TikTok is one of the real MVPs of the pandemic, continuing to dominate trends and conversations globally through the second year of COVID. It can be funny and weird, cringey and discomfiting, and even educational. According to CNET, it’s got something for pretty much anyone, which is probably why the app managed to reach 656 million downloads in 2021 alone.

More than three years after it became a worldwide phenomenon, TikTok is still on top of its game. Sounds used on TikTok quickly become the nation’s top tracks, trends reach far beyond the video-sharing app into the real world, and young creators on TikTok are birthing communities, and sometimes even careers, through their uploads.

The trends born on TikTok often last weeks, if not months. Some of 2021s most popular trends stuck around for even longer, clogging up ‘for you’ pages with dozens of new entries every hour. While a number of these trends were thoroughly forgettable, some of them remain iconic even months after they faded from the zeitgeist. Some, on the other hand, remain in our brains for only the worst reasons, leaving a stain on our memories that we just can’t seem to shake.

The best

A few of TikTok’s most popular 2021 trends were also its best. Creators on the app devised some genuinely interesting, creative, and artistic trends. Whether they were popular for promoting body positivity, hitting just the right note of nostalgia, or for perfectly aligning with a massive cultural moment, these were the best TikTok trends of 2021.

Sea Shanties

I know, I know. 2021 went by in both an instant and a decade, leaving many people feeling like the year—and 2020, for that matter—existed outside of time. For this reason, the Sea Shanty trend on TikTok really feels like it finished long before we rang in 2021, but that’s just the effects of the pandemic. In fact, the Sea Shanty trend was one of 2021’s earliest TikTok trends, ringing in January with a wealth of creators humming along to “Wellerman” by the Longest Johns.

User @nathanevanss officially started the trend at the very end of 2020. By the time it had taken off, however, we were a few weeks into 2021. The original video prompted a slew of copycats, stitches, and new takes on the trend and inspired a wealth of new fans to discover the glory of sea shanties. It also led to Evans’s big break, elevating his career as a singer and collecting him hordes of new fans.

Renaissance Painting

Another trend that technically started in late 2020 is the Renaissance Painting trend. However, it really picked up speed in the early weeks of 2021, qualifying it for a spot on this list. The trend is artistic and simple in nature, allowing creators to insert themselves into stunning works of art.

The trend is honestly pretty simple, but the results are absolutely breathtaking. Entries into the Renaissance Painting trend see people reimagine a number of famous Renaissance-style paintings with various alterations before inserting themselves into them as the image’s focal point. It allows users to show off their editing skills while also leaning heavily on their artistic eye.

Silhouette Challenge

Shifting gears from ShantyTok to SexyTok, the Silhouette Challenge dominated much of TikTok’s February content in 2021. Initially, the trend mainly saw thin or particularly fit people transition from baggy, ill-fitting clothes to a backlit silhouette showing every muscle and curve, but eventually, the trend expanded. Soon, it became a body positivity trend, allowing creators of all sizes to take a short moment to celebrate themselves.

Whether as a thirst trap or a boost to one’s self-image, the trend was absolutely everywhere on TikTok for most of February. The trend was so popular, in fact, that entries are still rolling in nearly a year after it first went viral.

Adult Swim bumps

One of TikTok’s most creative trends of 2021, the creation of various takes on Adult Swim’s recognizable bumps dominated for you pages throughout the month of June. Calling back to those oft-forgotten lazy afternoons of our youth, the trend captured both nostalgia and imagination. Hopefully, it inspired the network to hire some TikTok talent for future projects.

The trend took on too many different forms to properly capture here, but it birthed some genuinely impressive creations. Plus, the Adult Swim trend encouraged creativity, pushing users to greater heights of innovation and originality with each fresh upload. Even the TikTok account for Adult Swim itself got in on it, uploading their own addition to the trend.

Quit-Tok

Perhaps the best TikTok trend of the year aligns with a very real-world phenomenon. Dubbed the “great resignation” by news stations around the nation, 2021 saw a very overdue trend start to take over as people quit their jobs in droves. Listing numerous factors, including low wages, difficult customers, challenging hours, and unpleasant working conditions, among many others, huge numbers of minimum-wage employees left the security of their jobs in hopes of seeing the U.S. job market make permanent changes.

While those changes are still on the way, the great resignation continues to sweep the nation. Employees continue to leave jobs that they hate, more willing to face an uncertain future than yet another day of drudgery. Numerous quittings were immortalized thanks to TikTok, where a number of creators have documented their final moments on the job.

Bones or no bones?

Arguably 2021’s very best trend, the Bones or no Bones trend, is one of TikTok’s most wholesome offerings. While the trend’s creator, Jonathan Graziano, first started uploading videos of his elderly pug Noodle in mid-2020, his way of ascertaining what kind of day lies ahead didn’t become a TikTok phenomenon until pretty late into 2021. The phrase “bones or no bones” really started to take off in October 2021.

