Charli XCX’s 2024 album Brat took pop culture by storm in June, with her song 'Apple' going viral on social media thanks to a dance created by TikTok creator Kelley Heyer.
"1 month ago I made a dance on a whim and now look at everyone dancing along and having so much fun" Heyer wrote on TikTok on July 14 after her dance made its way to all corners of the internet.
With celebrities and fans alike declaring 2024 summer a Brat summer, many celebrities have also partaken in recreating the viral choreography, from the cast of Twisters (Daisy Edgar Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos) to Charli XCX herself.
Whilst most of us associate the rise of TikTok dancing with influencers Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae, and their dancing during the 2020 COVID pandemic, TikTok dancing can be traced back to the first viral dance - "The Floss". "The Floss" dance became an internet sensation in 2016 following a video of "The Backpack Kid" recreating the dance that was originally filmed back in 2014. This viral video predicted the future of dancing on the internet, most evidenced by the huge cultural impact that the renegade dance had on the internet and influencers like D’Amelio using this to kickstart a career in social media.
Although TikTok initially gained popularity as a platform for sharing such dance videos, its rapid growth has given rise to a diverse range of niches and communities. Today, the app is home to countless subcultures, each with its own unique content and trends. As a result, it's become increasingly uncommon for a single dance to dominate the entire platform or spill over into mainstream pop culture as universally as Kelly Heyer’s Apple dance did.
When Charli XCX interacted with the 'Apple" dance on TikTok, she subsequently popularised the trend of artists engaging with fan-created dances. This sparked a wave of other musicians, like Sabrina Carpenter and Beabadoobee, reposting dances to their songs as well. With Sabrina's new album Short ‘N’ Sweet and Beabadoobee's new album, This Is How Tomorrow Moves, both artists have embraced this growing trend.
While K-pop has long incorporated dance as a central part of its appeal, this approach is becoming increasingly Westernised. New global girl group KATSEYE, formed through the reality show Dream Academy, exemplifies this shift, functioning like a K-pop group but successfully connecting with a Western audience.
As this movement continues, the question arises: will more Western artists follow suit? Could we see singers increasingly expected to include choreographed routines in their tours? The lines between music and dance continue to blur, suggesting that this could very well be the case.