Another relatable TikTok trend is taking off on the platform, as users act out real-life situations to a catchy ’90s tune.

What is the ‘act like you know’ trend?

The latest trend to pick up steam on TikTok, the ‘act like you know’ trend, sees users poking fun at a range of real-world scenarios. They’re taking aim at everything from trying to remember someone’s name to snatching up those delicious sweet rolls at Texas Roadhouse.

Each video taking part in the trend is soundtracked by LaShun Pace’s 1996 track “Act Like You Know.” The trend leans on the song’s relevant lyrics, which simply repeat “act like you know” with increasing intensity. As such, videos typically present a humorous or racy situation in which the truth is obvious but ignored.

The trend has become home to a wealth of fresh videos poking fun at pretty much any scenario in which willful ignorance comes into play. Creators are taking particular joy in poking fun at their parents, and their purposeful cluelessness when it comes to their children having sex.

A number of LGBTQ creators also jumped on the trend, poking fun at family members for ignoring the clear signs of their sexual orientation.

Some creators are even poking fun at the lyrics themselves, interpreting the words in a starkly literal way.

The versatility of the ‘act like you know’ trend lends itself to an abundance of different takes, leading the trend to encompass a huge swathe of different topics.

We’ve all been in a situation or two where we’d prefer to act oblivious, after all.

Image via TikTok

If you’ve been filling your downtime hours by scrolling relentlessly through TikTok lately – and who amongst us hasn’t? – you may have noticed a new ubiquitous phrase that left you scratching your head. It’s not the first time a new phrase or term has leaped into the popular consciousness from the user video service. Remember “naur”? No? okay, well, at least let us clear up “abow” for you.

“Abow” is blowing up because of its prominence in the song “Throw it Back” by ShantiiP and TarioP, one of the more ubiquitous pieces of music backgrounds on the platform- it’s been used in over 10,000 videos. Although there is no specific dance trend following the song, posters have placed particular emphasis on the song’s odd new terminology.

Warning: The song does contain fairly extensive use of profanity.

So what does it mean? Well, many users don’t seem to know or care, while some are even falsely attributing the term’s origin as Arabic or Turkish, but the phrase is actually from the same place that brought us IKEA and smorgasbord, Sweden. It’s is an idiom meaning “damn” or “wow.”

No telling how firmly the term will lock itself into the general American teen vocab. It may be as lasting as “cool,” but it is just as likely to go back to being incomprehensible to anyone but a Swede, given the normal lifespan of a TikTok trend. The hashtag #abow has over 57 million views and counting currently, so we can only wait and see whether the term becomes common coinage.

Over the last few years, TikTok has graced pop culture with a consistent stream of trends, dance routines, and interesting transitions that have occupied our time when we have nothing better to do. On TikTok, anything can go viral if done in an interesting way. Even a video game. No, scratch that…especially a video game.

Currently, Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers is the go-to game for sampling sounds on TikTok, but it seems that app users have found a new game to latch onto. Plus, the game might have a slight advantage over Super Mario Bros, because it incorporates elements that young TikTokers love: a library of dope songs, wild looking characters to inspire cosplay, and a battle format as exciting as Street Fighter. Get ready to enter TikTok’s ‘Friday Night Funkin’ Trend!

How did the ‘Friday Night Funkin’ trend start?

The trend itself is based on the rhythm-based battle rap video game called Friday Night Funkin‘ that premiered on the entertainment website Newgrounds and the web-based interface GitHub in 2020. For those unfamiliar with these two platforms and the game itself, let’s do a quick overview.

Newgrounds is an entertainment website and company that was founded by Tom Faulp in 1995 to host user-generated content such as games, films, audio, and artwork composition. It’s a community where people can instantly publish and share their original animation, games, art, or music. In a sense, you can think of it as a more complex YouTube meant for digital creators, animators, and developers to share their wares, so to speak.

It also provides a visitor-driven voting and ranking system of its user-generated submissions, allowing creators to build a following similar to any other social media platform such as Instagram or TikTok.

GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration that basically allows people to work together on projects from anywhere. The “Git,” comes from the fact that the web-based interface uses an open source version control software of the same name to allow for those people to make separate changes to the web pages at the same time, allowing for real-time collaboration in building and editing content.

