My TikTok FYP has been absolutely flooded with the “hear me out” trend these past couple weeks, and I’m not going to lie, I think that it’s pretty hilarious. If you haven’t seen this trend before, basically the idea behind it is to share celebrities or characters you’re attracted to… who maybe, by societal standards, you probably shouldn’t be. That’s because these aren’t your classic celebrity crushes — they’re typically not ~conventionally attractive~ (most often because they’re actually, like, animated cartoons), hence the “hear me out” of it all. Some of the best ones that I have seen included characters like Sally from Cars, Gill from Finding Nemo, and Lumiere from Beauty and the Beast.
But it’s not just about revealing who your secret crushes are — because TikTok has to be extra about pretty much everything, people have been baking “hear me out” cakes to unveil their quirky attractions. The trend is to print out photos of all your “hear me outs,” then create cut-puts of them to glue onto sticks, and then stick them on top of a cake. Each person takes turns sharing who they chose by saying, “hear me out…” and I think it’s so fun to watch, especially when the choice is outrageous and everyone’s reactions are super funny.
Throughout the (many) videos that I have watched, I have seen some pretty outrageous and hilarious answers, including Mulan’s dad, the Quaker Oats logo guy, and Emmett, the main character in the Lego Movie. (I’ve also seen some pretty funny looking cakes too, but that’s besides the point.)
To me, the main idea of the trend is to choose silly things like animated characters and super niche references; real people only pop up on the cakes every now and again. This is what makes the trend silly — it’s supposed to be super random!
TBH, that’s where this trend needs to stay, because when real people get involved with the trend, it can be embarrassing and hurtful. There have been recent incidents of people participating in this trend in which they are putting real-life people from school or other aspects of their lives on these cakes. And whether they are trying to be funny or not, it’s just not OK, because it can imply that the person thinks it would be out of the norm to like this person they put on the cake. It implies that there’s something weird about them, and that people aren’t normally attracted to them. No one deserves that.
At the end of the day, the trend is supposed to be lighthearted and fun — there’s no need to turn it into something full of hate. By all means, feel free to get weird with it, but leave any real-life “hear me outs” out of it.