Stuffed Animals Dancing to "Upside Down"

Submission 191

About

Stuffed Animals Dancing to "Upside Down" refers to a TikTok trend in which people make their plushies and stuffed animals dance to the song "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson with the lyrics, "And as my mind begins to spread its wings. There's no stopping curiosity. I want to turn the whole thing upside down." People tied their stuffed animals to their feet or shoes (often using hair ties) to move them like puppets with their legs and arms. The trend started in mid-2024. Most people used their oldest stuffed animal, most often a teddy bear. Other viral versions featured stuffed bunnies and frogs. Discourse surfaced from the trend of reusing hair ties and whether it was gross.

Origin

On May 27th, 2024, TikToker^[1] @danisnotdan posted a video of their IKEA DJUNGELSKOG Bear dancing, puppeteered by putting the bear's feet in the TikToker's slides. Over three weeks, the video received over 2.5 million plays and 278,900 likes (shown below).

Spread

Going into late May and early June 2024, others on the app used the video's TikTok sound^[2] to recreate the dance with their stuffed animal. For instance, on May 30th, 2024, TikToker^[3] @chxari posted a video with her DJUNGELSKOG, gaining over 2.5 million plays and 418,500 likes in 19 days (shown below, left).

On June 1st, TikToker^[4] @.rivst4rz_ posted an iteration with her IKEA BLÅHAJ Shark, receiving roughly 738,800 plays and 151,400 likes in 17 days (shown below, right).

The iterations became increasingly viral in June 2024, like a video posted by TikToker^[5] @keishanouri on June 14th, which featured two bunny plushies, gaining roughly 5.6 million plays and 1.2 million likes in four days (shown below, left).

The stuffed animals used in the trend also became stranger and rattier, like a video posted by TikToker^[6] @nellyhillier4 on June 13th, showing an intensely torn teddy bear, gaining roughly 4.4 million plays and 433,000 likes in five days (shown below, right).

Reusing Hair Ties Discourse

On June 16th, 2024, TikToker^[7] @maggotcore717 posted a video using the trend's sound, writing in text overlay, "me watching yall use hairties (that I know yall aren't throwing out after) to do this trend," gaining over 11.1 million plays and 608,100 likes in two days (shown below, left).

The video inspired viral discourse regarding the reuse of hair ties after letting them touch the floor or the bottoms of shoes, such as a video posted by TikToker^[8] @thebibestfriend333 on June 17th in which she countered by saying, "Saw a girl talking about how it's gross to re- use hairties after doing this trend but I literally memorize where on the floor I last saw a hairtie so I can grab it when I need one," gaining over 12.4 million plays and 2 million likes in a day (shown below, right).