There’s a new TikTok trend going viral that everyone from Kylie Jenner to Malala Yousafzai is jumping in on.
This is what to know about the “Beez in the Trap” trend and the best takes from celebrities.
Why It Matters
Dance trends are something of a bread and butter for TikTok. Often easy to replicate with all the ingredients for quickly going viral, they have long been popular for users on the social media platform, be it creators or celebrities.
Jill Walker Rettberg, the co-director for the Center for Digital Narrative and Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Bergen, told Newsweek over email that “lip-syncs and dances are where TikTok started—this is the core function of TikTok.”
She added: “It’s a platform where you can share your own performance of a song that everyone knows, which lets you become part of a collective movement. There is so much politics and talking on TikTok now that maybe we forget that sometimes!”
What To Know
So, what exactly is the “Beez in the Trap” trend?
The trend involves a remix of two songs, “Beez in the Trap,” by rapper Nicki Minaj and 2 Chainz that was released in 2012, and the song “What’s Up?” by the rock band 4 Non Blondes, which was released in 1993.
Videos begin with one person, lip-syncing along to “What’s Up?” That person is standing back-to-back with someone else who is originally obscured from the view of the camera.
The camera then pans around to that person who is lip-synching the rap to “Beez in the Trap.”
It’s a simple formula, but it’s sweeping the internet. As of press time, more than 600,000 videos have been posted to TikTok featuring the trend.
“Remixes are of course part of the fabric of the internet,” Rettberg told Newsweek. “So here we have first a remix of two very well-known songs, and then the back-to-back performance is classic TikTok dance: simple, social, and easy to replicate.”
One of the most viewed takes to date features Yousafzai and Jimmy Fallon. As of press time, it’s been viewed over 73 million times on TikTok. Viewers were stunned to see the Nobel Prize winner back-to-back with the talk show host, with the top comment on TikTok, liked more than 190,000 times, reading, “Oh my God, I don’t think people understand how revolutionary this is.”
Yousafzai shared a video of herself learning the verse afterwards where she crossed out some of the swear words that are featured in the song. She joked in that video that rehearsing for TikTok and speeches to the United Nations are “difficult for different reasons.”
Ahead of Sabrina Carpenter hosting and performing on Saturday Night Live, she and cast member Marcello Hernandez did a version of the video in the studio, which was viewed over 18 million times.
And the list of A-listers jumping on the trend doesn’t end there, with the likes of Kylie Jenner and Khloe Kardashian, Joe Jonas and Khalid, and Role Model and Lizzy McAlpine sharing their own takes on the trend.
The trend has also seen some versions who have been Halloween-themed, and while celebrities have not been involved in these videos, they’ve gone just as viral.
Social media user @almayduh shared a take on the trend, which featured two individuals dressed as Miss Trunchbull and Bruce Bogtrotter–complete with chocolate cake–from British author Roald Dahl’s 1988 novel Matilda, which has been adapted into multiple films and a musical theatre production. That video has been viewed over 40 million times as of reporting.
A slightly spookier take was uploaded by the creator @fredsnightmare, which cast horror icons Freddy Kreuger and Pennywise in the trend, and was viewed over 12 million times.
What People Are Saying
Jill Walker Rettberg, co-director for the Center for Digital Narrative and Professor of Digital Culture at the University of Bergen, told Newsweek over email: “The celebrity engagement can be both a way to promote content, and often artists aim to promote new music by trying to get a gimmick like this going ‘viral’ but in fact spending a lot of money getting influencers involved. Once something is trending, people often jump on the trend partly because it’s fun but also because they know they’ll get new viewers; people who are following the trend will see them.
TV shows like SNL and Fallon Tonight doing it with celebrities can both be a way for them to market themselves to young people, who are more likely to be on TikTok than watching their shows, but it also increases the trend because they have the clout to bring in celebrities, so their videos become popular on TikTok too.”
Dr. Tony D Sampson, Reader in Digital Communications at the Essex Business School, told Newsweek over email: “At first glance, what seems contagious here is the influence of celebrity participation in the trend. That would support tipping-point theories of virality. Yet, the original remix comes from an ordinary TikTok user (@dj.auxlord), who regularly posts mashups of seemingly mismatched songs. This supports the idea that anyone within a network can trigger a contagion, even if it later gains momentum through influencer engagement.”
What Happens Next?
4 Non Blondes and Nicki Minaj have both responded to the trend. In an Instagram post, 4 Non Blondes wrote: “We can’t believe the love this trend is getting!” Minaj, meanwhile, replied by reposting Fallon and Yousafzai’s video.