolidRocky became the anthem of a good-natured essential worker that stole our hearts.
Creator Spotlight: @king.science
Focused on animation, the 20-year-old King.Science creates colorful, imaginative videos set to popular songs and comedic sounds. He also blends his live action footage with animation to bring his cartoons into the third dimension. With his trippy vibes and unique style, it's easy to get lost in the videos made by this talented creator.