Since then, the phrase has become a rallying cry on TikTok and beyond. Graziano now makes it a habit to use Noodle as an official declaration of whether it is a bones day or a no bones day, the latter of which gives broad permission to the world to simply not. If it’s a no bones day, skip the extra workout or maybe consider doing your job from home. Noodle has spoken, after all.

The worst

Not all TikTok trends are equal. While some of the app’s worst trends are also some of its most popular, they exist in our brains as frustratingly permanent reminders of our least favorite TikTok moments. Whether due to their lack of safety, criminal element, or grating choice of audio, these are our picks for TikTok’s worst 2021 trends.

Millennial vs Gen Z

Anyone who spent more than 20 minutes on TikTok during 2021’s mid-summer months saw at least one or two creators dig into the ongoing war between Millennials and Gen Z users on the app. The war has been ongoing on numerous social media sites but blew up on TikTok, where the vast majority of users fall into the Gen Z age range.

While it wasn’t a trend in the way many of TikTok’s challenges and dances are, the Millennial vs. Gen Z debate was too prominent on TikTok to ignore. It wasn’t a bad thing at its core — in many ways, it highlighted the differences between generations charmingly and humorously — but the negativity it stemmed puts it on this article’s worst list. Instead of going after each other for how we part our hair or what music we listen to, maybe we could all make an effort toward simply getting along.

Buffering

Honestly, there are some reasonably good uploads to this trend, but the audio for the Buffering TikTok trend is just too obnoxious not to be included on this list. The trend, which went viral during the summer months of 2021, sees people present a shocking or unexpected situation, paired with the app’s buffering creative effect and an audio clip from Bo Burnham’s Inside special.

While the trend itself offers up some pretty humorous entries, the audio stuck around for WAY too long. It soundtracked songs both within and outside of the buffering trend, creating endless headaches for users.

Ghostface Cult

Ah yes, we’ve reached cult-tok. While it is very much not a cult in the traditional sense, mid-2021 saw literally hundreds of TikTok users jump on a trend that’s come to be known as the Ghostface cult. Of course, most TikTok trends require at least a bit of actual work to participate, but this entry merely requires that users change their profile picture to an image from Scary Movie of Ghostface from Scream exhaling a cloud of smoke.

The trend is easy and straightforward and so predictably became one of the standout trends of 2021’s spookiest month. Unfortunately, it saw far too many accounts shift their profile images to match up with the remainder of the cult and resulted in… pretty much nothing. It was supposed to lead to a surge in participating users’ follower counts but often simply resulted in a new profile picture. The trend’s lack of any artistic, creative, or even humorous elements made it little more than an odd occurrence, however, and pushed many to wonder why it even happened in the first place.

Milk Crate Challenge

Even non-TikTok users became familiar with the Milk Crate challenge in August of 2021. Unfortunately, like many social media challenges, the trend posed a difficult and potentially dangerous physical challenge for participants to attempt and led to a number of serious injuries. It was so dangerous, in fact, that a search for “milk crate challenge” on the app will simply result in a page warning users about the dangers of internet challenges.

Video entries into the Milk Crate Challenge document as participants stack up milk crates like a staircase before attempting to climb them. The unsteady foundation led to numerous falls and some pretty serious injuries. Not everyone who gives it a go ends up falling, of course, but still — let’s make 2022 the year we leave dangerous viral challenges in the past.

Dry Scooping

A certain line-up of inadvisable challenges reappears every few years to tempt a new generation. In 2021, that challenge was the Dry Scooping challenge. The trend appeared mid-way through the year, but warnings about its potential health risks continued to crop up well into 2021’s winter months. Like the Milk Crate challenge, a search for the Dry Scooping challenge on TikTok will merely lead to a warning page. Videos related to the challenge are absent from even Twitter, resulting in this entry having no accompanying clips.

The trend challenges people to ingest a scoop of pre-workout or protein powder with no liquid to help wash it down. It supposedly leads to a more productive workout session, but in reality, it can lead to numerous health issues. One influencer who attempted the trend before a shift at work was even hospitalized after the challenge prompted a heart attack. She is only 20 years old, proving that the Dry Scooping challenge can present real, life-threatening dangers to anyone, regardless of age.

Devious Licks

Our final entry on this list reaches past potential bodily harm or simple annoyance into outright crime. The Devious Licks TikTok trend challenged young users, primarily students, to attempt mischievous acts at their schools. It essentially invites young people to engage in destructive or damaging acts at their local learning institution while recording their crimes for the world to see. Like some that came before on this list, it has been removed from TikTok and replaced by a warning page.

