The Brief: #StayWoke TikTok memes show someone sleeping on one thing and waking up for or being "woke" about another.

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DEEP DIVE

#StayWoke TikTok memes compare and contrast starkly different reactions to two scenarios. They can be a callout of the hypocrisy of sleeping on one thing and acting woke about another. This meme relies on the metaphor of sleeping vs. waking up to convey these points.

A script-version of this meme has been circulating online for a while, and now it’s evolved into a TikTok video format. In TikTok #StayWoke memes, someone pretends to be sleeping and then wakes up to the opening of the song “Super Bass” by Nicki Minaj. Text is added over their image to convey characters and scenarios. Generally, in these videos, someone sleeps while something important happens and then wakes up for something unimportant.

These memes can be a way to vent about the annoying discrepancies in people’s behavior and a fun joke format about the illogical nature of human behavior.

On TikTok, the hashtag #StayWoke has been viewed over 49 million times and the song Super Bass has been tagged in over 40,000 videos.

#StayWoke TikTok Memes

Dogs sleeping on the wrong things:


Dragging VSCO girls for their apparent obsession with metal straws:

People when they see actual content that’s funny vs. people when eBoys do the “eyeroll thing”



Some memes take the sleeping and waking aspect of this format more literally.



Classic Dad Move