About

Black, White, Green or Blue / Flamingo refers to a series of TikTok videos in which users lip sync to the song "Flamingo" by British band Kero Kero Bonito and typically swatch the corresponding colors onto their face.

Origin

On February 1st, 2016, Kero Kero Bonito uploaded the song "Flamingo" to YouTube (shown below). The video has gained over 38 million views and 866,000 likes in three years. The first iteration of a "Black, White, Green or Blue" Tik Tok video is unknown. The itunes sound clip has been used in over 330,200 videos as of April 2019.

How many shrimps do you have to eat
Before you make your skin turn pink?
Eat too much and you'll get sick,
Shrimps are pretty rich.

Precursor

On January 10th, 2019, YouTube account Best Tik Toks uploaded a Flamingo TikTok Challenge video which has gained 10,600 views in three months (shown below, left). The video features a different clip of the same song. Soon after TikTok users began the "Black, White, Green and Blue" clip and on January 31st, 2019 uploaded a compilation of the clip being used in a clothes color challenge (shown below, right). The video accumulated 7,200 views in two months.

Spread

On March 30th, 2019, TikTok user @staurenglaggie posted a typical face color swatch video which has gained over 951,100 likes and 17,500 shares in two weeks (shown below, left). On March 31st, @dyslexicvirgo created a rendition as if a color blind person performed the challenge which garnered 490,100 likes and 6,500 shares in a week (shown below, center). A couple days later, @imalexojeda uploaded an alternative video with food coloring in slow motion (shown below, right). The video gained 586,400 likes and 8,700 shares in a week.

On April 2nd, 2019, Tiktok's Best uploaded a "TIK TOK'S "FLAMINGO" TREND" compilation to YouTube featuring TikTok users finger painting the corresponding colors on their face. The video has garnered 32,800 views in a week (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest