NOW TRENDING: 5 THINGS THAT ARE WORTH YOUR MONEY & HOW INSTAGRAM REACH IS CHANGING
WHAT’S ON THE FEED THIS WEEK?
OH WELL. WHATEVER. NEVERMIND.
The line comes from Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and on TikTok it has become the go-to sound for showing off nature and an incredible view. Creators pair it with a small letdown that isn't worth the energy of caring: the plan that fell through, the order that came out wrong, the thing they wanted that sold out. The delivery is flat and unbothered on purpose, so the juxtaposition between that and beautiful scenery is where the hook is. Like this is a view and a life you just came across.
Brand opportunities
This is a format that works for any small, on-brand fail your audience already recognises. This trend works best with excellent camera work and can subtly show off a product or a feeling, but can fit many situations.
5 THINGS THAT ARE WORTH YOUR MONEY
Creators talk to camera and list five things they'll spend on no matter their budget, with the items stacking up as on-screen text. The picks range wildly in price and category, from a $500 espresso machine or luxury sheets to something as small as a good water bottle or a phone insurance plan, and that mix is the appeal. It works as a soft endorsement format: the value isn't in the price tag, it's in the personal stamp of "I'd buy this again." YPulse and others have flagged it as a strong driver of genuine word-of-mouth, which is exactly why brands can slot into it naturally.
Brand opportunities
Any category with a product or experience worth repeat-buying can play here. Put your own spin on it by having a staff member or founder share their real five, with one of your products earning a spot among four unrelated things they love, so it feels like an honest list rather than an ad. Alternatively, invite your community to post their five and reshare the ones that name-check you. The trick is to let your product sit alongside genuine outside picks.
“I WISH IT WAS SOCIALLY ACCEPTABLE TO…”
This trending audio invites creators to voice a universally relatable thought we don't say out loud, then make it specific to their world. The base version covers everyday wishes (leaving events early, napping at 2pm), but it's spreading fast because any niche can fill in its own unspoken truth. The tone that works is playful and knowing rather than a genuine complaint, so it reads as a wink to people in the same boat, not a vent. It was building through the week of the 20th and is still early enough that a quick execution will feel current.
Brand opportunities
This is a strong "industry truths" format for any business with unwritten rules or things clients do that quietly drive you up the wall. Hospitality can use the things guests always ask, retail the requests staff hear on repeat, a service business the thing everyone thinks but no one books in for. Keep it light and let your team be the ones confessing, because the charm is the shared eye-roll, not actually criticising your customers. Moving in the next few days matters more here than for the other two, since react-early formats reward brands that jump within a day or two of the spike.
ROLE MODEL’S DEODORANT COLLAB IS AN INTERNET DEEP CUT
After months of a running internet joke that Role Model, real name Tucker Pillsbury, actually stinks, the musician leaned all the way in and fronted a campaign for Salt & Stone's natural deodorant. His own line says it best: "Since the internet likes to tell me I stink, working with Salt & Stone on this campaign felt pretty natural." Shot by Chloe Chippendale and directed by Daniel Sachon, the film builds a tongue-in-cheek character around the slogan "Reliable, so you don't have to be," and the brand's CMO framed it as deliberately not what people expect from them. It landed on July 22.
Why this works
The campaign turns a joke made at the artist's expense into the whole creative idea, which is disarming in a way traditional celebrity endorsement never is. Rather than pretending the meme didn't happen, both Role Model and the brand acknowledge it. That self-awareness is the product demo: a deodorant ad where the punchline is whether he smells is genuinely funny, on-brief, and hard to look away from. It also feels co-authored rather than booked, since Role Model helped build the character, so it reads as him being in on it rather than being sold to.
Why it resonates with the Tiktok Audience
TikTok rewards exactly this kind of self-aware, in-on-the-joke tone, and punishes anything that feels like a polished ad talking down to viewers. The audience already made the "he stinks" joke themselves, so the campaign is effectively meeting a native meme where it lives and paying it off, which invites duets, stitches, and comment-section participation rather than passive views. It's the same instinct behind the trends above: let the audience be in on the bit, don't take yourself too seriously, and the internet does the sharing for you.
SOCIAL UPDATES
INSTAGRAM REACH QUANTIFIED
Instagram has quietly reweighted what drives reach. A DM share is now worth roughly 15 likes and a save around 10, while likes and follower count barely move the needle, meaning distribution is increasingly decided by whether people send your content to someone rather than just tap a heart. Instagram has also given users more control over their own feeds through "Your Algorithm" topic settings, so passively reaching people is getting harder and earning a deliberate share is getting more valuable.
How brands can use this
Build for the "send this to a mate" moment, rather than the like. That means content with a clear person it's meant for: an inside joke for a specific customer type, a relatable fail someone will tag a friend in, a genuinely useful tip worth saving. The trend formats above work precisely because they trigger that reflex, so lean into content that makes someone think of a specific person, and treat shares and saves, not likes, as the metric that tells you it's working.
