About

He Gave Me the Ew refers to a TikTok trend in which women and men lip dub lyrics from the song "Ick" by Lay Bankz and add text captions that outline a male trait that gives them The Ick. TikTokers also did a dance with their fingers after saying the extended "Ewwwww." The trend started in late 2023, predominantly gaining traction in December 2023.

Origin

On August 9th, 2023, the YouTube^[1] channel of rapper Lay Bankz posted the official audio for her song "Ick," gaining roughly 1.6 million views and 32,000 likes in four months. At the song's 0:46-minute mark, Bankz says the lyrics, "He gave me the ew" (shown below).

On November 19th, 2023, TikToker^[2] @youkvsp used the "He gave me the ew" soundbite for a meme that highlighted The Side Eye Guy's alleged attempt at canceling fellow YouTubers Sam and Colby, gaining roughly 2.4 million plays and 97,000 likes in a month (shown below). The video spawned a viral TikTok sound^[3] that the trend became known under.

Spread

In late November 2023, viral photo slideshows were shared on TikTok^[4] that used the sound.

In December 2023, more video iterations surfaced, like one posted by TikToker^[5] @yoursafepla.ce on December 2nd, 2023, gaining roughly 3 million plays and 576,600 likes in nine days (shown below, left). On December 3rd, 2023, TikToker^[6] @ana..tega posted an iteration that received roughly 12.1 million plays and 2.3 million likes in eight days (shown below, right).

Going into December 2023, a dance became associated with the trend in which a person put both their hands in front of them to make a picture frame symbol and then moved their hands alternating backward and forward. The dance was seemingly started by TikToker^[7] @carlalimm on December 5th, 2023, gaining roughly 11.2 million plays and 2.1 million likes in six days (shown below).

By December 11th, 2023, the trend's primary TikTok sound^[3] had amassed over 227,500 posts.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References