The Nicki Minaj challenge explained: Why everyone on TikTok is posing
If your TikTok FYP is full of people doing an impressive pose — one that also looks wildly uncomfortable — you can blame that trend on pop star Nicki Minaj. If you've not seen this trend, imagine the weird 2010s planking fad, but instead of lying flat, people are posing in nearly impossible ways.
The trend can actually be traced back to the 2013 Minaj track "High School." In the music video for the song, she poses poolside, one leg over the other, carefully balanced in high heels.
People on TikTok somehow resurfaced this pose and have taken it to new degrees. In fact, the top comments on the YouTube video for the song are about the new trend.
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As TikTok trends typically go, people have played with the pose and, frankly, made it even more difficult. People have done it with just one leg on the ground, or balanced on weights, or on a beer can. Seriously: People are balancing, in that pose, on a platform as tiny as a beer can. How?! Users have even compiled some of the most impressive poses into highlight reels of sorts.
The trend goes to show that anything can be found and repurposed online, even a dozen years later. It also goes to show that some folks possess balance I cannot even dream of obtaining.
Topics TikTok Celebrities
Tim Marcin is an Associate Editor on the culture team at Mashable, where he mostly digs into the weird parts of the internet. You'll also see some coverage of memes, tech, sports, trends, and the occasional hot take. You can find him on Bluesky (sometimes), Instagram (infrequently), or eating Buffalo wings (as often as possible).