History lesson aside, let’s get into the game.

What is the ‘Friday Night Funkin’ game?

Friday Night Funkin‘ started out as an open-source donationware rhythm game developed by a team of Newgrounds users during a game jam — an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. 

After Newgrounds users Cameron ” Ninjamuffin99″ Taylor, David “PhantomArcade” Brown, Isaac “Kawai Sprite” Garcia, and the unknown “evilsk8r” came together, the four created a game that not only incorporated elements from Newgrounds history, but also attracted new users to the Newgrounds website.

Friday Night Funkin‘ includes a roster generally composed of characters from external media on the Newgrounds site and revolves around the player character Boyfriend, who must defeat a variety of characters in singing and rapping contests in order to date his love interest, Girlfriend. In the gameplay, the battle revolves around mimicking the opponent’s notes with timed inputs while avoiding running out of health for the duration of the song.

In essence, the characters don’t really use any vocals, they simply “beep” and “boop” inadvertently in a rhythmic pattern while trying to outdo the other — reminiscent of games like PaRappa the Rapper and Dance Revolution.

At first, the demo only contained a handful of music tracks when it premiered in 2020. Since then, it has been updated periodically with additional menus, options, and dozens of new tunes through Newgrounds and Github. As of April 2021, six updates have been released, each including new stages.

Over the past two years, interest in the game has grown exponentially, with a growing quickly and notoriety on Newgrounds after receiving significant attention on other platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. 

And now, the popular game has made its way to TikTok, where users are paying tribute in a way that is blowing up on the social media app. 

What is Friday Night Funkin’ doing on TikTok? 

Lately, TikTokers have used the battle themed tunes and the various characters of Friday Night Funkin to post comedy montages, reaction videos, skits, cosplays and transitions to pay respects to the underground game. 

The trend has also inspired other animators to create their own video game themed shorts featuring FNF characters interacting with other recognizable characters from popular shows while using some of the game’s most infectious tracks. 

Thanks to the exposure on TikTok, more fans have begun to play the game, leading to many requests for a full version. After the game’s Week 7 update was released on Newgrounds, the site crashed and was unavailable for several days due to an overwhelming increase in traffic. In the beginning of 2021, Ninjamuffin99 requested gaming giant Nintendo to support Friday Night Funkin‘ on Nintendo switch. Unfortunately he was denied due to the game being incomplete.

Since then, Ninjamuffin99 and the other developers have launched a Kickstarter in the hopes of turning Friday Night Funkin’ into an actual game, which they have tentatively titled, Friday Night Funkin’: The Full Ass Game for now. Ultimately, the Kickstarter impressively raised over $2 million and thanks to its success, the developers are currently focusing their efforts on creating the full game. 

Photo via @preppyclaws/TikTok

A rising star on TikTok is turning heads, due in large part to their thoroughly unique approach to creating content.

User @preppyclaws is taking the platform by storm, collecting an impressive 2.5 million followers in a single month. The creator’s very first video was posted to TikTok on Dec. 6, 2021, but their follower count doesn’t reflect the lifespan of Skelly — as fans like to call them — on the app. New followers are flocking to the fresh-faced account, drinking in Skelly’s unique brand with gusto.

At a base level, the content produced by @preppyclaws’ account isn’t overly uncommon. All the videos posted to their account — of which there are only a few dozen — see the quirky user provide brief, typically Vine-length dancing clips, all while outfitted in a now-iconic skeleton costume. The costume has become Skelly’s brand, of sorts, keeping users guessing about their identity, gender, and the aims of their popular TikTok account.

Who is preppyclaws?

The true identity behind the preppyclaws account has yet to be revealed, according to Dexerto. That’s not stopping users from submitting plenty of guesses, of course, tossing out potential names in nearly every video’s comment section.

Skelly’s eccentric approach to creating content is a big draw behind the account, as every aspect of their identity remains a secret. The skeleton suit, which provides full-body coverage for the mysterious creator, aids immensely in their aim to conceal their identity. Its shape helps to maintain the account as belonging to a genderless, identity-less, dancing skeleton.

The mystery surrounding this account is behind much of its popularity. People are delighting in the chance to submit their guesses as to the face behind the mask, with a few popular options floated more often than others. Some of the most popular guesses as to Skelly’s identity include Elliana Walmsley, former Dance Moms contestant and a TikTok star in her own right. She has an account of her own, which is verified, and sports almost double the followers of the preppyclaws account.

