About

I'm Walking refers to a trend on TikTok set to the song "Walking" by Mary Mary.^[1] In the videos, TikTokers present via an on-screen caption a comedic situation that can be described through exaggerated walking, and then perform an exaggerated walk. The captions in some videos feature a Nobody: structure. The original sound associated with the trend started trending on TikTok during the week of November 2nd, 2020.

Origin

On September 26th, 2020, TikToker itsjammyyyyy^[2] uploaded a video set to "Walking" with the on-screen caption, "me and my girls in PE class walking the mile and talking shit about everyone," in which he performs an exaggerated skip-walk over a green screen of a running track (shown below, left). The video garnered over 381,000 views in just over a month and is one of the earliest instances of the format. On October 3rd, 2020, TikToker toom.er^[3] uploaded a video with the on-screen caption, "School Nurses looking for the ice packs" in which he walks around the house with objects in his shirt and the back of his shorts to make him appear thicc like a stereotypical school nurse (shown below, right). The video garnered over 267,000 views in a month, and inspired other TikTokers to exaggerate their physical features as well as their walk in subsequent "Me Walking" videos.

Spread

The trend spread across TikTok throughout October. On October 15th, TikToker _ju.venchy^[4] uploaded a video in which he plays a lunch lady, a lady coming to church late, and a bus driver walking in an exaggerated manner, including padded pants (shown below, left). The video gained over 615,000 views in 3 weeks. On October 18th, TikToker kingant.3^[5] uploaded a video featuring a similar variety of characters walking in exaggerated ways, directly crediting _ju.venchy for the inspiration (shown below, right). The video gained over 15,000 views in under a month.

By late October, videos following the trend started receiving a lot of attention. On October 20th, chrislobanzo^[6] uploaded a version of the format using multiple greenscreens, garnering over 2.8 million views in 2 weeks (shown below, left). On October 25th, ulani61^[7] uploaded a video with the "Nobody:" format featured in the on-screen caption, garnering over 6 million views and 2.1 million likes in 9 days (shown below, right).

During the week of November 2nd, "Walking" hit TikTok's trending page, increasing interest in the format. As of November 3rd, the song has been used in over 30,000 videos.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References