Glow Down

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About

Glow Down or Glo Down is an internet slang term for losing confidence, attractiveness and style from one time period to another, the opposite of Glo Up. Glow down photos are frequently posted in a type of "before and after" template with an old photograph juxtaposing a newer one. The glow down TikTok videos became popular in 2019 and had a resurgence during the coronavirus outbreak in April 2020.

Origin

On December 9th, 2015, Urban Dictionary^[1] user cheezpastasa defined "glo down" as "opposite of glo up. when you thought someone was gonna get hot and 'glo up' but instead they get so ugly and 'glo down'" (shown below). The definition gained 32 upvotes in five years.

TOP DEFINITION glo down opposite of glo up. when you thought someone was gonna get hot and "glo up" but instead they get so ugly and "glo down." Oh my gosh I thought she'd have a glo up. Yikes, definitely a glo down! by cheezpastasa December 09, 2015

Spread

In 2017, on Twitter many some posted before and after images of themselves referring to a glow down. On January 28th, 2017, Twitter user @carasmith712^[3] posted before and after photos with the caption, "Glow up or glow down?" (shown below). In September 2017, TheTalko^[2] published "15 Celebs That Had Serious Glow Downs."

caraa @carasmith712 Glow up or glow down? 10:04 AM - Jan 28, 2017 from Sterling Heights, MI - Twitter for iPhone

On September 22nd, 2019, TikToker nerychristyna uploaded the first known celebrity glow down video about Mary-kate and Ashley Olsen which garnered over 823,800 likes in eight months. Celebrity glow down TikTok went trending on the platform shortly after.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6739340589898239238

On December 8th, YouTuber Meme Archive uploaded a compilation video of glow down TikToks which typically featured a cover of the song "Mr. Postman" (shown below. The video gained over 81,000 views in four months.

On April 9th, 2020, TikToker gabslife99 established the glow down challenge by asking others to share their glow down transformations in a video that received over 78,300 likes in 15 days (shown below, left). The next day, TikToker mack_bell11 shared a slideshow of before and after photos using gabslife99's' sound (shown below, right). The video accumulated over 172,400 likes in two weeks. Buzzfeed^[5] and The Daily Dot^[6] published articles on the challenge.

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6813700900540943621

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/6814198631361563910

On April 21st, Twitter user @lilparadox_^[4] simply tweeted "them: glow up/ me: f'ckin glow down :):" which received over 270 likes and 120 retweets in three days (shown below).