The Brief: The "Killing Me Softly" Body Count trend on TikTok is based on the double meaning of the phrase body count, which refers to either the number of sexual partners or people someone has killed.
DEEP DIVE
The “Killing Me Softly” Body Count trend on TikTok plays on the double meaning of the phrase which can refer to the number of people someone has had sexual intercourse with or the number of people they’ve killed.
This trend typically features a creator staring at the camera with the caption, “I guy called me a h0e because I told him my body count was [X],” while “It’s Been So Long” by The Living Tombstone plays in the background. The music then changes to Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly” as a cartoon, typically an anime character, appears on-screen with a weapon. The caption changes to a phrase along the lines of “wrong body count” or ” I think he misunderstood what I meant.”
Lyrics included in “Killing Me Softly” Body Count TikTok videos:
Since you’ve been gone
I’ve been singing this stupid song
So I could ponder
The sanity of your mother
Killing me softly, with his song
There are over 14,000 videos linked to the sound on TikTok. The trend began growing in popularity after @tanj1ro.kamad0 shared a video of herself captioned, “A dude called me a ho3 when he asked what my body count was and I said 5,” on July 12. In the short clip, she’s seen swinging a hanger before a cartoon appears holding a weapon and the caption changes to “Wrong type of body.” It received over 171,000 likes and 617,000 views.
@ash.lynxv yeah❤️😼 #sangwoo #pyschological #yaoi #manwha #killingstalkin #ks #manga #anime #ohsangwoo
♬ fnaf but with a twist (Fugees – Killing Me Softly with His Song) – ┕⋅☆⋅ ┑ ashlynxv #3706 ┍ ⋅☆⋅ ┙
Many have taken on the trend, including actor Maitreyi Ramakrishnan from Netflix’s Never Have I Ever. Her Tiktok video saw her turn into Danganronpa‘s stuffed robotic bear Monokuma. It received over 798,000 likes and 2.4 million views.
@maitreyiramakrishnan I know majority of my following won’t get the reference but I had to🔪 #danganronpa
Exotic dancer @Itsimperial’s video saw her change into a cartoon version of herself using a high heel as a weapon. It received over 1.5 million likes and 4.8 million views.
@itsimperial
The trend has also seen variations, like this video about separating boys from men by @Awkotacobruhmoment.
@awkotacobruhmoment loml #fyp
Other takes:
@catholicschoolraisedme
@tristanpvaldez I’m kidding guys, my body is a temple… i just wanted to hop on this trend