TikTok Treats, Week of December 7th

Big Names Promote New Music, the Community Revives Classic Hits, and More from the World of TikTok

• More than a year after using TikTok to propel "Old Town Road" to the stratosphere, Lil Nas X is back on the platform once again, this time to promote his festive new single "Holiday" (720k video creations). In the past week, Lil Nas head-banged to the sounds of @TheTikTokDrummer, gave unhelpful lip-syncing advice, created a choir arrangement for "Holiday," and offered a selection of potential 2021 vibes.
   
• In preparation for his upcoming album Wonder, Shawn Mendes connected with TikTok to launch "A World of Wonder," a fourteen-part video series that gives insight into each one of the album's songs. Among the many revelations delivered by the series: the song "24 Hours" was inspired by girlfriend @CamilaCabello, "Call My Friends" emphasizes the importance of staying close to friends during a pandemic, and "Higher" reveals how much the 22-year-old artist misses tour life.
   
• Megan Thee Stallion is one of TikTok's most popular artists, scoring two of the platform's top ten songs of 2020. This week, the H-Town hottie is trending once again, as the community uses a modified version of her song "Girls In The Hood" (415k video creations) to take an ironic approach to her signature catchphrase "hot girl sh*t." Thanks to TikTok, the definition of "hot girl sh*t" has grown to include playing Minecraft, struggling to park a car, and eating a pizza by yourself.
   
• Aussie rap sensation The Kid Laroi made waves on TikTok earlier this year when he saluted one of the platform's most popular creators with his song "Addison Rae." The 17-year-old artist is trending once again with his song "WITHOUT YOU" (156k video creations), an acoustic emo-rap ballad that the community uses to make light of less-than-ideal romantic situations. The Kid himself hopped on the trend to acknowledge how he might be complicit in deepening his own problematic entanglements.
   
• "How Bizarre" by OMC (1995) endures as one of the strangest and catchiest one-hit wonders of the 1990s. There are plenty of memeable moments from the song, but the TikTok community has landed on lead singer Pauly Fuemana's colorful delivery of the titular phrase. With over 140k video creations in recent weeks, "How Bizarre" has become the aural equivalent of the Kermit-sipping-tea meme, offering a not-so-believable expression of innocence when a boyfriend asks why he's getting emails for engagement rings, when a senior citizen reveals one of the few benefits of being a widow, or when your dog has separation anxiety.
   
• The latest classic hit to trend in the TikTok community is the timeless "Just The Two Of Us" by Grover Washington Jr. & Bill Withers (1980). With over 370k video creations, Withers' dulcet tones are the perfect companion to videos that illustrate the chemistry between a QB and receiver, the unbreakable bond between a man and his pelican buddy, or the everlasting love shared by a dog and its ball.