In my current full time position, a lot of my work has to do with TikTok. If you know me at all, this is pretty out of character, lol, but as many jobs do, my position turned into something new. When things turn into something new, you’re typically tasked to roll with the punches, no matter how much, or how little, the actual you may want to.
No need to get into that right now, we’re not here for that right now, but there you go, there’s the context—anyways;
I have… many thoughts when it comes to TikTok—many. Surprisingly enough, a few of those thoughts are actually positive ones that revolve around a particular trend I’ve been seeing grow more rapidly by the hour, and one I genuinely don’t get tired of seeing every time it comes across my “for you page”.
I don’t know what the hell, who the hell, or how the hell it started, but I can’t get enough of it. Aside from the sometimes cute cat content or Vine energy TikToks I see, this trend has been one of the only recent moments of solace I’ve had when perusing the platform.
As of today, Tuesday, September 27th at 10:40am, #rodgercleye has 339.9 million videos on TikTok—and that’s only including the ones people chose to use the hashtag! The man behind the trend, well at least the origin of the trend, Rodger Cleye, has amassed 1.9 million followers on TikTok by stating and doing the following, “I’ll play ANY song you want! Leave your request in a comment.” Update, that was his bio on Saturday. I just checked again today, and now his bio is “Leave your request in a comment. For business inquiries send email to: cleyebiz@gmail.com”—how professional of him.
While what ensued next could at first be seen as cruel, Rodger’s out of pocket singing of practically any song requested, unfolded into a meme makers paradise with a hint of relatable nostalgia—all while encompassing an aura of love to Rodger for doing what he’s doing.
Maybe it’s because I was part of Twitter stan culture during my high school years, 2012-2016ish, that’s made me audibly giggle at the effort put into these memes, but the targeted creativity behind this trend has been wild to see unfold.
I find it extremely fascinating that it seems like one particular subculture on the app has taken it upon themselves to become Rodger’s biggest fans. I also find it extremely fascinating how much more effort this trend takes to participate in—not that it’s necessarily difficult to participate in any trend on these fleeting applications—but this trend requires creators to think a little more about the song they’re using, the “POV” they’re creating, and the story they’re trying to visually get across to other users in a matter of seconds. While still fun at heart, it’s forcing creators to get a little more savvy with the niches they’re trying to reach. I assume that sometimes these ideas come quickly for creators, but if you take a moment to really depict some of these scenes, it’s kinda absurd how to a T the rooms, objects, and atmosphere are in relation to the POV at hand.
A lot of the POV’s I’ve seen have this nostalgic twist to them that feel way too accurate for someone below the age of 22 to fully relate to. It honestly seems like a lot of people in my age range (23/24/25) are making them because the references are very reminiscent of high school, if not through the POV, it’s through the scene they’ve created. The majority of these trend interpretations are targeting a very specific sub-community that I’m not even sure what to call to be honest. It just feels very 2012-2014 energy, that even if you didn’t participate in most of these visual interpretations of the trend, you know someone who did and still embodies the essence of the meme to this day.
I’m not going to get all analytical here because at the end of the day, this will probably no longer be a trend at the end of the day (haha), but what I’m trying to say, is that aside from this trend being a funny and random spin on some guy putting himself out there musically, it feels… dare I say… genuine?
Well I guess in a backwards way because it’s social media so is anything ever really genuine??? blah blah blah eye roll but seriously—once you go through some of my selects, or even dive into others by exploring the hashtag #rodgercleye, there’s no denying the sense of community in these hilariously lost moments of time that we all know of, but try and put a comedic twist on as to not wallow on our lonesome.
For transparency sake, these are the ones I felt personally attacked by, in a good way, of course:
Pov: me after deciding to become the best version of myself at 3 am
Me right after ghosting another person I only flirted for fun with
Pov: you’re worried about me because I haven’t responded to any messages in 4 days
Me getting ready for school at 7 am knowing I’ll be 30 mins late
Can you tell I’m getting a kick out of this trend?
The best part is, whether it be the story the creator has posed, the visuals they’ve set up, or the song they’ve chosen, most of the time, I don’t have a direct connection to what they’re showing me, at all—but I know someone who does—and that’s what makes these oddly specific creations too juicy to not crack a smile at.