"Hey Lol" Khaleel Trend

About

The "Hey Lol" Khaleel Trend is a participatory media trend on TikTok set to an original sound titled "hey lol" that starts with the Pornhub Community Intro, then transitions to Childish Gambino's "Redbone."^[1] The trend, which became popular in late February 2021, features TikTokers playing the sound around unknowing participants, often family members or spouses, and filming their reactions to see if they recognize the song. A variation of the phrase Caught in 4k is often featured in the videos via on-screen-text.

Origin

On January 19th, 2021, TikToker^[2] Khaleel uploaded a skit (shown below) set to an original sound titled "hey lol." In the skit, Khaleel sits in front of his computer and opens Pornhub as the community intro song plays. His mom, also played by Khaleel, then enters the room, and the computer screen and song change to a YouTube upload of "Redbone." We then see Khaleel dancing to the song as his mother leaves. The video gained over 4.3 million views in just over a month.

The sound didn't see significant use until a month later. On February 19th, TikToker^[3] @danixjm uploaded a video in which she plays the "hey lol" sound in front of her unknowing younger brother to see if he recognizes the Pornhub Community song (shown below). The video garnered over 4.4 million views in five days and is the earliest known video following the trend.

Spread

The trend exploded over the next week as TikTokers gained high viewcounts performing it. For example, on February 20th, TikToker^[5] @zaypelzer uploaded a video performing the trend on his younger brother, garnering over 17.8 million views in four days (shown below, left). On February 21st, TikToker^[6] @itsromebaby uploaded a video performing the trend on his parents, garnering over 13.1 million views in three days (shown below, right).

On February 22nd, YouTuber and TikToker^[4] David Dobrick participated in the trend with his younger brother, garnering over 14.6 million views and greatly helping spread the trend (shown below).

That same day, TikToker^[7] @haueterfamily then uploaded a video in which she plays the sound in front of her sons, both of whom recognize it, garnering over 15 million views in two days (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[8] Bryce Hall uploaded a video performing the trend on his mother, garnering over 2.7 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On that day, YouTuber^[12] cute tiktok uploaded a compilation of videos following the trend, garnering over 27,000 views in two days (shown below).

On February 23rd, HITC^[9] published an article on the trend, followed by Distractify,^[10] who interviewed Khaleel about the success of the sound, and PupBuzz^[11] on February 24th.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References