It's The Pointer / Pinky TikTok Trend

About

It's The Pointer or It's The Pinky refers to a TikTok trend where users film themselves tapping each finger to their thumb on one hand to the opening beat of Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know," resulting in some users ending with their pinky and thumb touching and others with their pinky and index finger touching. This sparked debates over which is the correct finger to end on. The trend became popularized on TikTok starting around May 2021 and hit a peak in November 2021. The trend is also practiced with other songs, most notably "End of the Night" by Danny Avila.

Origin

A possible precursor to the trend was uploaded on February 9th, 2019, by TikToker^[1] @mineandhers where the user spells the band name "Panic at the Disco" to the beat of the opening of "I Write Sins Not Tragedies," saying "o" when the singer says "oh," the first lyric of the song (shown below, left). The video began a trend where TikTokers try to replicate the results, including the band themselves (example shown below, right).^[2]

It is unclear who first posted a video following the beat of a song by tapping each finger to their thumb to see where the thumb ends up at the end. Around late May 2021, the trend became popularized with the song "End of the Night" by Danny Avila,^[5] particularly in videos from Italian creators who claim they are music students (examples shown below, left and right). Some users land on pinky and others on the index finger, which caused debates on the platform about which is correct.

Spread

On November 14th, 2021, TikToker^[3] @slotheditz posted a video where they edit a scene of Simu Liu walking to speed up to the beat of "Somebody That I Used to Know," gaining over 10.7 million views in a month (shown below).

The original sound^[4] became incredibly viral, gaining over 1.9 million uses in just over a month, as TikTokers posted videos doing the pointer/pinky trend along to the song and debating which is correct (examples shown below, left and right). It is unclear who started the trend under the sound.

On November 28th, TikToker @sadiebessonn posted a video with the song slowed down showing a graphic that points at each finger to the beat. It lands on the pinky, leading the TikToker to believe this is the correct answer. The video gained over 11.7 million views in a month (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References