Yo ho: Why your TikTok FYP is suddenly obsessed with the North Sea

If the “crawlys” takeover of TikTok wasn’t frightening enough, the TikTok FYP has taken another avenue of terror – the North Sea. North Sea Tok has crashed its waves all over my timeline, and turns out I’m not weathering the storm alone. Everyone I’ve spoke to has found themselves in the same situation – having their late night For You Page haunted by the formidable threat of the sea alongside a spooky rendition of Hoist The Colours from Pirates of the Caribbean, sang by bass vocalists who give it a deep menace. In the words of my sister: “The song terrifies me.”

But where has this North Sea TikTok takeover come from? It’s mostly spearheaded by a TikTok account called UK Towns, with the handle @ukdestinations. They appear to have abandoned their commitment to UK towns in favour of showing us the peril of the North Sea, because they’ve found a formula that works for them and stuck to it. You can’t be mad at that.

The videos all use the same sound: A harrowing bass vocals cover of Hoist The Colours, first heard in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film. If the death defying waves didn’t scare you shitless, the song definitely will.

I think this weird obsession era just follows in the way TikTok manages to commodify things for those of us in Gen Z, and how we hyper fixate on the random and make memes of the terrifying. It’s our way of coping with things, and I kind of have to love that for us.

I’m just feeling very nautical right now online, I don’t know what to tell you.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• What the hell is the cursed crawly TikTok cult trend and why is it all over my FYP?

• Proper nice, proper bargain: What happened to Panda Girl from TikTok and where is she now?

• Explained: Here’s what the ‘orange peel theory’ dating trend all over your TikTok means

Featured image via Unsplash.