Not all of the entries into the Devious Licks — or simply Devious Lick — challenge involve crimes, but a large number of them do. Some simply saw participants make a mess, smearing soap on walls and toilet papering rooms. Others saw students steal property from their schools or cause real, pricey damage to things like bathrooms and classrooms.

One of the latest trends on TikTok is the phrase “it must be nice” being played over a 2010 R&B track. It’s become a fun way for users of the social media site to express admiration for a life they wished they lived. The beauty of the trend is its diversity. It weirdly fits in a bunch of different situations and for a lot of scenarios.

The voice on the sound comes from TikTok user @toonkyy over the song “You Are” by Charlie Wilson.

The full quote is “It must be nice I’m trying to get like you my boy.”

In December, @tookkyy confirmed he was indeed the genesis of the trend. While the song is longingly romantic, it also works in so many other contexts.

Many examples involve people buying things with cash instead of financing them.

Here’s another one of those.

Another video shows a man jealous of his stay at home baby mother.

It also works when you’re hopelessly single, which is another reason it’s gotten so popular.

Here’s a guy washing his pet monkey in the sink. This one is magical.

Here’s a cat one!

Most people have only heard a few seconds of the song behind the quote, so here it is in its entirety.

The song is actually over a decade old, but its TikTok resurgence fueled a new interest in the track, which has more than 30 million views.

The lyrics that play in TikTok are “The reason I love, the reason I trust, God sent me an angel. You are the best in the world.”

This one seems to be picking up steam by the day, so no time like the present to jump on the trend train! It’s only a matter of time to see if it will join other popular TikTok sounds in the TikTok hall of fame.

Photo via @VoodooTheMenace/TikTok

The unexpected death of TikToker @VooDooTheMenace has his fans in a frenzy, mourning the popular creator’s death and paying homage to his legacy.

Lee Roy Elizondo, better known by his aforementioned TikTok handle, has earned hundreds of thousands of fans on the video-sharing platform. His page currently boasts 97,800 followers, and the vast majority of his uploads get view counts in the mid-thousands, at least. He is known for his comedic and reaction videos, and some of his most popular uploads are stitches of other creators’ content.

On his TikTok page, Elizondo comes across as relatable and approachable, reacting to and finding humor in real-world situations. He treats his viewers like friends, interacting with them in a casual, non-pretentious way that helps give his videos weight.

His close friend, Joshua Watrous, announced his death and set up a GoFundMe to pay for Elizondo’s funeral costs. In the description on the GoFundMe, Watrous said he is “at a loss for words” and is struggling to “accept that one of my best friends” is gone.

“Those of you who knew Lee Roy need no explanation for the man that he was, but to those who don’t, he was a caring man, a soldier, a philanthropist, a comedian, and a warrior.”

He called Elizondo “sarcastic and hard-headed” but emphasized that he was also “one of the smartest and kindest guys I ever knew.” All of the proceeds from the GoFundMe will apparently go directly to Elizondo’s mother. The GoFundMe, created on Dec. 27, has collected $10,387 of its $50,000 goal.

Fans of the late content creator have taken to their own social media profiles and platforms to mourn his death. On TikTok, people began posting tribute videos in the days after news of his death broke, celebrating Elizondo on the platform he loved.

Fans are taking to other platforms to honor Elizondo as well, with touching tributes posted to Twitter and Instagram. Many people are at a loss for words, merely sharing their heartbreak over a life lost too soon.

No cause of death is publicly known. But, regardless of what took his life, Elizondo is gone too soon. He leaves behind a wealth of heartbroken fans, many of whom are using his old content to help ease the pain of his passing. Thankfully, his TikTok page is absolutely rife with charming content that invites fans into his world.

TikTok’s features allow for some very fun videos to be created on the platform, turning regular photos into 3D masterpieces, presenting creators as their anime alter-egos, or simply adding a dazzling burst of color to TikTok creations. A recent filter that’s been collecting entries sees users matching their features up to an outline of their side profile. It sounds simple enough, but there are actually a few steps to creating the perfect video for the side profile outline trend.

The trend requires participants to create a side profile of their face in a third party app before incorporating it into their TikToks. They then add the profile outline into a video, often set to Melanie Martinez’s “Play Date,” and attempt to match their face up with the resulting white-lined image. It makes for a fun and creative video, and provides some very cool glimpses of different kinds of facial profiles.

Making this trend work isn’t quite as simple as other TikTok crazes, so we’ve made a simple walkthrough to help you accomplish the perfect side profile outline video.

How to make a side profile outline TikTok

The best method of accomplishing a worthy side profile outline TikTok starts with a third-party app. If you don’t already have PicsArt or a similar photo editing app on your phone, browse through your app store to find something suitable. Once it’s downloaded you can begin the process, as outlined by Dexerto, of creating your own side profile video.

