The year that TikTok went weird
Rolling Stone UK|December 2022/January 2023
Trends, once created and T enforced by the culture press and celebrities, have grown into an ever-evolving, unpredictable beast with the rise of TikTok.
By Ione Gamble
The year that TikTok went weird

In 2022, the app grew from a hub reigned by choreographed dance routines to a place that loomed large over our society: dictating the celebrity gossip we consume, the music we listen to and the clothes we wear. No longer do the same cultural moments stick around for months or even years. Just like the throwaway nature of a TikTok video, users of the app rinse and recycle trends like they're going out of fashion. 2022 will be remembered as the year that we saw more micromovements than ever before. Here are five that, five years from now, we may just remember.

CATHOLIC CHIC

Forgive us, father, for Gen Z are trying to repent for our sins. This summer, Catholicism took over TikTok, with users creating content on how to get the Catholic look and searching for meaning in a higher place. Both ironic and earnest all at once, Gen Z Catholicism isn't the subversion of teens from eras gone by. They aren't necessarily adopting Catholic-coded visuals and messaging to subvert or shock older generations, but pushing back at the ever-increasing chaos of the world we live in using the order and ritual of organised religion.

BIMBOISM

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