TikTokers have been mysteriously counting down to August 27 for months, posting cryptic messages about the date

Palmer HaaschAug 27, 2020, 05:53 IST

Insider

TikTok users have been cryptically talking about August 27 over the past two months.@stfusamantha/@ashleymateoofficial/TikTok

TikTok users have been counting down to August 27 for almost two months for no clear reason.
The date has become a meme on the app, with people frequently posting cryptic messages about positive or negative events that may happen if people don't protect themselves.
While there's no consensus as to what's going to happen on August 27, it's effectively been given meaning as a TikTok meme, with people continuing to hype it up for various reasons.

For months now, TikTokers have been counting down to August 27.

It's a mysterious trend tied to an arbitrary date. Since July, people on TikTok have been posting videos reminding others to save the date, or insinuating that viewers were "chosen" to receive the message. No one knows why August 27 is important — maybe something pivotal will happen, or there are good things to come in people's lives — but what matters is that it's now on everyone's radar.

As the trend spread through alt TikTok (i.e. the side of TikTok that's relatively divorced from the mainstream influencer world) and deep TikTok (i.e. the most 'cursed' side of TikTok), it became clear that August 27 was important simply because TikTok users said so.

The August 27 trend seems to have started in July

As New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz noted on Twitter, TikTok user @stfusamantha appears to have widely popularized the date. Using a slowed-down version of the Stellular Remix of Jvla's song "Such a Whore," which is popular on TikTok, the video simply says, "If this is on your FYP... Congratulations. You've been chosen. Remember the date August 27. It's important."

@stfusamantha's video has amassed 1.3 million likes to date. While it's unclear if it was the first video to kick off the trend (several comments on it indicate that TikTok users had seen multiple videos before encountering this one), it was certainly one of the biggest.

The messaging, however, seems to have gotten out of hand. One comment from @stfusamantha on the video reads, "why does everyone think they're going to die like jesus christ yall relax its a tiktok." On another video, @stfusamantha wrote in the comments, "the fact that people actually think i know whats gunna happen in a month is ridiculous, come on now yall."

Ultimately, things weren't that deep. Stiil, the video helped to kick of a trend that led to people constantly referencing the August 27 date on TikTok for weeks to come.

Many videos said that people were 'chosen' to see messages about August 27

Given the mysterious nature of the August 27 date, others began to play to the known nature of TikTok's algorithm to make it seem like seeing a certain video was predestined. Many, but not all, August 27 videos didn't include a caption or any hashtags (tools that would make them easier to find on the app itself), but featured in-video text stating that users had been "chosen" and instructing viewers to remember the date.

Other variations on the date asked viewers to remember specific colors or numbers, while some videos promised good fortune if people interacted with the video.

A sound from 'Don't Hug Me I'm Scared' partially soundtracked the trend, adding to its cryptic nature

Many people discussing August 27 used a sound from musical horror webs series "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared." The sound is from a 2014 video titled "TIME," in which a talking clock educates the series' recurring characters about the concept of time. Like other "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" videos, it veers harder into psychological, surreal horror as the video goes on.

Many on TikTok, even as late as mid-August, said that the audio was "rare." To date, there are over 150,000 videos associated with the sound. Still, it has some odd properties: it's listed as an original sound from an "Unknown" user, and attempting to click on the user tag on the desktop version of TikTok leads to a blank page with "tiktok.com" as the URL. Opening the link in another window leads to tiktok.com's landing page.

On mobile, saving the sound and viewing it in your favorites tab displays a duration of 00:00 — zero minutes, and zero seconds.

The audio's bizarre nature — as well as the surreal connotations from its "Don't Hug Me I'm Scared" roots — contribute to the general mystery around August 27, even if the sound isn't quite "rare" on TikTok anymore.

People continued to build anticipation for August 27 throughout July and August

What's unique about the August 27 meme is its staying power. In the weeks leading up to the date itself — even after some of its initial pioneers claimed that there was nothing special about it — people continued to post cryptic messages about August 27.

Eventually, the meme became big enough that plenty of people were using hashtags to post videos about it. The #august27 hashtag currently boasts over 111 million collective views, and bears the mark of any popular TikTok tag: people used it on videos that don't appear to be associated with August 27 at all.

There's no consensus as to what will happen on August 27

Some have conflated the date with a debunked theory that "The Simpsons" predicted President Trump's death. Others say that the date is going to bring about positive outcomes. Others, particularly those on witchtok (the witch side of TikTok), say that while the date originally had no significance, everyone projecting meaning onto it has imbued it with energy.

All that being said, August 27 doesn't appear to have any "true" meaning. The deliberately cryptic message behind August 27 content helped it grow in popularity exponentially, as more people latched onto it as a means of racking up engagement on their videos. Like chain emails of yore ("forward this to ten people or [insert demon] will kill you in your sleep!"), many August 27 videos command users to interact with their videos through liking, commenting, or following in order to protect themselves.

Still, one facet of the speculation is true: through obsessing over the date, people have effectively imbued it with meaning. Whether you're manifesting or simply trying to figure out whatever is going on — see you on August 27.

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