What TikTok’s 2024 trends say about the future

You see how TikTok continued to foster the exchange of ideas and philosophy between borders and cultures in 2024? Very mindful, very demure.

Or was it the epitome of brat, as epitomised by British singer-songwriter Charli XCX’s sixth studio album of the same name, with its dark lime-green and chaotic electro-club pop aesthetic? 

These two contrasting concepts seemed to take over the internet in 2024, along with trends such as the “Gen Z intern writes the marketing script” and “looking for a man in finance”.

All of these trends were birthed on TikTok, which remained the dominant influence in the pop cultural landscape during the year.

The mindful and demure trend was originated by American influencer Jools Lebron. In August, a video she posted about workplace etiquette quickly gained attention for her unique and catchy phrasing. It has since earned more than five million “likes”. 

In it, she says: “You see how I do my make-up for work? Very demure, very mindful... I don’t look like a clown when I go to work. I don’t do too much, I’m very mindful while I’m at work.”

Her philosophy of being mindful and demure was akin to a call to arms, with many people – including American pop princess Olivia Rodrigo – on TikTok and elsewhere leveraging Lebron’s original video in their own social media context. 

The attention even netted Lebron an appearance on American late-night talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Dictionary.com named “demure” its word of the year for 2024.

“Demurity”, as Lebron phrases it, came to the forefront as “brat summer” came to a close, kick-started by the cool, messy and fun aesthetic and vibe of Charli XCX’s brat album – and fuelled by a viral TikTok dance set to one of its tracks, the intergenerational trauma anthem Apple.

In fact, summer was a banner season for TikTok trends in 2024. Sports stars became social media celebrities as the Olympic Games kicked off in Paris. Some took to calling it the TikTok Games, with people lapping up every bit of content shared by Olympic athletes, from the swag bags to the cardboard “anti-sex” beds in the Olympic Village.

Norwegian swimmer Henrik Christiansen’s obsession with a ganache-stuffed chocolate muffin served at the Olympic Village netted him the nom de plume of “Muffin Man”, and triggered an avalanche of aspirant recipes by people who had never tried it.

But the chocolate muffin was not the only – or even most popular – chocolate food item that caused an internet frenzy. That honour goes to the viral “Dubai chocolate”.

It began at the end of 2023, when United Arab Emirates-based influencer Maria Vehera posted a video review of a chocolate bar from Fix Dessert Chocolatier in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

The bar is filled with pistachio paste and the Middle Eastern pastry known as kataifi, and Vehera’s video emphasised the confection’s gooey, crunchy qualities.

It spawned copycats around the world, including in Singapore, although many also forked out cash – $59, to be specific – to try the original Fix bars, hand-carried back from Dubai by enterprising local businesses such as The SGFR Store. 

In 2025, there will surely be new viral foods, dances, philosophies and other trends invading our “For You Page” personalised feeds. 

But they might very well be of a completely different tenor from those in 2024. In early 2024, outgoing United States President Joe Biden signed bipartisan legislation to shut down TikTok unless its Chinese owner, ByteDance, gives up ownership.

ByteDance has refused to back down, but its attempts to block the law have so far been unsuccessful, and the fight looks set to drag into 2025 and beyond.

This article was originally published in The Straits Times.