Taylor Green

Taylor Green

A&E Editor

From Instagram, the success of the late and great app Vine, and the rise of Snapchat, social media has been an outlet for people to express themselves as freely as they want in a video sharing format.

Recently, a new app for creating and sharing short videos has been surging on all platforms. This app is called TikTok. People enjoy these clips so much that they save them and upload them to other outlets like Twitter and YouTube compilations.

TikTok allows you to create a one minute video with your own audio or an audio clip from another video. This is common when people are doing trends/challenges. You can also use face and background filters and even add certain transitions to the videos you create.

Although it is just now making its mark TikTok was originally released in September of 2016. However, due to the success of a similar app titled Musically, it didn’t receive as much attention. Yet, with the official shut down of the Musically app in August of 2018, Tik Tok has been on a steady incline ever since.

Senior Meeghan Kersten has been an avid TikTok user since its release. She’s seen almost every challenge and trend and even makes her own content with her friends.

“I’ve had the app since Musically was around,” Kersten admits. “I enjoy making dance videos with my friends and I think that the app is filled with a lot of interesting people. Everyone has their own content unique to them.”

This quote reigns true, and it is evident with accounts like @lilhuddy and @kevboyperry. Although they’re not the most followed, they have accumulated a good amount of fans by making videos based on their aesthetic, following trends/challenges and comedy videos.

On the other side of TikTok, there are people whose content is strictly lipsynching and dance videos. With accounts like @babyariel, @lorengray, and @camerondallas who are in the top list of Tik Tokers, people can watch content that

However, a lot of these stars can attribute their success on TikTok to its predecessors. Cameron Dallas started his career on Vine while Baby Ariel and Loren Gray owe their success to Musically.

There’s a vast community on TikTok, and you might find the next big star on the #ForYou page or even if they don’t make it big, you might like their clever and quick-witted videos and give them a follow. If you’re more interested in popular content, you can easily search through a hashtag for specific videos.

Trending challenges and sounds on TikTok have made their own impact on culture. For instance, the popular country song “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X made a big debut on the app. It was used in videos tagged #yeehawjuice, where a person drinks water and it is later revealed that it is “yeehaw juice”, turning them into a cowboy. There are over 786.5 thousand videos in this hashtag.

Senior Catherine Long mentions other ways that the application has made an impact on society. She sees that the app has a big influence on not only music but fashion as well. There has been a rise of new styles and aesthetics that have taken over TikTok and have transferred over to the real world.

“I think it has impacted culture like fashion and music in a way. Fashion is definitely a big one as the eboy, egirl, and softboy trends are now super popular. Music is a different thing, it impacts the memes floating around and not so much the radio. Though a lot of radio played songs are often heard on TikTok.” Long explains.

Eboy/girl refers to the term “Internet boy/girl”. They’re someone who tends to wear dark clothing and layer their outfits and have an angsty or brooding attitude. They tend to be more dark and unique but without actually being in the alternative or punk subculture.

Just like any social media platform, TikTok has caused some worries among certain masses. Parents and even certain countries are worried about the subject matter of some videos. Recently, India lifted its ban on TikTok and have allowed people to use it within their country. The reason it was originally banned was that it “spread explicit content and cultural degradation”.

Long understands this concern of inappropriate videos being created as she explains how she has seen some troubling content posted by younger users of the app.

“A while back young kids were on the app doing things that children shouldn’t be doing in my opinion. It was weird and uncomfortable to see so I always skip those, now TikTok has an age limit on it.” Long says, “Some content can be explicit but it depends on viewpoints, mainly it’s okay and just funny.”

In regards to cultural degradation, there have been some videos that make fun of people from specific races/cultures. However, TikTok tends to delete those videos and ban the creator of them quickly if reported enough.

“On my ‘For You’ page I don’t see stuff like culture degradation, but there is a big possibility it is there. I know sometimes content can be seen as racist or something of that nature. One of them would be this video that I’ve seen, the music was an upbeat song with Asian things, these white girls were on a bus and pulling their eyes back to give them what people want to call the chinky Asian look.” Long shares.

This isn’t anything unique to TikTok though. With the rise of new social media platforms and an ever-changing political climate, many people are given the chance to spread messages of hate and are given the opportunity to bully others. It is up to other people on the app to continue to make it a safe and welcoming place for everyone.

Overall, TikTok is an application that will only continue to grow and prosper. Although it has its flaws, it appeals to many different people and allows them to make a community for themselves. With content from creators who cosplay, people who are gamers, and even some who are furries, TikTok allows everyone to express who they are in a fast and fun video format.

Zoe Kwasnicki

Staff Writer

It’s finally over.

After weeks of intense glares, random crying, and glittery cocktail dresses, the 23rd season of The Bachelor has come to a close!

This was my first experience with the infamous reality series. I started watching it for the same two reasons that anyone starts watching a show: 1) you just finished another show or 2) the continuous onslaught of ads and commercials eventually gets the better of your curiosity.

Here’s the story of my experience.

The first episode was….strange. I mean, how couldn’t it be? You get introduced to 30 women, or at least half of them, as they desperately attempt to make a good impression on Colton, some random man they’ve never met. Then they run around like headless, blond chickens, and make awful jokes – my favorite of which was when Onyeka appeared while Colton was talking to another woman and yelled, while wearing a snorkel, “I heard you were drowning in some b*tches!” Not to mention the sacred roses that, according to Tracy, can’t be touched by anyone other than Colton, and the dramatic testimonials every 5 seconds.

