The Brief: TikTok Pep Talk memes are simultaneously wholesome and devastating as people use Google Translate to tell them comforting phrases.
DEEP DIVE
A good pep talk can work wonders. While hyping yourself up in front of the mirror can be effective, there’s nothing like hearing words of wisdom or cold hard truths from another person, or in this case, from a robot. TikTokers have been using Google Translate to read mini pep talks out loud in TikTok #PepTalk memes.
Sometimes we need to be reminded that we don’t look like a rat, or that no one remembers that embarrassing moment, or that our outfit isn’t unflattering. This video format does just that, with a silly twist.
Set to a TikTok user’s violin cover of “The Night We Met” by Lord Huron, these videos combine self-drags with wholesome reassurance. While the makers of these videos use Google Translate to read aloud these phrases, they only show and play the English versions. On TikTok, videos associated with the hashtag #PepTalk have received over 770 million views and over 22,000 videos have been made with @rhysy_w’s violin recording.
While many of these videos are positive and uplifting, others deliver the kinds of cold-hard truths and wake-up calls that we need to hear.
Alongside self-deprecating humor, the #PepTalk TikTok meme trend includes videos making fun of others.