About

The Guitar, the Guitarist or The Cigarette, the Smoker is a TikTok trend where users post photos of themselves or one person in a couple labeled "the guitar" then photos of their significant other, labeled "the guitarist," signifying that they're together. The trend is often interpreted as referring to sexual relationships due to the fingering motion associated with playing guitars. The trend began in late December 2022 and spread throughout early January 2023.

Origin

The origins of the trend are unclear. The earliest known videos following the trend were seemingly posted to TikTok on December 26th, 2022, including by TikToker^[1] @kaesodamnfine, garnering over 1.2 million views in just over a week (shown below). In the video, she shows selfies of herself labeled "the guitar" and photos of her boyfriend captioned "the guitarist."

Spread

The trend continued to spread across TikTok^[2][3] over the following days, including variants replacing "guitar" and "guitarist" with terms like, "the cigarette, the smoker" or "the phone, the charger" (examples shown below).

The trend, specifically when using the "guitar, guitarist" captions, is often interpreted sexually due to the "fingering" motion associated with playing guitars, although it's unconfirmed if this is intentional or coincidental. On December 29th, 2022, TikToker^[4] @ha.dump posted a video assuming the trend is sexual and sharing a desire for minors to be banned from TikTok, garnering over 1.5 million views in a week (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References