"I'm Breaking Up With You" Cartoon Character Glow Up

About

"I'm Breaking Up With You" Cartoon Character Glow Up refers to a trend on TikTok where users draw cartoon, video game, meme and other animated characters getting broken up with, followed by them bodybuilding and glowing up, the final drawing showing a swole version of the character flexing. The trend began in April 2022 with user @nebuio and spread across the platform that month, set to a slowed down version of Prolly My Spookiest Beat.

Origin

On April 1st, 2022, TikToker^[1] @nebuio posted a video where a drawing of a crewmate from Among Us looks in the mirror, followed by a drawing of a swole version of the character, gaining over 1.3 million views in two weeks. On April 5th, the user uploaded a similar video to TikTok^[3] using the character Quandale Dingle, gaining over 188,000 views in nine days (shown below).

On April 9th, the user posted a similar video to TikTok^[2] using a crewmate where a girl crewmate breaks up with him, followed by him bodybuilding and glowing up in response, gaining over 5.4 million views in five days (shown below).

Spread

The trend spread under the original sound over the following days as artists on TikTok drew similar scenarios with new characters. For example, on April 10th, TikToker^[4] @artsunkown posted a video using characters from The Amazing World of Gumball, gaining over 5 million views in four days (shown below, left). On the same day, TikToker^[5] @glixxy_art posted another version using Among Us characters, gaining over 3 million views in four days (shown below, right).

On April 11th, TikToker^[6] @art_by_bamuel posted a version of the trend with Kermit the Frog, gaining over 5.9 million views in three days (shown below).

On April 12th, TikToker^[7] @nebuio posted a version of the trend using Shrek and Fiona, gaining over 5.2 million views in two days (shown below, left). On April 13th, TikToker^[8] @art_by_bamuel posted a version using Mario and Peach, gaining over 719,000 views in a day (shown below, right). On the same date, YouTuber^[9] TokPlugg uploaded a compilation of the videos.

Various Examples

Search Interest

[Unavailable]

External References