After you’ve selected and downloaded your chosen editing app, head back over to TikTok and create a new video. Select the angle you’d like your profile to appear at, and film a video of you turning to that angle. Then take a screenshot of your final pose, preferably one in which you are turned fully to one side.

Now you can head back over to the app you selected for editing purposes, and transfer the screenshot in. Then its as simple as selecting the “draw” tool, adjusting the size and color to suit your preference, and creating a new layer over the original image. In this new layer, you’ll be able to outline the profile of your face in the screenshot. Once you’ve done so to your liking, you can ditch the layer with the original screenshot, click “apply,” and save the image to your camera roll.

Once you’ve finished saving your new outline to your camera roll, the process is quite quick. You’ll just need to relaunch the TikTok app, access your pre-recorded profile video, and open the stickers menu. An option to add outside images should be near the top, appearing as a picture icon with a plus sign next to it. Clicking on this should give you access to your camera roll, where you can select the profile outline.

Once you’ve added the profile outline to your TikTok as a sticker, you can line it up to perfectly match your profile when you turn to the side. Then it’s as simple as selecting the perfect musical accompaniment and uploading the video to your profile.

While many fans are drawn to TikTok for its choreographed dance numbers, viral lip-syncing, comedic quotes, and duets, it’s also gaining popularity for the filters and effects on the popular app. From looking like a Disney character and becoming invisible to bling effects and the time warp scan, your videos on the app can look unique and truly awesome with a few clicks and swipes.

If you recall from a few months ago, several of your friends and family were probably posting images of themselves looking like Disney characters — a TikTok filter that was everywhere. Now a new filter is growing in the ranks, and fans of the game Roblox are loving it.

What is the Roblox filter?

The Roblox filter everyone is talking about creates a Roblox avatar for you! If you’ve ever spent a little too much time making your avatar perfect, scrolling through hairstyles and tops/bottoms to find just the right outfit, then you know the struggle that can come with selecting your avatar. The Roblox filter does it for you!

We’ve got to be honest with you here — the filter everyone is talking about is actually called the “Material Gworl” filter and is based on a Roblox character, but don’t go into it expecting the character to look like you unless, of course, you look like it first. What exactly are we getting at here? Let’s have a look.

The filter turns you into a Material Girl no matter what you’re dressed like or how you look, but you don’t have to tell that to your friends and loved ones. You can hype the video up and get them excited for the big reveal. It’ll be nothing like they’re expecting!

For some, the filter isn’t terribly off, and you could even pass for this filter being made for you if you’ve got the right outfit and hairstyle.

How do you get the Roblox filter?

So just how do you get the filter? Don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. Just follow the steps below.

• Open the TikTok app.
• Click on the Discover tab.
• Search for ‘material gwooorl.’
• Click the pink record button by the filter. The correct filter has been uploaded by lednique in the results tab.
• Step away from your camera enough to get most of your body in the camera and the effect will appear on the screen.
• Now all that’s left is to record your video and share it!

Trust us, these videos will be some of your favorites and your friends and followers will agree. Have fun and happy TikToking!

The Bat and the Cat team up to fight the Riddler in this new trailer for The Batman. DC fans have been waiting the longest time for this reboot of the Dark Knight’s mythos to come out, but thankfully — after multiple delays, and not just because of COVID — the movie is finally about to come out this March. With just a few months to go until it’s here, Warner Bros. has now released a fresh look at the film. And it’s undoubtedly the most revealing yet. Check it out above.

There are many reasons to be excited about director Matt Reeves’ DC debut, but one of the big ones for fans is the pairing of Robert Pattinson’s Caped Crusader and Zoe Kravitz’s Catwoman. We’ve got glimpses of their strong chemistry in previous trailers, but this promises that the pair will be absolutely electric in their scenes together. As per tradition, Kravitz’s Selina Kyle looks to be a bit of a wildcard and a rogue, who Batman isn’t sure he can trust, but it appears that they will ultimately team up to take on Paul Dano’s main villain.

Hi-res images from ‘The Batman’ reveal all the major players

Click to zoom 

Yes, the Riddler’s been a major presence throughout the marketing, but this trailer offers up our fullest glimpse at the Prince of Puzzles yet. For one, it confirms that the Riddler moniker will be used in the movie. What’s more, we finally get a shot of him without his duct-tape mask, as Dano’s bespectacled Edward Nashton (not Nygma) is depicted being arrested at a bar.

The trailer also seemingly confirms long-held rumors that the Riddler will expose some dark secrets about the Wayne family’s past, which will shake Bruce to his core. One dramatic clip sees Bruce accusing his butler Alfred (Andy Serkis) of lying to him, while Pennyworth tells him “You’re still a Wayne.” We’re told earlier on that the Waynes are known for their philanthropy, but maybe they still have some skeletons in their closets.

Don’t miss The Batman when it swoops into cinemas on March 4, 2022.