Beyoncé's Mute Challenge / Everybody On Mute

About

Beyonce's Mute Challenge or Everybody On Mute is an internet challenge where attendees of Beyoncé's "Renaissance Tour" go completely silent after Beyoncé sings "Look around, everybody on mute," during her performance of the song "ENERGY." The challenge began naturally on May 10th, 2023 during the first stop of the tour in Stockholm, when Beyoncé paused for an extended length of time after singing the lyrics, becoming increasingly popular over the following months as people on sites like TikTok started uploading videos showcasing the crowd's reaction when Beyoncé stops singing.

Origin

On May 10th, 2023, Beyoncé kicked off her "Renaissance Tour" in Stockholm, Sweden.^[1] That night, during her performance of "ENERGY," she paused for a few seconds after singing the lyrics, "everybody on mute," leaving room for the audience to go silent. Screams can be heard through the silence. Beyoncé continued to do this at every following show, with the crowd slowly catching on to the fact that they should stop making noise during the silence, as seen in a compilation of "mute challenge" moments uploaded by YouTuber^[2] FeimLive in August 2023 (shown below).

It is unclear when the term "mute challenge" was first used to describe the moment, although the moment was discussed on the /r/beyonce^[3] subreddit as early as May 18th. On July 13th, TikToker^[4] @dillonjaden posted a video of Philadelphia doing the challenge, garnering over 20,000 views in two months (shown below, left). On July 26th, TikToker^[5] @lauraadora913 posted a video from the Detroit show using the term "mute challenge," garnering over 165,000 views in two months (shown below, right).

Spread

On August 12th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @tomiwarodia_ posted a video of the Atlanta crowd doing the mute challenge, garnering over 5.7 million views in a month (shown below).

On August 16th, TikToker^[7] @stevelouise__ posted a mute challenge video that gained over 7.3 million views in a month (shown below, left). On August 21st, TikToker^[8] @kiimo11 posted a video of Miami doing the mute challenge, garnering over 11.4 million views in three weeks (shown below, right).

On September 5th, TikToker^[9] @imshaybutter posted a video of Los Angeles doing the challenge, accidentally capturing Tom Holland and Zendaya participating in the challenge, garnering over 4.1 million views in a week (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References