Award 2023: Best TikTok trend

Not just innovative methods of applying eyeliner, viral lipsticks, treatises on how often you should shower, NPC directors or nightcore music. In 2023, TikTok has made us rediscover the importance of Roman history for the male universe, reflect on the signs that can determine the positive or negative outcome of our relationships, re-evaluate female talent in maths and gastronomy, make us the protagonists of a 90s teen film and even remind us that sometimes lip-syncing in the underground is enough to become famous. And it's all in the form of viral videos.

Here are TikTok's best trends for 2023.

Tube Girl

On 13 August, Sabrina Bahsoon posted a video from the London Underground in which she dances in a normal carriage between people to the notes of Nicki Minaj, who is filming herself from above. Boom! The video immediately went viral and inspired others to copy it. It earned its creator the TikTok title Tube Girl and a front row seat at Valentino and Hugo Boss shows last Fashion Month. While Sabrina enjoys her 15 minutes of fame and tries to drag it out as long as possible, opinions on her are, as always, divided between those who liken her videos to entertaining performance art installations, those who find them a bit cringe, and those who think they're just another example of social exhibitionism for its own sake. But in the meantime, everyone is watching and Bahsoon's view count continues to climb, making Tube Girl one of the TikTok trends of 2023, and rightly so.

Beige Flag

"My partner's Beige Flag is that he doesn't put his mobile phone on silent all night because he's afraid his alarm won't ring in the morning." Or: "My girlfriend's Beige Flag is that she can't survive without eating something sweet after a meal." These are two examples of beige flag according to TikTok. But what is a beige flag? The interpretations are varied and the concept is constantly evolving, but according to urban slang, it's something that can't be labelled as wrong or negative (red flag) or praiseworthy (green flag), but that still makes you notice your partner and wonder why it doesn't fit your character, even though it does. That's why videos are proliferating on TikTok where a person takes a picture of their face with a long description of their partner's beige flag on it. In short, the agony aunt of 2023.

Girl dinner and Girl math

Who says maths isn't an opinion? Try the argument: "The jumper I want costs 250 euros. If I divide that by 10, it's 25 euros a piece, but I'll wear it a lot more than 10 times. So that's 5 euros a week for 20 items of clothing, so it's cheap. And if I give up my coffee every time I wear it, then it's basically free." Right? That's a little example of girl math and the calculations we ironically use to justify spending and bad economic habits. In the same way that ironises stereotypes of the female universe, there's also Girl Dinner, which explores the messy diet of making meals out of lots of different things, often snacks that don't need to be cooked or prepared, like milk and cereal, crisps and ketchup, cigarettes and coffee.

Yearbook

Nostalgia for the 1990s has not only dominated fashion and beauty trends, but also the social sphere thanks to the AI Yearbook o Yearbook Challenge. Millions of TikTok and Instagram users used Epik's artificial intelligence to transform themselves into the protagonists of a 90s teen film or TV series. In our 2023 feeds, they suddenly looked like an endless rerun of Beverly Hills 90210 with grunge-era hairstyles, oversized chequered shirts, jumpers, leather jackets and barrettes in their hair. The real stars? A fake, clickable version of Dylan McKay and Brenda Walsh.

Roman empire

"But have you ever thought about the Roman Empire? And approximately how many times a week or month?" is the question millions of men have heard in recent months. It all started with the historical re-enactor Gaius Flavius or perhaps the Swedish influencer Saskia Cort, who said that men would think about the Roman Empire and Ancient Rome in general much more often than women. Scores of TikTok users took it upon themselves to test this theory. At the same time, the question of what the female equivalent of the Roman Empire is exploded in our minds. The answers varied widely, with many referring to Y2K teen films.