Celebrities are rushing to join their fellow social media users in reminiscing about their early years, or Teenage Dirtbag days if you will, as a new TikTok trend sweeps the globe.
Set on a titular 2000 track by American pop-rock band Wheatus, the viral trend requires users to show a montage of snaps from their awkward and often cringe-worthy teenage years.
More than 570,000 videos have been made so far, using a remixed, sped-up version of Teenage Dirtbag, while videos using the hashtag #TeenageDirtbag have garnered close to 1 billion views.
The red-hot trend has given the track a brand new lease on life.
The best of the worst
For celebrities, the trend quickly turned competitive, with many proclaiming that they had ‘won’.
With ‘noughties fashion making a serious comeback this year, queens of the 2000s – Paris Hilton and Christina Aguilera – were quick to jump on the trend.
In Hilton’s montage, she’s seen mingling with famous friends Nicole Richie and Britney Spears, and donning the now-iconic silver slip dress she wore at her 21st birthday.
“So sorry to everyone else but I win this trend,” Hilton said in her caption.
Aguilera famously made a concerted effort to break away from her squeaky-clean Mickey Mouse Club persona in her teen years.
“I’m just an OG #teenagedirtbag baby 🖤,” Aguilera wrote.
@parishilton So sorry to everyone else but I win this trend 👑💖✨ #Sliving ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@xtina I’m just an OG #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
British comedian Jack Whitehall also got in on the fun, revealing a never-before-seen hairstyle.
His video shows a much younger Jack sporting spiked blonde tips, even pulled back with a zigzag headband.
@jackwhitehall My #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
But it wasn’t just teenagers of the 2000s jumping on the trend.
Gwen Stefani shared snaps from her No Doubt days, featuring her signature thin eyebrows, maroon lips and low-waist slacks.
The original Material Girl, Madonna, also joined in on the trend.
“You had to be there,” Madonna captioned her TikTok, filled with snaps of the star before fame and in the early years of her career.
@gwenstefani 🙃 #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@madonna You had to be there…….#teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
As for the funniest Teenage Dirtbag reveal, we say American DJ Steve Aoki takes the cake.
Aoki’s TikTok contained a snap from his high school yearbook, his signature long locks chopped to an awkward ear-length and bleached bright yellow.
“Do I win?” he captioned his clip.
German supermodel Heidi Klum thought not.
Klum had the ultimate flex. Instead of showing her own Teenage Dirtbag pics, Klum decided to one-up her competitors.
“When everyone’s sharing their teenage dirtbag pictures, but I got to sing live with Wheatus,” Klum captioned a clip of her singing the tune on stage with the band in 2001.
@steveaokiDo I win?♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@heidiklum #teenagedirtbag #onlyhalfvolume ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
The TikTok effect
In what can only be described as ‘the TikTok effect’, Teenage Dirtbag is the latest track to spread like wildfire thanks to the social media app’s billions of users.
Just as TikTok latched onto Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) after its feature in the fourth season of Stranger Things, Teenage Dirtbag has become TikTok’s latest obsession.
While the track hasn’t hit No.1 on the Billboard charts, like Running Up That Hill did, the track has become the No.1 searched song on Spotify in recent weeks.
Wheatus frontman Brendan Brown spoke to Observer about the song’s “flare up”, saying they were “the luckiest band on earth”.
“Our booking agent, Alex, he texted about it. He’s like, ‘What the hell is this?’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know, dude. I have no idea.’,” Brown said.
Upon its release in 2000, the song was an instant hit in Australia, reaching No.1 on the ARIA chart.
After it blew up Down Under, the track caught on in the UK, with the band embarking on a summer-long festival tour.
However, due to what Brown calls a “botched rollout”, it struggled to chart in the US.
It failed to make an impression on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking only at No.7 on the Alternative Songs chart.
“So it came out in the summer of 2000 and Columbia Records serviced it to radio. There was a bit of a botched rollout,” he said.
“It went to pop radio way too fast and needed more time on rock radio.”
Despite their success in Australia and the UK, Teenage Dirtbag ended up being Wheatus’ only real hit song.
- Keep scrolling to see some of our favourite celebrity Teenage Dirtbag videos.
@thetarareid 💜 Thought i’d join in #teenagedirtbag #teenagedirtbagchallenge #tarareid #fyp #foru #foryoupage #viral #challenge #tiktokchallenge #josieandthepussycats ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@thetarareid 💜 Thought i’d join in #teenagedirtbag #teenagedirtbagchallenge #tarareid #fyp #foru #foryoupage #viral #challenge #tiktokchallenge #josieandthepussycats ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@shaniatwain The hair!!! 😍 #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@kyle_maclachlan You can take the boy out of Yakima, but you can’t take the Yakima out of the boy! 👍🏻🏔 #TeenageDirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@jimmyfallon #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@aliciasilverstone😜🖕♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
@brookeshieldsofficial Heard this was a thing… #teenagedirtbag ♬ Teenage Dirtbag – Sped Up (and she doesn’t give a damn about me) (Sped Up) – Wheatus
The post Celebrities turn back the clock with new TikTok <i>Teenage Dirtbag</i> trend appeared first on The New Daily.
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