My first reaction was, “Why am I watching this? This is so archaic and strange. It’s like some middle-aged heterosexual man’s fantasy. And I’m pretty sure I’m not middle-aged nor a man.”

But then my second reaction was, “It’s genius.”

Like young adult novels flying off the shelves, reality TV shows like The Bachelor are repetitive but effective. They use the same tropes of romance and drama with the same plots and the same characters – they just switch around the actors and their backstories. For drama to keep you on your toes, you have matchups every week. First it was Caelynn versus Hannah B., two pageant queens who were once close friends but their rivalry turned bitter in the heat of competition. Then it was Demi and Tracy, the young against the old, calling each other “immature” or “bitter hag” you know, because if you’re 23 you’re practically a baby and over 30 qualifies you to be a grandma? But Demi kept getting into conflicts left and right and next she was up against Courtney! Their fight was more boring with just a lot of crying and catty comments but it was enough to make Colton cry too so the producers kept it.

And then for romance, well it’s the basis of the entire show. Colton leaves every girl with an intense makeout session, and by the hometown episode, you’ve heard “I’m falling in love with you” four hundred times. You root for the quiet, down-to-earth girl and he continues to choose one of the twenty blonde barbies, simply because they can cry on cue.

The list goes on and on and as you watch the show you can spot each and every manipulative moment. You know how it’s going to end but you watch anyway – why?

Because you want to know how it ends. Or, you want to know why you keep watching it in the first place.

You know that Chris Harrison and those faceless producers are pulling the strings, coaxing women to share extremely sensitive stories of sexual assault and divorce, advertising Colton’s virginity as a thing to be won, and calling the season “the most dramatic season of The Bachelor yet!”.

Like the rest of America, you wonder who’s going to be sent off next, who’s going to fight over a rose, and how many more shots they can show of Colton showering before he buys a curtain.

And that’s the key – you wonder. You keep thinking about what could happen and end up becoming so engulfed that, before you know it, you’re watching the next episode.

It doesn’t matter if all that happens in that episode is a few catty remarks about a woman’s age and a one-on-one that’s hilariously awkward – as long as they can make you question the ending, you’ll keep watching.

Either ironically or wholeheartedly, you’ll watch out of pure curiosity.

Brendan Hall

Staff Writer

With a pop culture landscape era dominated by maximist production and in your face themes, Earl Sweatshirt’s return to the spotlight is the antithesis to the mainstream spotlight. Some Rap Songs is Earl Sweatshirt’s rawest album to date that contains subtly and lofi mixing where he is trying to find silver linings within his life.

This album is a testament to one of the more interesting evolutions of a Hip-Hop artist. Over the course of his 8-year career Sweatshirt has effortlessly transitioned from being a rebellious lyrical mastermind to the voice of lost souls.  

The opening track “Shattered Dreams” features a soul vocal sample, that is louder than Earl’s rapping. This is an unusual decision, but Earl’s mellow delivery makes it sound fitting. Aside from this,, he has lyrics that detail references to trying to get out of a dark state of mind, “Why Nobody Tell me I was sinkin’? Ain’t nobody tell me I could leave”

Earl’s most revealing line may have come from the single “Nowhere2go::” “I spent most of my life depressed only thing on my life was death. Didn’t know if my time was next, tryna refine this shit. I redefined myself.” This line reveals  Sweatshirt’s intentions with this project was, he addressed his innermost conflicts and implied that there was a way out of his damaged soul.

The short run time of the album makes it clear that he intended to have the songs connect. At just 22 minutes, the 15 tracks feel more like one continuous song than an overblown album that is all over the place. While most artists could fall short with this concept Some Rap Songs succeeds because Earl eliminates all filler and strictly focuses on being transparent with his new-found musical persona that speaks directly towards anyone drowning in their sorrows. Despite this Earl never plays the victim card and offers words of encouragement that are authentic instead of scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Some Rap Songs contains almost no guest appearances, and Earl himself handles most of the production. The only guest verse in the album belongs to fellow rapper Navy Blue on the “The Mint”. However, the guest appearance that turned the most eyebrows came from “Playing Possum,” which included spoken dialogue from both his mother and poetry from his recently deceased father.

Earlier in his career, Sweatshirt’s mother was demonized by Odd Future fans for sending him to a boarding school during the beginning of the collective’s growing popularity. This led to the “Free Earl” campaign and fans harassing his mother in person. More recently, however, Sweatshirt has admitted that his mother was right to send him to the Samoa boarding school. . He also had a complicated relationship with his father, who was often away participating in political activism and the poetry scene in South Africa. Earl admitted on his song “Chum” that he had not opened up about missing him and used to say he “hated him in dishonest jest”. Having them on one of the later tracks shows the growth he had as a person reflecting within his art, and shows he was able to see eye to eye with his father before he died.

Other noteworthy moments include: “December 24” which details him trying to stay calm despite having a paranoia that causes a cycle of substance abuse which backfires on him, “Bad apple clashin’ with my kinfolk, bad acid did damage to my mental,”. The second track “Red Water” serves as essentially an interlude that reveals grim detail stating, “Blood in the water I was walkin’ in my sleep, blood on my father I forgot another dream,”. Which is a reference to Earl losing sleep after losing his father. “The Bends” and “Azucar” are both heartfelt tributes to his friends and family that have helped during his darkest days.

Overall, this album doesn’t pretend that Earl has found all the answers. Instead, it acts more like a journal that shows the trials and tribulations of someone soul searching and trying to become the best version of themselves. This makes the narrative enjoyable, and the execution of jazz/soul sample beats match the tone perfectly making it an excellent listen.

Courtesy: FACT Magazine