What does Bella Poarch’s inexplicable rise say about the future of entertainment? I think this recent Kyle Chayka piece that basically tries to answer the question “How do you describe TikTok?” makes a lot of really salient points. It has been viewed more than half a billion the #fyp ♬ M to the B - Millie B The most popular video of the year, for instance, was of a woman named Bella Poarch with an exceptionally childlike face making cosplay expressions to a grime song. Emerging creators like vegan cooking influencer Tabitha Brown and Minnesota-based Doctor Leslie were highlighted in the list, but the vast majority of creators named had mostly gone viral for being traditionally good-looking or otherwise interesting to look at. In the music section, Black artists make up nine of the 10 hits, although one of them was Jason Derulo’s rather shameless remake of an already-viral reggaeton beat, which he released without permission from the little-known New Zealand artist Jawsh 685. What you’ll find there is both heartening and not. Or, at least I did, until I saw TikTok’s top 100 trends of 2020, which ranks the most popular people, memes, and subcultures on the platform (whether or not these were heavily curated is unclear - TikTok did not provide data to back up its claims regarding what makes a “top” trend). BuzzFeed’s Scaachi Koul wrote that TikTok was “2020’s only silver lining” Bookforum’s Charlotte Shane described it as “a precious source of solace during an unendingly precarious time.” Vulture’s Zoe Haylock argued that it was “the best medium for our absurdist present.”įor what it’s worth, I agree. By April, it had already surpassed 2 billion downloads it now has an estimated 850 million monthly active users. Well, terrible with one exception: Over the past few weeks, writers have begun publishing their odes to 2020, the year of TikTok. It’s December, which is always a time to reflect on the past 12 months, although the major difference this year is that nine of them were collectively terrible. Is there something you want to see more of? Less of? Different of? Email, and subscribe to The Goods’ newsletter here. Hello from The Goods’ twice-weekly newsletter! On Tuesdays, internet culture reporter Rebecca Jennings uses this space to update you all on what’s been going on in the world of TikTok.
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