For over four decades, Prince’s 1984 hit song “Purple Rain” has inspired deep emotions from listeners. A passionate rock ballad about the power of love amid the end of the world, the tune can have you feeling sad, hopeful, nostalgic, and spiritual all at once. But thanks to a new TikTok trend using this song, known as the “weekend lover” trend, there’s a whole new crop of feelings “Purple Rain” is evoking — and chief among them is a whole lot of cringe.
“Purple Rain” is one of those songs that never really falls out of the zeitgeist; it’s so powerful, so quintessential to the rock genre, that it’s always part of the conversation. But since the song recently showed up in the climactic series finale of Stranger Things, it has once again come to the forefront of pop culture — which, of course, means it’s now being used as a trending sound on TikTok.
Surprisingly, the part of the song that’s going viral on social media isn’t the heart-wrenching chorus, but rather, a lesser-known line: “I never wanted to be your weekend lover.” That one line is being featured in a number of TikToks, inspiring the “weekend lover” trend that has probably taken over your FYP in the past few days. But you might be confused about what the trend is actually referring to — and that’s because creators are interpreting the lyrics in a few different ways.
For the most part, participants in the trend are using the trend to reference a casual relationship they once had with their (you guessed it) “weekend lover.” For some, the trend is sort of a “then versus now” comparison of their now-serious, committed relationship that started out as pretty casual. For others, the trend is about a situationship or friends-with-benefits relationship that they’re reflecting on (some in a positive way, some in a negative way). There are also some creators who are using the trend to allude to the fact that they might have been the “other person” in a relationship — as in, their “weekend lover” was in a serious relationship with someone else.
That last point is what seems to be sparking most of the negative responses from people on TikTok. “I would rather eat a pair of jeans than post the ‘weekend lover’ trend,” creator Alice (@aliceyyg) said in a Jan. 18 TikTok. “Why would you have a digital footprint of that?”
That said, there are tons of comments on various “weekend lover” videos in which commenters say they feel seen by these posts. Plus, the videos and screenshots showing these “weekend lover” activities feel like a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of the people posting them — so if they’re willing to share this vulnerable part of themselves, then go off, I guess!