No one knows how to create a craze like the creators on TikTok. Without this platform, entire trend cycles—like country style and coastal cowgirl—wouldn’t exist. The latest trend in the five-year plan isn't an aesthetic, though - it's more of a movement. This month's top trending topic comes straight from London, with TikTok user Sabrina Bahsoon, aka "Tube Girl," racking up millions of views for her viral video on the UK Tube system. Her videos, self-recorded using wind machines accidentally created by trains, inspire people to become more comfortable in public spaces. Here's how to do it.
Who is "Tube Girl" Sabrina Basson?
Although she's been on TikTok for a while, it wasn't until Bahsoon's Aug. 13 video that romanticized her commute went viral that the creator was given the affectionate nickname "Tube Girl." Bahsoon (@sabrinabahsoon), 22, moved to the UK from Malaysia as a child and took a law degree this summer, although she admitted to her more than 542,000 followers that she "hated" her field of study. She then started working as a model.
In the first video, Bahsoon lip-syncs to Nicki Minaj's verse from David Guetta's "Where Them Girls At," ignoring other subway travelers as she records herself doing fast-paced angle changes and wind-swept The hair dances, almost like she's dancing. In the music video. “As a friend who lives on the other side of town, you have to keep yourself excited during your commute,” she wrote on TikTok, which had more than 768,300 likes and 9.9 million views as of September 25.
Fans react in comments
Judging from her attitude in the video, Bahsoon seems to be doing a good job of building the hype herself, but nothing compares to the compliments she received in the comments. “I need confidence like you,” @subash4562 replied. "How do you look so good on the subway?" @milanicosmetics commented. "Social anxiety disorder scares you girl," @flowerg1rl7 said, to which Bahsoon responded, "Of course I'm excited," along with a smiling face in glasses emoji. Cool girl energy at its best.
Trends go viral
The same day, the creator recorded another video on YouTube with the same lyrics as Nicki Minaj, this time titled "Hot girls don't have driver's licenses / We take public transportation." The back-to-back videos have received more than 485,800 likes and 3.3 million views, quickly cementing “Tube Girl” as TikTok’s latest darling.
However, Bahsoon didn't start calling herself Tube Girl until August 26, when she recorded another video in - you guessed it - a tube, Know Your Meme reports. As of the end of September, videos tagged #TubeGirl had been viewed more than 750 million times.
How to do the “Tube Girl” trend
Since making a splash on the five-year plan, the series of mesmerizing videos has sparked an assertiveness movement among users trying to overcome anxiety in public spaces. The trend has spread beyond the subway, too, with users like @hayleyybaylee testing their protagonist energy on the New York City subway. "Change YouTube girls, because that's the kind of confidence we all need," the creator wrote in the Sept. 12 video.
User @jeleniewska, on the other hand, brought this trend to Warsaw, and you have to commend the confidence - even though the train looked empty. Meanwhile, @hotstuffchandler took her Tube Girl energy to the skies on a very crowded Ryanair flight. Now that's a commitment.
If you want to film your own Tube Girl TikTok, keep in mind that the creator records her videos at 0.5x zoom, giving her content a combination of fisheye and music video vibes. Fortunately, shooting in .5 format is very simple: according to @melissallgall, all you have to do is zoom out before adding sound, and then zoom out again.
Oh, and Bahsoon's most popular tube video features a remix of Ayesha Erotica's "Yummy" by @habz.fx, so if you hear "I'm the First Lady of Juicy Couture" coming from your commuter's headphones, You may want to make some space for them to live out their inner Tube Girl fantasies.
