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“What Song Are You Listening To?” On TikTok Ruined My Queue

I’m on edge, watching my back at every turn. Will they come up to me? Will they ask that horrifying, dreaded question? Will I ever escape the chokehold TikTok trends have on me? When will I rest?

Not any time soon. 

The “What Song Are You Listening To?” TikTok trend is the stuff of nightmares. Let me paint this picture for you:

You’re walking on campus with your headphones in. You’re in between classes and think to yourself, Huh… I haven’t listened to the Hamilton soundtrack in a few weeks, and I really want to hear “My Shot” right now. What’s the harm in putting it on? It’s not like anyone can hear. 

So you put it on, walking through campus as if you have a secret to keep. God forbid somebody knows you listen to Hamilton. But you have headphones in. You’re safe. For now.

Then, someone with a microphone runs up to you. Their friend is holding a camera. They stop you for a moment, and you think they may just ask you something innocent, like your opinion on this week’s Bachelor in Paradise episode. But instead, they ask you the unthinkable:

“What song you listening to right now?”

Then you’re stuck there on the spot, Lin-Manuel Miranda in your ears, and you’re not sure if you can answer this question honestly.

This isn’t just a nightmare, and that interviewer isn’t a sleep paralysis demon. The “What Song are You Listening To?” trend has been around for years, and now, it’s back with a vengeance.

In 2011, YouTuber Tyler Cullen released a video on his channel called “Hey You! What Song are you Listening to? NEW YORK” where he approached strangers on the streets of New York and asked what was going on in their headphones. Despite Cullen’s small following of only 9.96k subscribers, the video amassed millions of views and inspired other iterations around the world. (It should be noted that Cullen has not uploaded a video since.)

Now, within the past month, TikTokers have been bringing the trend back to life: ruining the lives — and queues — of unsuspecting citizens and college students alike.

Shawn Rizwan, a YouTuber and TikToker, has been dominating the trend since early September. Starting out in New York City, Rizwan then continued to bring terror to Boston, San Francisco, and even Harvard University: approaching random people and asking them to tell him what song they’re listening to.

And to make matters worse, the trend is making itself known on college campuses. At Chapman University, the university newspaper, The Panther, participated in the trend, uploading the video to their Instagram and website. 

“What if I’m caught listening to my dungeons and dragons podcasts and I’m not ready to out myself as a giant nerd just yet?” says Abby, 21 and a senior at Chapman. “I would simply run.

Like Abby, I am one of the many college students that stroll through campus with their guards up, armed with a queue of socially acceptable songs so people think that I have taste. During the final minutes of my class, I craft my queue: thinking about what these songs will say about me. I even find myself adding in music I don’t even listen to just in case somebody decides to ask me because at least I’d look cool.

This, my friends, is not what music should be like.

The viral phenomenon preys on the curiosity of TikTok audiences. I, for one, always wonder what other people are listening to. So, watching them tell a camera exactly what’s blasting from their headphones is some kind of voyeuristic guilty pleasure I can’t help but enjoy. But then, I think about what it would be like in their shoes. I’d feel vulnerable, judged. Scared.

So until this trend fades away, and until the human race becomes a little less curious, I’ll be sure to carefully curate every song in my playlist and queue. (And only listen to Hamilton when I know it’s safe.)

julianna (she/her) is an associate editor at her campus where she oversees the wellness vertical and all things sex and relationships, wellness, mental health, astrology, and gen-z. during her undergraduate career at chapman university, julianna's work appeared in as if magazine and taylor magazine. additionally, her work as a screenwriter has been recognized and awarded at film festivals worldwide. when she's not writing burning hot takes and spilling way too much about her personal life online, you can find julianna anywhere books, beers, and bands are.