Dropping Links vol. (mambo number) 5!!!
It’s the Mambo no. 5 edition of Dropping Links! Welcome!
There’s a record number of links in this edition, teaser for specifically the v Deep Dive below, so get those tabs READY.
A lot of trends popped on TikTok this week, and while the turnover on these trends is SO QUICK, they help keep the app, and by association my endless scrolling, fresh! My favorites this week have been the Bama Rush to Corporate Rush pipeline, the millennials getting in on the Teenage Dirtbag trend, and I couldn’t forget the incredible Teresa Giudice wedding content.
LET’S JUST GET RIGHT TO IT OKAY??
Quickies:
IT’S CORN!!!!!!
I love NYC for many things, but also for the ambiance and beauty.
This man’s girl got him a candle and he moves DIFFERENT now
I’ve shouted out the NYC Dept. of Sanitation’s social before, but I’m here again because they’re starting beef with Chicago!!
May we all channel Josie on our birthdays and every day
The most joyful kids recreating As It Was better get Mr. Styles’ attention OR ELSE 🤜
This unearthed Jack Black clip is the philosophical breakdown we needed.
Open Tabs:
Short: This girl took her abuela to a Bad Bunny concert and documented the whole day and it’s so pure and wholesome.
Medium: Hot Ones got their act together and finally got Lizzo on the show, and I don’t think there’s anything else I’d rather watch.
Long: The new season of Never Have I Ever dropped this week, and if you aren’t watching this, I’m unclear on how you think your time is better spent?
Deep Dive:
TLDR: Rather than desperately attempting to remember lyrics from an intensely emotional scene on The O.C. (and then using Limewire later on) to dictate their “cry in the shower” songs, Gen Z has these gems handed to them on a silver platter.
Picture this, I (an ancient 30 year old woman) am laying in bed around 3pm on a brisk 96° NYC day, attempting to get just a moment of uninterrupted AC time in between Zoom calls, and scroll past a song on TikTok that stops me in my tracks and leads me lay my phone on my stomach, letting the audio play on repeat as I dissociate and stare at the ceiling for the next 28 minutes straight.
Now picture that scene playing out for almost 6 million people this week as they discovered Katie Gregson-MacLeod’s newest song.
Katie is a 21 year old Scottish aspiring singer who uploaded an excerpt from a song she had written, and to put it bluntly, the internet itself shifted. Suddenly, everyone’s collective hot girl summers came to a SCREECHING halt, and sad girl summer rolled the heck in. To do the eponymous title of this newsletter proud, I’ll be dropping hella links below to illustrate the magnitude of this shift.
Kicking off with the obvious, there have now been an INCREDIBLE amount of covers of this song – from fellow TikTok singers Noah Kahan and Gracie Abrams, to JP Saxe, Lennon Stella, and even Ben Platt. From the covers we go to the adaptations, and we have people writing their own lyrics! Including Fletcher and Carol Ades.
But mostly, this snippet of a song has gained the most popularity by people simply reacting to the truly, madly, deeply devastating lyrics that comprise it. From HT Haze letting the tears FLOW, to Emmy focusing on just a few lines, to Anna giving a breakdown of the lyrics (while having a breakdown), plain ol' dissociating in front of the fridge WE’VE ALL BEEN THERE.
Aside from the song-specific content mentioned above, of course the more niche videos have now permeated the tag on TikTok, and I’ve compiled a few below to show the sheer reach and breadth this song has after only 10 days in the world.
I have ordered them from least unhinged to most unhinged for your convenience:
Someone has already made a “if you like this, you’ll like these” playlist which is honestly so helpful since this song literally doesn’t exist in the world yet.
The Art Girlies™️ have already taken to making some gorgeous collages to illustrate the lyrics.
Queen Tefi has already come to the rescue to get us out of the sad spiral by questioning the validity of the “boxers” that have us in a collective chokehold.
Someone has set the song to Kate Hudson scenes from the 2000 film, Almost Famous (???)
And finally, someone has used the song to illustrate a particularly cringey portion of the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes trial.
And with that, I leave this spiral as I cannot come back from that last link in any real way until I have oodles of time to process. It looks like Katie is recording this song in earnest now, so we should have the full version soon and I will be right back here, ready to discuss and dissociate yet again.
Add 2 ur faves:
For all of my fellow “raised on old SNL” heads-turned-Only Murders in the Building fans, I Must Say….that Martin Short’s memoir is a DELIGHT. Full disclosure, I’m audiobook-ing it, and only halfway through, but feel confident in the rec.
I know it’s not very ~ cool ~ to listen to True Crime podcasts anymore (was it ever?) but I had a few lengthy dentist appointments this week, and I’m grateful to the gals at Morbid for having a FIVE PART Jack the Ripper series to get me through!
THAT’S ALL FOLKS! Follow Dropping Links on Instagram and Twitter if you are into that sort of thing (plz be into it)