It’s about that time. Tomorrow (Aug. 6), Season 2 of University of Alabama’s sorority rush debuts, and it’s already taking over our FYPs.
While Bama Rush is the flagship of rush TikTok, sorority recruitment has already begun across the country, giving us our fix of OOTDs (outfits of the day), rush in-jokes, and girls showing off their chapters. We’re in for a couple of weeks of non-stop entertainment based around a system rooted in racism, classism, and elitism. It’s good old-fashioned American fun!
Alabama rush TikToks are huge, but they also remind us of sororities’ racist, elitist culture
Before TikTok gets entirely overrun by sorority girls, let’s take a look at some of the most popular trends taking over the app this week.
My rush bag
The first wave of BamaRushTok arrived when potential new members (aka girls who are rushing sororities) began showing off their over-the-top rush bags. In one video @gracynedmondsonn unpacks her pink Longchamp bag, pulling out a fan, sewing kit, advil, hand sanitizer, wipes, Tide sticks, spray deodorant, roll deodorant, a hair brush, rain poncho, a bag of mints, and — breath — even more. You truly do not know what will be pulled out next. These rush bags put Hermione Granger’s little beaded, charmed bag to shame.
Emoji trend
My favorite trend of the week involves TikTokkers repeating a singular word or phrase in the style of a variety of emoji. In these videos, creators take advantage of the “TikTok Text” feature and list a bunch of emoji at the top of their screen, then they say whatever their chosen word or phrase is as each emoji. It’s wildly entertaining to watch each creator interpret how an unlikely emoji would say something. Some stellar examples of the trend are @enemaemmy’s video, where they embody eight different emojis saying, “Phoebe Bridgers”; @i.c.e._’s video of him begging, “Let me hit”; and @gageyayaya’s video asking, “Are you gay?” The trend further reiterates how emoji have created a new language and way to comprehend messages.
Credit: TikTok / enemaemmy, i.c.e_, gageyayaya
Emoji helped me find my voice in our new remote reality
I guess I just don’t really understand
A clip of Mike Wheeler from Stranger Things saying, “Yeah, I guess I am just a little uh, I guess I just don’t really understand,” has become the soundtrack for TikTokkers describing something they find confusing. Yes, TikTok is still obsessed with Stranger Things.
The soundbite is from an emotional scene in which Mike confronts Eleven for lying to him, but recontextualizing dramatic clips into a humorous trend is what TikTok does best. This edit of Mike, which was originally posted by @loserxthings11, has been used in nearly 8000 videos.
In one video, @scarlye07 writes, “When I meet someone who still doesn’t have TikTok.” Another, posted by @greenbriarist, reads, “pov: u just watched some of the worst, most confusing movies ever created cause ur in love with one of the actors who had 5 minutes of screen time.” We’ve all been there! Other TikTokkers participating in the trend, like @lilzosie, incorporate timely pop culture moments. Their video describes Swifties reconciling with the singer’s staggering CO2 emissions: “being a taylor swift fan and seeing that she’s taken 170 flights in the past 7 months and is MASSIVELY contributing to global warming.”
Credit: TikTok / scarlye07, greenbriarst, lilzosie
Sicitalian categories
The latest TikTok challenge isn’t a dance, but a test of knowledge. The “Sicitalian Categories” filter, created by @sicitalian, shuffles through the alphabet before landing on a letter, then it challenges you to name a country, city, animal, body part, job, brand, famous person, clothing item, chemical element, and sport that all start with that letter. The filter has been used in over 176,000 videos.
It’s a relatively harmless challenge that takes me back to elementary school era tests of knowledge. Next week, be prepared to have your knowledge of Bama Rush tested.
