【[EP05] Lovely Ladies Dormitory】

Everyone is [EP05] Lovely Ladies Dormitorycrying on TikTok. Don't worry: They're not crying actual tears — just ones created by augmented reality technology... found on Snapchat.

Yes, a Snapchat filter is currently all over our FYPs this week. Also, TikTokkers are complaining about the price of everyday things, which is completely valid because #inflation. And last but not least, an audio about the late '60s has Gen Z reminiscing about the (recent) past.

So a very typical week on TikTok. Let's get into it.

#cryingfilter takes over

Surprisingly, the most popular filter on TikTok right now actually originated on Snapchat. TikTokkers have been using the "crying" Snapchat filter and posting it on their TikToks to make everyonelook like they're at their emotional breaking point. The effect transforms even the most composed faces into hysterics. The filter gives you sad, upturned eyebrows, bloodshot eyes, an exaggerated frown, and a few unshed tears. The hashtag "crying filter" has over 50 million views on TikTok. It's being used to prank friends and to completely transform recognizable clips from celebrity interviews, movies, and television shows. 

A typical #cryingfilter video on TikTok shows an unsuspecting person doing something mundane while the filter makes them look like a crying mess. The person behind the camera proceeds to ask them something along the lines of, "What's wrong?" And the victim of the prank is wildly confused. But my favorite genre of #cryingfilter is when TikTokkers add it to well-known media, like One Direction's "Night Changes" music video. The filter is so realistic that you can't help but laugh... or cry.

Of course, if you want to use this filter you first have to open Snapchat, film your video, and then upload it to TikTok. It requires a bit more work, but the result is worth it.

"$30,000?"

A soundbite of problematic YouTuber Ruby Franke of 8 Passengersdramatically saying, "30,000?" has become the go-to way to complain about the cost almost everything. It's truly the audio of the moment with consumer price inflation being at its highest in 40 years.

The trend was started last month by @prestonisoverparty who posted a clip of Franke crying on the phone with the caption, "POV: you pick out a shirt in urban outfitters and check the price tag." The sound has since been used in over 74,000 videos so far, and many of them focus on how outrageously expensive daily essentials are — from rent to healthcare to groceries. In @ohheywoze's video the caption reads, "me looking for a 1 bedroom 1 bathroom to rent in 2022." And there's @mattheperson, who astutely and frustratingly uses the trend to point out, "pov: you ask your therapist what the co-pay is with no insurance."

But the sound has also inspired more humorous takes, like @colinzvej who wrote, "Here's the amount of times you've unironically said 'slay' today" — which unfortunately resonates with me. Another funny example is @nesmates' video that says, "When you finally check your TikTok dms to see how many TikToks your bff sent you." That particular TikTok has garnered over 6.9 million views and 1.3 million likes, because we all know that sending TikToks is a love language!

"It was the end of the '60s..."

An audio of Mia Farrow from the documentary Sharon Tate: Murdered Innocenceis circulating TikTok. In the doc, the actor and activist recalls the summer of 1969, saying, "It was the end of the '60s, the late '60s and everybody was happy, and it was just like the best of time." Though the dialogue specifically references the freewheeling decade, TikTokkers are using the audio clip as a device to talk about very specific memorable moments in time. The snippet, uploaded by Sharon Tate fan account @modsharon, is also accompanied by a groovy soundtrack.

Nostalgia is one of the leading forces on TikTok, so it's no surprise that an audio that encourages people to reminisce is gaining traction on the app.

Most of the moments being shared on the app are more recent memories — after all, not a lot of its users were alive in the late '60s — but that's not stopping people from embracing the nostalgic vibes. Warning: These videos might make you feel old. For example, @j0shsquash recalls, "what it was like to live in Summer 2016 where everyone had cracked iPhones, Rihanna still made music..." My personal favorite example of this trend is a video from @callabungboi that reads, "witnessing the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference unfold in real time on Twitter." Take me back.