Other potential names that viewers are tossing around include Emily Dobson, a dancer and social media personality, Lilliana Ketchman, a former Dance Moms contestant, and Charli D’Amelio, one of TikTok’s biggest stars. D’Amelio appears to be the most popular guess, likely because she, more than anyone else, has good reason to hide her face. If she were looking for an opportunity to simply enjoy a quick, effortless dance sesh, doing so without revealing her identity might make sense. While D’Amelio seems to enjoy the spotlight she now finds herself in, it’s not difficult to imagine that she — and anyone famous, for that matter — might appreciate the occasional break from the limelight.

Walmsley confirmed in a recent YouTube video that she is definitely not the face behind Skelly’s recognizable mask, but did reveal that she knows Skelly’s identity. That eliminates Walmsley as an option but increases the likelihood that a fellow Dance Moms contestant hides beneath the mask.

Skelly’s gender is another big question — not that it’s necessarily relevant to the content the account puts out — but the account seems to have confirmed that a woman is behind the popular videos. Several captions have referred to Skelly as “her,” and one notes that she felt “like a boss lady.” A single video also provides a bare glimpse at the back of Skelly’s head, where a small chunk of long blonde hair can be seen. While plenty of male creators sport long blonde hair, the look is more typically sported by women.

Regardless of who resides behind the mask, Skelly is absolutely thriving on TikTok. Their follower count is growing daily, and may soon put them in competition with accounts that have been around far longer. They also seem to be thoroughly enjoying their anonymity, even teasing one curious commenter with a joking reveal of their pronouns. In response to a comment requesting a gender reveal, they joked that their pronouns are “Skel/Eton.”

TikTok is trendsetting yet again, as more and more people adopt the “mop top” hairstyle popularized on the video-sharing app.

The do, which existed long before TikTok launched its very first video, has seen a resurgence as several popular TikTok stars adopt the hairstyle. Several big names, including Bryce Hall, Noah Beck, and Noah Schnapp, have sported the hairdo over the last several years, prompting a slew of smaller creatives to mimic the style.

It’s been a few years since the hairstyle first appeared on TikTok, but it remains one of the app’s more popular go-to styles. Thankfully, pulling the mop top hairstyle off is pretty simple, meaning you can try it out yourself if you are so inclined.

How to pull off the mop top hairstyle

First off, let’s broadly assume that very few people on TikTok have the innate hairstyling abilities to pull this off at home. So definitely schedule a visit to your favorite hairstylist if you’re looking to try out the mop top look, and let them work their magic.

The mop top style is a boyish and slightly shaggy look that features longer hair on top of the head, gradually shortening the hair down the sides. As noted by Dexerto, you can look at the style as a distant cousin to the undercut, one that demands a good amount less in the way of upkeep.

An Aug. 2020 video from YouTuber The Salon Guy gives an excellent breakdown of how to pull off the look, which he calls the “biggest hair trend on TikTok.” In the video, he walks viewers through the process of acquiring the look from a stylist’s perspective. He begins by slowly cutting down the hair on the back of the head, shortening it until it’s between half an inch and a full inch, before working his way to the sides and top. The hair on the sides of the head should be as short as the hair at the very base of the neck before gradually lengthening to the far longer locks on the top of the head.

The hair on top of the head also varies in length, however, ensuring that this very simple-looking hairstyle is actually pretty complicated. The Salon Guy, whose real name is Stephen Marinaro, explains that the hair near the back of the head’s top should be around 3 inches long but should lengthen as it goes forward. The hair near the front of the head often reaches down past the bridge of the nose, as pointed out by Marinaro, but is styled upward, so it appears far shorter.

Noting that the haircut requires a transition from “very neat” into “very very messy” in order to work, Marinaro explains that the style demands a “tapered flow into an absolute, just, mess.”

The key to making the “mop” portion of the style — aka the very top — work, according to Marinaro, is “connecting the layers, and making sure that every single hair is layered.” This gives it the texture it needs to give the style a purposefully messy look, instead of an untamed one.

“Even though it looks like an absolute mess, that’s the look.”

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.