what TikTok "mythical fyp pulls" reflect about archiving our fleeting humanity
and how maybelline ravishing rose is connected to it
On TikTok, we’re expected to behave and abide by a set of standards when presenting ourselves online. This isn’t just on TikTok but all of social media. Questions like “Is that photo worthy of ‘in-feed’ or ‘just a story’?” “Am I posting too much, or just enough?” and “Is the selfie at the right angle?” will race through our minds. Social media posting and curation are worlds with unwritten rules and expectations, similar to how golf club members are expected to behave, greet, and speak in a certain manner.
However, a lot of viral content in 2024 has flipped the above on its head. I’ve been observing this pattern for a while, waiting for the right pieces to come together so I could finally write about the phenomenon known as “mythical FYP pull.” What does that mean? It’s when someone’s documentation of self is shot on a “potato phone” without intentional curation, with a message that either is aimless or feels shockingly out of place in typical social media conversations appears on your feed. These posts are usually made by non-digitally native individuals. It jolts the doom-scrolling experience, like when Lindsey Lohan showed up wearing a zombie dress to a slutty Halloween costume party.
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I hypothesize that these “mythical FYP pulls” began with a TikTok in late January 2024. It has over 131 million views and 10.4 million likes. The video features a woman with makeup that would be a clean makeup girl’s worst nightmare, just smiling into the camera as if she were taking the world’s longest selfie. It’s incredibly uncanny as if she were using her phone camera like an obsidian orb, peering deep into the void. The only sound is the background noise. Who was she trying to reach?! Fast food brand Wendy’s even commented, “why is this TikTok 2 hours long,” which received over 13k likes.
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From then on, many variations of non-curated photos and videos from random individuals without large followings broke through the forcefield of curated, formulaic, trend-based creator content, giving rise to the genre of “mythical FYP pulls” as we know it today.
Another example from late January are a few TikTok photo carousels from an older gentleman named Al. He states, “I am looking for a beautiful Hispanic woman.” Honestly, I cannot decipher whether this was an experiment or if it was posted in earnest. The comments from users were plentiful. He remains at 1782 followers; his page remains largely untapped for potential viralness, which leads me to infer that this was not an experiment of sorts to gain followers or exploit them.
Some playful variations are two separate selfie videos of women speaking to the camera that went viral for their lack of sound, which is atypical for the TikTok. The women speak with utmost confidence, conveying their points, yet there is no voice. The muted, unintentional error was interpreted as humor on TikTok. It broke up the typical scrolling experience, leaving many to comment jokes such as “SPEAK ON IT!” and “I HEAR YOU GIRLIE.”
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It’s all fun and games while you’re sitting in the comfort of your home, gazing into your FYP page, looking for the next piece of fleeting entertainment. However, it would be remiss not to discuss mental health and its connection to the presentation of self on social media regarding the phenomenon of “mythical FYP pulls.”
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The next two examples seem more tragic than the algorithim just showing silly pieces of content. Both of the below users have gained many followers, with people commenting that they want more. It’s like the rise and fall of being a Disney child actor, but exponentially faster, and for people who don’t naturally understand social media. Their time under the spotlight will fade while their lives, tragedies, and mental health struggles will continue. The algorithm’s changing tide may one day shepherd away their lifeline to validation, friendship, or just being seen.
The first example involves an older gentleman by the handle @stephendavis40 who posted a photo carousel with the outrageous hook, “I realize now I shouldn’t have stabbed my wife,” garnering 1.2 million views. Upon closer inspection, we see that his succinct confessionals with each static photo carousel indicate that he is a 79-year-old man who is alone, apparently has schizophrenia, and is unintentionally using TikTok as a sort of diary. The lucidity of his TikTok engagement doesn’t seem to be present, as he doesn’t reply to comments. He really just uses TikTok as an echo chamber. Please send thoughts and prayers to Stephen and his cat.
Another person who has been on TikTok since about 2019 (as far as my research can tell) is a woman named Harmony Sapphire. Now, with her original page being a private account, her videos are mainly posted on a TikTok page called Eddie Sapphire. Perhaps it’s a family member’s name that she posts from, but I cannot confirm. Her videos are raw and real and don’t fit the mold of what we expect on social media. She does “get ready with me for my gas station shift” videos. In these, her makeup is incredibly unpolished and lacks any technique. It feels like something out of a David Lynch scene. Users comment ironically, saying she’s the OG Lana Del Rey essence, which translates to this woman not following the expectations of what a polished woman should be, all while trying to live the American dream. You can picture Harmony pouring black coffee as a diner waitress with a never-ending cigarette in her mouth.
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She apparently lives out of a motel with her daughter (there are conspiracies about Harmony holding her daughter against her will, but I will not be diving into that. You can watch YouTube essays on that) and works at a gas station. Her expression is blank, lost, and sad. Her piercing green eyes, fair complexion, painted-on eyebrows, and Prince logo necklace are unmistakable.
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A common user behavior when her videos or remixed memes pop up is commenting, “RAVISHING ROSE!” which is a shade of Maybelline lipstick that Harmony frequently calls out. When users write this, it’s equivalent to them saying “slay!” which has become a compliment for her, a way to let her know she is seen. The on demand Maybelline brand recall with is instantaneous and not calculated by the brand. It does not seem that Maybelline has ever commented or engaged. (I would not recommend they reach out, though. You can deduce why as you learn more about her below. It’s what a brand would call “too risky.”)
Her life story isn’t a narrative she’s capitalized on to push herself into the world for attention. She’s just living ~that life~ online. Her detachment from social media norms keeps her constantly appearing on FYP pages, where she stands out from cliche and polished influencer videos. There are multiple fan pages and endless edits based on Harmony and the content she posts as she is an obscure yet circulated online character.
Her lore, which I’ve been able to piece together from TikTok deep dives, Reddit searches, YouTube essays, and other online sleuthing methods, leads me to believe that there is trouble in viral TikTok paradise and that she might be struggling with mental health. She seems to think that the late musician Prince is still alive, and the two are engaged. She has random poetry online dedicated to Prince and the fact that he’s still on earth, as well as endless fan art she creates using lo-fi video creation methods.
I truly hope the best for her and her daughter. Before, like others, I saw her as a meme. Now, I see her as a tragic caricature that unintentionally cries for help each time her videos infiltrate my FYP.
We went from cave paintings to prove we were here to flags planted on the moon (if you believe in that kind of thing.) to social media being a place where we document our human footprint. Humans have always had an urgent need to declare their presence. To preserve the legacy of their species. And today, content is no different. It’s a form of archiving one’s existence. It mirrors our sense of self. “Mythical FYP Pulls” remind us that behind every video is a person just trying to define their story. This digital world of likes, trends, filters, and viral moments is just a reflection of us... Sometimes broken, sometimes whole, but always (hopefully) human.
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