#NotAPerfectPerson

About

#NotAPerfectPerson is a hashtag on TikTok that started trending on the platform in February of 2021 in relation to a trend set to 2004's "The Reason"^[1] by Hoobastank in which TikTokers recall an often comical, occasionally serious, moment of imperfection in their lives.

Origin

It's unknown who started the "NotAPerfectPerson" trend, but the earliest videos following it go back to January 16th, 2021.

On that day, for example, @auggiegrro and @soul4sxle2 posted videos to TikTok^[2][3] set to "The Reason" in which they recall a momemts of imperfection (the former upload more comical, the latter more serious) through on-screen-text and film themselves being exaggeratedly upset, garnering over 110,000 views on the former upload and 1.4 million on the latter (shown below, left and right).

Spread

The trend quickly caught on under the sound for "The Reason," with many TikTokers gaining millions of views by following the trend. On January 19th, 2021, @ido_coke uploaded a video to TikTok^[8] following the trend, garnering over 9.1 million views in 2 weeks (shown below).

On January 22nd, Trisha Paytas uploaded a video to TikTok^[10] following the trend referencing drama with Shane Dawson, garnering over 1.2 million views in just over a week (shown below, left). On January 25th, @aidan_langford uploaded a similar video,^[9] garnering over 2.6 million views in a week (shown below, right).

On January 27th, the lead singer of Hoobastank posted his first video to TikTok,^[4] taking part in the trend with a video joking that they he regrets naming the band "Hoobastank," garnering over 2.3 million views in a week (shown below). On January 29th, Daily Dot^[7] published an article on the trend.

On February 4th, TikTok's Newsroom^[6] reported on the hashtag "#NotAPerfectPerson" as a top trend. Variety ^[5]reported on Hoobastank's song going viral on TikTok on the same day, including a brief interview with lead singer Doug Robb who expresses his gratitude for the trend.

As of February 5th, videos using the hashtag have garnered over 463 million combined views. There are over 67,000 videos using the original sound for "The Reason."

Various Examples

Search Interest

N/A

External References