Oh I’m curious: Ranking the worst TikTok trends of 2021

Enter with caution!!!!

2 years ago

We’re coming to the end of another chaotic year – and quite frankly, the worst TikTok trends of 2021 haven’t helped at ALL. So many of us use the app as a means of escapism from the doom and gloom of reality. Somehow it doesn’t have quite the same effect when you can see hundreds of people all pretending to be a girl who went missing 14 years ago.

The beauty of it is, each of the following TikToks are the worst in their own, *magical* way. Some are eye-wateringly simple, some are verging on creepy and some are wildly repetitive – but all are equally as annoying.

So strap your CPS (cringe protection suit) on and get ready for the worst, most toe-curling TikTok trends of 2021.

10. Oh I’m curious/you serious?

@cmcdonald26 I got this all through highschool! I don’t see it 🤣 #celebrity #lookalike #ohimcuriousyeah #youserious #hannahmontana #KFCSecretMenuHacks #foryou ♬ Rock With It by Saucy Santana – Saucy Santana

The most heartbreaking thing about this trend is the fact that it started out so strongly. People who genuinely looked like celebrities (both alive and dead) were getting involved – those without a lookalike made self-deprecating jokes about how they resembled Sid The Sloth and Mr Clean. Life was good.

Then, as always, The Hot People started taking over and turning it into a cute-off. Excuse me ma’am, you look nothing like Hannah Montana. Why can’t the solid fives just have one thing for themselves?

9. Mama said that it was okay

@lukasgraham Long hair don’t care. Mama Said that it was ok. #fypシ #trend #mamasaid #newmusic ♬ Mama Said – Lukas Graham

Sorry, I’ll be the first to say it. The song is grating and the transitions aren’t funny!!!

I mean, comedy is of course subjective. But any trend dominated by Friends fans already suggests to me that the humour is about to be low-level. Oh wow, you’re overly sarcastic just like Chandler Bing so he must be your mama? Could I *be* any more impressed?

It’s really nice (?) that a lot of people see famous figures as rolemodels… but couldn’t we have used a less teeth-grinding theme tune for it?

8. Towel Folding Challenge

@vorostwins It is possible!!! #fyp #twins #twotowelchallenge ♬ Iko Iko (My Bestie) (feat. Small Jam) – Justin Wellington

Thumbs down all round for this boring TikTok trend. It’s just really low-effort and lazy – like yeah, I can also twist a towel and step over it! Why is this entertaining?

The participation of the funny-for-five-minutes Da Vinky Twins bumps this one up for me. Are we really – in 2021 – enabling Poundland Jedward’s fame by watching them doing basic household chores? In the words of Davina de Campo: I don’t think.

7. 2020core

@trustandy_ 2020core 😔🤘🏻 #fyp #2020 ♬ Summertime – Maxxxx_

Nostalgia culture hit us so hard this year that some of us started craving banana bread and dalgona coffee all over again. Forget the ghost towns, mates getting sick and cramped hospitals – people just wanted lockdown back!!

TikTokers romanticised the first lockdown in particular, to the point where the entire trend became known as “2020core”. Someone even made a playlist of the most popular songs from summer last year, including Say So and Savage. Ugh.

6. Using lube as primer

@seananthonyv LUBE AS PRIMER?! #seananthony #makeupfyp #beautytips #makeup #viralmakeup #makeuphacks #beauty #mua #lifehack #lubeprimer ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

My face feels ripe with the stench of Strawberry Dick Lick – and I haven’t even attempted this trend for myself (nor do I intend do). Looking at people caking their faces in the sticky stuff kept giving me second-hand clogged pores. The trend was JUST that powerful.

People genuinely put foundation, concealer, powder and the like on top of the liquid. These gimmicky beauty hacks have gone! Too! Far!

5. Ghostface Cult

@noahglenncarter Who’s joining #ghostfacecult #screamcult #ghostface #foryou ♬ Ghostface – Dead Phairy

Come on, the so-called “Ghostface Cult” was really only a vehicle for people to gain tons of likes, followers and DMs. All you had to do was change your profile pic to the infamous Scream serial killer, follow a ton of people on your FYP and watch the interactions roll in. That’s it. That ended up becoming one of the *biggest* TikTok trends of 2021.

Imagine how tired we are.

4. Rolling Down In The Deep

@aaronthekid____ How did I do? Be honest!🤣 #fyp #rollingdowninthedeep ♬ Astronaut In The Ocean – Masked Wolf

With all due respect to Adele’s son, this trend was AWFUL. The transitions, the shirtless men, the god-awful cover versions. Make it stop!!!!

This song became so overplayed it ended up being adopted by Facebook nans, who used it to create the perfect audio ambience for their cleaning hack videos. Thus, a cringey cultural moment was finally put to rest.

3. Cooking pasta in a kettle

@mauratheestalli0nWHATS NOT CLICKING STEPHEN♬ I Need Sum Money – Q🥀

No, seriously. I’ve had just about enough. I get that this went viral on American StudentTok, but just because you’re living away at uni doesn’t mean you have to eat bland, tasteless food. You’re allowed to own a saucepan and make a nice plate of ravioli, huns.

Special shoutout goes to that one US-based girl who didn’t know what a kettle was called, and ended up naming it “one of these things”. She literally stuck the kettle on with pasta pieces swimming inside it, before draining it and pouring fluorescent orange jar-sauce on top of it.

It’s fine, it’s fine. I am simply losing the will to live.

2. Looking behind the camera

@paigelayleWHAT♬ Let It Snow! Let It Snow! – Frank Sinatra

Ah, we love it when making faces at your phone becomes a viral trend. Last year, Bella Poarch looked like a confused Sim for three seconds and ended up with a record deal and heaps of celebrity friends. Now, people are looking at the camera before… looking behind the camera. Just wait until they hear about mirrors!!

Yep, seeing your eyes go lazy is probably quite entertaining… for about two seconds. As a glasses wearer and astigmatism haver, I’d like to point out that this is actually my LIFE. So enjoy your faddy trend while I go back to not being able to focus on the article I’m typing.

1. Sea shanties

@thetrills Reply to @amoo4488 You asked for a sea shanty… and the boys delivered! 🔥🏴‍☠️ #seashanty #acapella #wellerman #fyp #theboys ♬ original sound – The Trills

You know you’ve been thinking it too – I’m just brave enough to actually say it. If I have to hear about drunken sailors one more time, I think I might move into a remote cave on an island somewhere. It’s not so much the shanty-singers themselves, but the TikTokers who co-opted the cultural staple and changed the lyrics to fit their niche.

Makeup TikTokers started waxing lyrical about cloud paint, cosplayers dressed up as Captain Jack to wail their way through Wellerman – even Elon Musk got involved, which thankfully spelled the end to the painful trend.