kings and QUEENS

It was about a month ago. I was scrolling through my FYP on TikTok one night out of pure boredom, a night I’m sure we all can relate to. The videos ranged from teenagers rating old Cartoon Network shows to adults calling their significant others the wrong name. I was about to log off for the night when I found myself mesmerized by nine influencers lip-syncing to the chorus of “Kings and Queens” by Ava Max.

The video was only 18 seconds long, but I watched it on a continuous loop for about an hour (and bought the song on iTunes). The video showcased nine women who decided to follow an extremely underrated trend of adorning themselves in the robes and headdresses of their native countries, wanting to showcase their roots.

Split up into nine different screens and edited by @warnercanada, from the top left was @chantalynuon representing Thailand, @little_violette_mama representing Ukraine, @erbanjessica representing Japan, @indigenous_baddie representing Cree Nation, @berylama representing West Africa, @x.a.d.i.t.i.x representing India, @lenakochkina.lk2 representing Siberia, @lanasorani_ representing Kurdistan, and @maquetzali representing Mexico.

Being Mexican American, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad bit excited to see a sister representing the motherland. However, what made me even more exuberant about this particular TikTok was the pride you could see on each of their faces and the unity they wanted to express with other women. The message was heard loud and clear; there is beauty in EVERY color.

And yet one would think that a video like this would have no problem going viral. One would think.

When I first saw the video, it had a mere 200k likes (even though that number felt EXTREMELY low). A few weeks later and the video has racked up almost 700k likes and nearly 4 million views, which I know sounds impressive, but seems a little underwhelming to me. I’ve only been a TikTok user for about seven months now and don’t fully understand how its algorithm works, but it may need to be tweaked a bit.

I’m very grateful that the video showed up on my FYP, I just only wish more people could’ve seen it. It puzzles me how a guy like Noah Beck can gain over a million likes in the span of hours just for taking his shirt off, and yet it takes a powerful video like this a little over two weeks to garner only half that attention? I reiterate; the TikTok algorithm may need to be tweaked.

When I saw this particular Vocal+ Challenge advertised on Instagram, my mind immediately went to this video. This platform gives voices to people from all walks of life and helps us connect with one another, which is something the world could use a bit more of at the moment.

Honestly, it’s not clear what will happen to the videos that people choose to write about for this contest. I’d like to think the video I chose will gain more likes and that each influencer I mentioned above will gain more followers, but that isn’t up to me.

To the judges of this challenge, I hope you read this, maybe even search for this TikTok later so you’re able to see what I’m talking about. Hopefully, others do too.

And to all the people who decided to leave negative comments on similar videos because of the way some women looked or just to try and make them feel ashamed of their heritage, you may want to rethink your life choices.

In the words of influencer @kegisa.peata, who made a duet with @liloushky using the same sound “this video is everything I stand for: culture, independence, and QUEENS supporting QUEENS.”