Us or PS5?

About

Us or PS5? or Them or PS5? refers to a viral video on TikTok where a group of women dances to the song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" by Rod Stewart under the text caption "us or ps5?," asking viewers "What would you rather play all night?" in the description. The video went viral in December 2021 and inspired copycats and a large response, many picking the PlayStation 5 over the dancing women. In January 2022, a rap based on the video also went viral on TikTok.

Origin

In November 2021, TikTok^[1][2] dance and content group @smpsqd started posting thirst trap videos dancing under a variation of the on-screen question, "us or x?" asking viewers to pick between them and another item or activity that men generally enjoy (examples shown below, left and right).

On December 7th, 2021, the TikTokers^[3] posted a video dancing in unison to the Rod Stewart song "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" under the on-screen caption, "us or ps5?," asking viewers to decide whether they'd rather have a PS5 or them (shown below). The video gained over 89.5 million views in a month.

Spread

The video inspired a large response from TikTokers in January 2022, with most responding that they would take the PS5 over the women in jokes listing the benefits of the PS5 over the group (examples shown below).

On January 8th, 2022, TikToker^[5] @robin.gan posted an original rap music video about the thirst trap, arguing in favor of the PlayStation 5 over being "played by five women," gaining over 28.1 million views in just under two weeks (shown below).

On the same day, Instagram^[6] user playmemes.ru posted a response to the video where a muscular Chad type is seen gaming on the PS5 after the clip, gaining over 45,000 views and 5,900 likes in just over a week (shown below).

On January 9th, Ray William Johnson reacted to the clip in a YouTube^[4] Short, making a joke about not wanting a "low-quality piece of plastic" over a PS5, gaining over 9 million views in a week (shown below).

"It's Me or the PS5" Open Verse Challenge / Fortnite Battle Pass Song / "It's Me, I'm the PS5"

On January 25th, 2022, TikTok^[7] user salemilese posted an open verse challenge, singing a song in which she offered a choice between herself and a PlayStation 5. The video gained over 360,200 likes in two months (shown below).

It's me or the PS5,
Tell me which of us is more your type,
Seems like you can't deside
So if it's not me, then I'm probably gonna run it over

In the following weeks, multiple TikTok users replied with duets, many of which were humourous in nature. For example, on February 1st, 2022, TikTok^[8] user @abdul_cisse responded with his own song about Fortnite's battle pass, launching a meme of the same name (shown below, left). On February 13th, TikTok^[9] user @nickiskindastrange responded with a freestyle in which he pretended to be a PlayStation 5 console tempting the viewer to choose him, which later started the "It's Me, I'm the PS5":https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/its-me-im-the-ps5 Tumblr meme. The video gained over 131,600 likes in one month (shown below, center). On February 21st, 2022, the official TikTok^[10] account of K-pop band Tomorrow X Together replied to the song, with the video gaining over 2.2 million likes in two weeks (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References