About

Is He Hot or Just X, also written as Is He Hot or Does He Just X and Is She Hot or Just X, refers to a trend on TikTok using the phrasal template "is he/she hot or just X," primarily used by groups of female friends to out each other's sexual preferences and ideal partner types. The videos all use the same sound, titled "Pretty young twearkalator," which is a mash-up of Michael Jackson's song "P.Y.T." and the City Girls' "Twerkulator." The sound was created in May 2021, but the trend started in July and spread over the following months.

Origin

On July 2nd, 2021, TikToker^[1] @ktmidge started the trend (shown below) with her TikTok that received roughly 160,000 views and 21,000 likes over the course of one week. @ktmidge used the sound "Pretty young twearkalator" for the video, which was created by TikToker^[2] @arii.j4ckson on May 30th, 2021. The sound was trending on TikTok before the #hotornot trend, however, because of a Duet trend started by TikToker^[3] @jaydechandaa on June 20th, 2021, involving her catching the Dueter dancing to the song "In 4k".

Introducing them Shawties as their guilty pleasures #fyp

Spread

As early as the next day, @ktmidge's idea of outing her friends' guilty pleasures was already seeing additional spread. The first duplicate was posted on July 3rd, 2021, by TikToker^[4] @camillasweep who reenacted the trend with her own friends (shown below). Her TikTok received roughly 860,000 views and 145,000 likes over the course of one week.

By July 7th, 2021, the trend began taking off on the platform, still mostly staying within groups of female friends (shown below, left and middle). However, male friend groups began reenacting the trend as well. For example, on July 11th, 2021, TikToker^[5] @user2649592501 posted his own version (shown below, right) with his male friends. This TikTok received roughly 1 million views and 290,000 likes in one week.

The trend began evolving into more meta examples going into mid-July 2021 where TikToker's began weighing the nuances of decisions, choices and situations rather than the nuances of just their sexual preferences.

For instance, on July 16th, 2021, TikToker^[6] @sarlexis asked the question, "Do I have to poop or is it just barnes and noble" (shown below, left). Brands and other verified TikTok accounts began exploiting the trend going into August. The cast of Shark Tank, for example, posted their own version on their account on July 22nd, 2021 (shown below, middle). Grimes also joined the trend amidst the feud between her and Azealia Banks, posting her version on August 20th (shown below, right).

The trend continued in September 2021, spreading to other platforms like Instagram where meme accounts posted screenshots of various TikToks from the trend, transforming the videos into viable image macros as well.

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References